Have you seen the traffic monsters? Norfolk project promotes work-zone safety
Burghy, Seymour and Binker were built by Norfolk's Department of Public Works more than a decade ago as part of National Work Zone Awareness Week. The campaign, which began in 1999, is aimed at highlighting safety concerns around construction zones and encourages motorists to 'respect the zone so we all get home.'
Each of the monsters is built out of traffic barrels and other traffic management equipment. Binker has a bulkier frame, shaggy green hair and a furrowed brow. Seymour sports two large eyes – that are almost too big for his head – and a gaping round mouth, and Burghy has a long red mohawk with beady eyes and a deep V on his chest. City officials aren't sure where the names came from.
Norfolk is the only Hampton Roads city that participates in building the traffic barrel monsters.
'When the weather warms up, road work ramps up in the City of Norfolk and everywhere. Road work means work zones and crews, so awareness is important,' Alana Smith, management analyst for Norfolk Public Works, said in an email. 'Slow down, put the phone down, avoid distractions whenever you see orange cones or barrels – for everyone's safety.'
Smith said Norfolk's traffic workers take pride in their monsters.
'The Streets and Bridges teams enjoy the reaction when people start to notice the monsters and take great care to make sure they're properly stored and maintained so they can keep coming back for Work Zone Awareness Week,' she said.
Public Works rotates their locations each year, focusing on high-traffic areas but avoiding putting them at active work zones so the monsters don't become distractions themselves, according to Smith.
The number of total deaths in work zone-related wrecks decreased by 8%, from 880 to 821, from 2021 to 2022, the first decline in such deaths since 2018, according to the Federal Highway Administration.
Of the more than 800 people who were killed in work zone crashes in the United States in 2022, 85% were motorists or their passengers, according to the Work Zone Safety Clearinghouse.
Since 2019, fatal highway worker injuries at road construction sites have decreased from 135 to 94 in 2022, according to the Federal Highway Administration.
Gavin Stone, 757-712-4806, gavin.stone@virginiamedia.com
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
21-06-2025
- Yahoo
New Halifax elementary school won't be ready for September
The new St. Joseph's-Alexander McKay Elementary School in Halifax won't be ready for September, according to a message sent to families on Thursday. The original school building was demolished and its replacement was expected to open in 2023. Since then, the project has expanded, delaying its construction. "Unfortunately, the new SJAM will still not be ready to welcome students at the start of the 2025-26 school year," says the message from the Halifax Regional Centre for Education. "This is awful news and we share your disappointment. "We acknowledge how disruptive this news is, especially to your children and your family's plans for the next school year." The message goes on to say the Department of Public Works has been assured by the contractor that the school will be ready for students midway through the 2025-26 school year. It said the Halifax Regional Centre for Education would provide updates on project timelines. 'Unexpectedly complicated' "While these kinds of issues are not uncommon in the construction industry these days, we appreciate this project has been unexpectedly complicated," the message says. "The Department of Public Works has had the construction lead add more trades workers and contractors, and we have asked them to work overtime and on weekends to get the school open as quickly as possible." A followup message to families on Friday confirmed students will remain at École Beaufort until the new school is ready. Shortly before the message was sent to families, Jesse LeGallais, a parent of two children who attend St. Joseph's-Alexander McKay, told CBC Radio's Mainstreet Halifax that he was concerned about further delays. "Whether the excuses are valid or not, there has been abysmal communication from Public Works, there has been abysmal communication from the HRCE," LeGallais said. "They do send out updates, but those updates, I find, are unreliable." Advocating for the school "The Beaufort school isn't really fit to service," LeGallais said. It doesn't have a real gymnasium, it doesn't have a real music room, it doesn't have a library, it's got various issues that the staff and the teachers and principals are dealing with but there's only so much you can do," LeGallais said. He said the kids are being bused in and that extends his children's own day by up to an hour. He said it also cuts down on the amount of time parents have to interact with teachers and other parents. LeGallais said he knows of families who have pulled their children out because of the delays, but that's not something he's considering because his children have friends there and he likes the staff. "So, I think the best thing we can do is not give up on the school but to advocate on behalf of the school because if we can organize as parents and we can put enough pressure — things can get done." MORE TOP STORIES
Yahoo
04-06-2025
- Yahoo
Plow driver testifies he saw no body in snow during crucial hours in Karen Read murder trial
Karen Read's defense team is looking to build on momentum yesterday from a surprise police witness who testified that her taillight was less damaged when he helped seize it with a warrant than it appears in photos taken after it arrived at the Canton Police Department, where authorities first towed it. Read's defense called Brian "Lucky" Loughran, a Department of Public Works employee, to the witness stand Wednesday morning. He testified that he passed by 34 Fairview Road, the home of Brian Albert, where John O'Keefe was found dead in the snow, multiple times between 2:40 a.m. and around 6 a.m. Prosecutors allege Read hit her boyfriend outside and drove off, leaving him to die amid blizzard conditions. Loughran said he had good visibility despite the blizzard conditions due to multiple lights on the plow truck and a high seat. Asked if he saw a body in the snow, he said no -- but he added that he did see a Ford Edge SUV parked outside the address on a later pass around 3:30 a.m. Karen Read's Silence In Murder Trial Raises Stakes For Defense He said it stood out to him because he was from the area and knew the Albert family -- and he had to maneuver around the vehicle as he cleared the road. Read On The Fox News App "For as long as I can remember, they have never parked a vehicle in front of their house," Loughran testified. "They've always had enough ample parking in the driveway." Special prosecutor Hank Brennan asked Loughran during cross-examination about purported threats from an online blogger and inconsistencies in his timeline. Karen Read Judge Blocks Sandra Birchmore Mentions; Expert Says Cases Should Be Wake-up Call For Police Loughran said he never felt threatened by the blogger and denied having a bad memory when Brennan confronted him with multiple statements that offered different times for when the river passed by Fairview Road. Then Brennan played police dashcam video taken outside 34 Fairview that showed the heavy snowfall and the distance between the house there and Cedarcrest Road, where a plow truck drove by multiple times in the background. Loughran agreed that some of the passes were him in the plow, dubbed "Frankentruck," but said he couldn't be sure at other moments. Follow The Fox True Crime Team On X The taillight fragments were not found at the crime scene until later, too, and her defense's implication is that they could have been planted there. Wednesday marks the 27th day of Read's retrial on murder and other charges in the January 2022 death of O'Keefe, her then-boyfriend, a Boston police officer, and an uncle who had taken in the orphaned children of his late sister and brother-in-law. She denies hitting him with her 2021 Lexus SUV and leaving the scene, where he died with head trauma and signs of hypothermia. The defense says no collision happened and something or someone else caused his injuries. On Tuesday, Dighton Police Sgt. Nicholas Barros testified that when he arrived at Read's parents' house to help state police confiscate the vehicle, fewer pieces of taillight were missing from the cracked taillight. He said that a photo of Read's SUV taken at the Canton Police Department's sallyport – a secure garage – did "absolutely not" show the taillight in the same condition it was in when he saw it in the driveway. Barros surprised the courtroom when he testified for the commonwealth during Read's first trial, which ended with a deadlocked jury last year. This time, he was a defense witness. Karen Read's Suv Reached '74% Throttle' Moments Before John O'keefe's Final Movements, Crash Expert Testifies "He was a devastating witness who has the [district attorney's] case on life support," said Mark Bederow, a New York City-based defense attorney who is closely following the case. He said special prosecutor Hank Brennan conducted an "excellent" cross-examination, showing Barros and the jury images of Read's taillight taken over the course of the day, before police took her SUV, but defense attorney Alan Jackson performed equally well in redirect questioning. Sign Up To Get The True Crime Newsletter "The sum total is that Barros is 100% unequivocal: the taillight he saw on January 29 was not anywhere near as destroyed as when the [Massachusetts State Police] had it," he said. GET REAL-TIME UPDATES DIRECTLY ON THE True Crime Hub Grace Edwards, a Massachusetts defense attorney who is also following the case, called Barros' testimony a "bombshell" and said the surprise in trial 1 was "a clear Brady violation" – referring to a rule that prosecutors must share exculpatory evidence with the defense. "The fact that a police officer drove to the Omni Hotel to meet with the defense team of a defendant on trial for murder clearly indicates he wanted to tell his story," she told Fox News Digital. Dr. Judson Welcher, an expert for the prosecution, explained to jurors how he found that O'Keefe appeared to have been struck in the arm by the back corner of Read's SUV before he fell to the ground and fractured the back of his skull. Christina Hanley, an analyst with the state police's crime lab, testified that investigators recovered plastic fragments from O'Keefe's clothing that were a match with the broken taillight or something made of the same material. Read could face life in prison if convicted of the top charge, second-degree article source: Plow driver testifies he saw no body in snow during crucial hours in Karen Read murder trial
Yahoo
04-06-2025
- Yahoo
Traffic Alert: Work on Mullin Street in Watertown continues
WATERTOWN, N.Y. (WWTI) – Work on Mullin Street in the City of Watertown continues as crews get ready for the big paving project. According to the city's Department of Public Works, Mullin Street will be closed between Washington St. and Sherman St. starting at 8 a.m. However, the road should be re-opened by the end of the day. Drivers are asked to seek alternate routes or use caution if having to travel through the area. Where is Marty McFly's guitar? Search is on for 'Back to the Future' prop Worried House spending hawks could face moment of reckoning on Trump megabill Man arrested for trespassing at Mar-a-Lago told police he wanted to marry Trump's granddaughter New York Democrats close ranks around Hochul amid deputy's primary revolt Traffic Alert: Work on Mullin Street in Watertown continues Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
