National Work Zone Awareness Week

KC Streetcar Constructors construct the foundation of the future KC Streetcar track for the Main Street Extension on Tuesday, April 12.

It’s National Work Zone Awareness Week (NWZAW)! Across the country NWAZW is annually commemorated across the country at the start of construction season to encourage safe driving in work zones.

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, more than 102,000 crashes happened in work zones across the U.S. in 2020. Of those crashes, about 44,000 resulted in an injury.

This year’s NWZA theme is “Work Zones are a Sign to Slow Down.” When driving in a construction zone it’s important to pay attention to the people who are hard at work.    

KC Streetcar Constructors started work on track construction last week for the KC Streetcar Main Street Extension between Pershing Road and 27th Street. To help commuters safely navigate our work zone, we’ve put temporary pavement striping in the construction area. The graphic below illustrates the traffic flow for the project.

Traffic phasing for the majority of track construction will follow the design above. There will be one northbound lane, one southbound lane and a center turn pocket. This traffic control will help maintain access to businesses and properties along the construction corridor.

KC Streetcar Constructors identified seven construction segments along the corridor. The track construction in each segment will be very similar, with one side of the street closed for construction followed by the other side. Track work has started on the northern end of the line at Pershing Road and Main Street and will travel southbound throughout construction.