Kentucky Transportation Cabinet

Office of Public Affairs

For Immediate Release

Media contact: Chuck Wolfe
502-564-3419

Transportation Cabinet launches pilot project to improve traffic control at incident scenes
Traffic control kits will help emergency responders improve safety

FRANKFORT, Ky. (June 30, 2009) — The Kentucky Transportation Cabinet has launched a pilot project to improve traffic control at incident scenes along interstate highways in an attempt to reduce a special hazard to emergency responders and other motorists – secondary crashes.

The project will provide standard traffic control equipment to fire departments and emergency responders in the Frankfort area and those along the Interstate 65 corridor between Franklin and Elizabethtown.

“With this equipment and training, emergency responders will be able to provide an improved level of traffic control at incidents in these areas,” said Chuck Geveden, executive director of highway safety. “The goal of this project is to improve safety at the scene of the incident for both responders and the traveling public.”

Highway crash site management and traffic control training was held today at the Bluegrass Community and Technical College Lawrenceburg Campus for 28 fire commission instructors, who will distribute the traffic control kits and train first responders at the selected locations. The training is provided through the University of Kentucky Transportation Center and the Kentucky Fire Commission.

The kits include: warning signs on a fluorescent pink background, portable sign supports, traffic cones, flagger paddles and high visibility safety vests.

The $100,000 project is funded through the cabinet’s Highway Safety Improvement Program (HSIP), which aims to achieve a significant reduction in traffic fatalities and serious injuries on public roads through the implementation of infrastructure-related highway safety improvements. The project’s effectiveness will be evaluated by the Kentucky Transportation Center.

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