State Police ramping up I-70 enforcement
A mile ahead of the Kammerer exit on Interstate 70 east, a trooper sits hidden. State police said they’ll employ disguises like state Department of Transportation vehicles to catch speeders in construction zones this summer.
State Trooper Matthew Jardine checks motorists using a camera and radar mounted to the dashboard of his cruiser.
The widening of Interstate 70 to three lanes and a multitude of other projects on the heavily traveled highway has state police ramping up enforcement on speeding and aggressive driving in construction zones.
Representatives from the state Department of Transportation and troopers from the state police barracks in Washington held a press conference Tuesday to warn drivers to be particularly careful this spring and summer – and into the next few years – as the proximity of work zones will sneak up on motorists.
“We’re talking about this early – the need for people slow down on I-70 – because there will be multiple work zones from New Stanton all the way through Washington,” said PennDOT spokesman Jay Ofsanik.
Most work zones will have a reduced speed of 45 mph and lane restrictions may be in place, according to Ofsanik.
“The big concern this year is how close these work zones are to each other in a 40-mile area. You’ll be getting up to 55 then need to get back down to 45 mph in a short span. Make extra time to leave. People will have to accept the fact they’ll almost be guaranteed delays along certain sections,” Ofsanik said.
A project to widen Interstate 70 to three lanes between the north and south junctions of Interstate 79 and reconfigure the Murtland Avenue interchange is underway, as are improvement at the Bentleyville and Centerville/Monongahela interchanges and rehabilitation of the Speers bridge that carries the highway over the Monongahela River. The New Stanton interchange is also being reconfigured. A map of all ongoing and planned projects can be found online at I-70projects.com.
Trooper Matthew Jardine said motorists may not realize the legal penalties for irresponsible driving in construction zones.
“Construction zone fines are automatically doubled. And the big one people don’t realize is if you’re speeding at 11 mph or over the speed limit in a construction zone, you’re looking at an automatic 15-day license suspension. And for more serious accidents with serious bodily injury or death, there’s a mandatory prison sentence of five years,” Jardine said.
“We’ll be near construction zones doing speed enforcement with radar, aerial enforcement with planes, operation Yellow Jacket with an officer in a PennDOT vehicle as well as using unmarked and unconventional vehicles to catch dangerous driving behavior and keep motorists driving safely,” Jardine said.