GDOT begins maintenance safety work in Gilmer County

ELLIJAY, Ga. – A Georgia Department of Transportation (DOT) Maintenance crew begins today its work on replacing the obliterated and damaged reflective raised pavement markers on state Route (SR) 2 in Gilmer County.  Work will proceed daily Tuesday through Friday from 7:30 a.m. until 5:30 p.m. This safety maintenance operation and the lane closures it necessitates are weather permitting and subject to change.

Georgia DOT maintains over 2,000 lane-miles in northwest Georgia. Relatively harsh winter and snowplows used to clear the region’s interstates and state routes from snow and ice present a challenge to the DOT crews who are charged with maintaining lane markers on the roads.   These crews follow Federal Highway Administration standards for markings and do their best to keep up. They also work almost continuously restriping faded markers and replacing missing reflective raised pavement markers. Still, the volume of traffic on the highways, snow removal in the winter and sunny summer all weigh heavily on the durability of the lane markers.

You know that construction work zones are dangerous, but do you know that they are not always stationary? Moving work zones that conduct maintenance activities like litter pickup, asphalt repair, mowing, edge pavement repair, pavement marking and sweeping may move slowly and stop intermittently. Treat moving work zones like any other – Pay Attention – Slow Down – Watch for Workers.  And always, expect the unexpected. Work zone safety is in your hands.