Highway Safety 101: Don’t get lulled over

Technical Trooper Chad Crittenden pulls over to watch traffic near I-235 and Zoo Boulevard in Wichita.

By Tim Potter

Southcentral Kansas 

Public Affairs Manager

I’m belted comfortably into the passenger seat of a gleaming, heavily equipped Kansas Highway Patrol SUV. It’s one of those sun-drenched fall days when a driver can see for miles. It’s a perfect time for traveling, on highways engineered for ease and safety.

The person driving me around the Wichita area in a 2018 Ford Interceptor Utility is an expert driver -- Technical Trooper Chad Crittenden. He’s been patrolling state highways as a trooper for more than 16 years. He teaches defensive driving.

Yet, even on days like these, people still die or get maimed on Kansas highways.

Why?

“Complacency,” Crittenden says without hesitating. Complacency is a dominating factor in car crashes that he responds to in the Wichita metro area.

By complacency, he means the situation where a driver gets lulled into a false sense of security. They’ve never been in a bad accident. They assume the driver on the side road will not suddenly pull out in front of them. To compound the risks, they might not wear a seat belt. They might drive while on their cell phone, chatting, texting or fidgeting with the radio or comfort controls. So far, the multitasking has led to nothing tragic. So they keep doing it, eyes and brain diverted as they cruise at 60, 70, 75 … 

“We’re not as focused as we possibly should be,” Crittenden says. “You have to be looking here and there,” he says, his eyes scanning back and forth as he motors west on K-254 past a side road. It’s the same spot where two vehicles collided with fatal consequences a few months back.

According to Kansas traffic statistics, the by-far biggest single factor in crashes during 2017 was inattention.

That same year, most accidents occurred during daylight hours, 63 percent; in good weather conditions, 88 percent; with dry pavement, 87 percent; and where the road was straight and level, 77 percent.

To Crittenden, winning the game of safe driving starts with a mindset, a discipline – to always be prepared to survive when the unexpected happens. It includes practicing the most basic death-defying thing that people keep ignoring – wearing a seat belt.

How does he enforce safe habits?

From his driver seat near I-235 and Central, he zeros in on a small, white Nissan sedan because he can see that the woman driving it is not wearing her seat belt. She quickly pulls over after he activates his flashing lights, and he will issue a ticket for not wearing a seat belt but only warn her for not signaling a lane change.

When he tells her why he stopped her, she says about the seat belt, “I just left class. I think I forgot. … I remembered it when I saw your lights, though.”

He suggests that she stick a note on her dash to remind herself to buckle up. “Yeah, I guess,” she good-naturedly replies. “Please wear your seat belt,” he responds. “OK,” she says. “Thank you.”

Not all drivers react so politely. “Don’t you have anything better to do?” the rude ones say. Some still contend it’s their “right” not to wear a seat belt.

Technical Trooper Chad Crittenden stops a driver along I-135 for an expired license tag. For his safety with passing traffic, he stands to the passenger side of the vehicle while talking to the driver. 

In teaching safety, Crittenden urges his defensive-driving students to avoid the situation that often causes aggressive driving: leaving late and giving in to the urge to drive too fast and on edge. So he reminds his students to leave early and avoid the aggression and stress.

It comes down to this, he says: Patience saves lives. It translates to not speeding around every car, maybe waiting a second or two longer and passing safely, under control.

When he exits onto a ramp, for example, he checks his mirror to make sure someone isn’t closing in on him too quickly. He’s alert to the potential danger of impatient drivers.

And then it happens: Minutes after he talks about the importance of staying patient, while driving east on K-96 approaching Rock Road, he notices a car right behind his marked patrol unit.

The driver “is in a hurry,” he says. “She’s going to tailgate a trooper,” he exclaims, before she veers off onto the exit ramp to Rock, seemingly oblivious to or unfazed by the traffic safety enforcer in front of her.

She was lucky this time.

Another thing that should be part of the mindset, part of preparation for driving: Getting enough sleep. Crittenden views a drowsy driver as being just as dangerous as a drunken driver. The only difference is the legality.

So while teaching his defensive-driving classes, he asks his students how many of them got eight hours of sleep the night before.

Only a few raise their hands.

A wider U.S. 166 bridge at Arkansas City is progressing

Drone Footage of the progress on the U.S. 166 Bridge

By Tim Potter

KDOT South Central Kansas Public Affairs Manager

As KDOT’s project manager for the U.S. 166 bridge at Arkansas City, Robin Gregory has seen plenty of progress – and a copperhead snake up close – during construction of a 980-foot structure over the Arkansas River.

Gregory has watched crews work around flooding this summer, keeping the project in line for a November completion.

“We have fought mud,” she said. Before that, “I’ve seen these guys work in rain and snow.”

She’s had to stay nimble herself. One summer day, while checking flooding near a bridge abutment, Gregory encountered a copperhead snake just a few feet away. “I’m done!” she thought. The snake hissed. She retreated. “After that,” Gregory said, “everywhere I walk, I watch.”

It was just one instance in a 28-year career for the KDOT veteran. She is an Engineering Technician Specialist performing the duties of Construction Engineer with the District Five, Area Three office in Winfield.

The new bridge will offer travelers a wider east/west span over the river. It will replace a bridge built in 1937. The old bridge limited oversize loads because it was 22 feet wide; the new bridge will be 44 feet wide, with ample shoulders.

The new bridge is a steel-beam-supported structure, with nine piers across the river. It took a methodical process to drill through the riverbed and set the piers into bedrock.

With the main support structure in, crews have been concentrating on the deck. It takes methodical work and inspection, too. A precise number of steel reinforcing bars have been fitted into a crisscross pattern. The bars, coated with epoxy to keep them from corroding, are hand-tied together. A massive finishing machine consolidates concrete into the grid set inside the bridge formwork.

As Gregory walked over temporary decking on a recent day, she pointed out massive bolts that help connect the underlying structure. The bolts get checked to make sure they have the right tightness.

The bridge is a $6,368,390 project.

Gregory credited the primary contractor, A.M. Cohron & Son Inc., based in Atlantic, Iowa, with an office in Emporia. “They’ve been exceptionally good,” she said.

Area Engineer Andrew Wilson pilots a drone that regularly flies over the bridge, recording the progress.

For Gregory, the bridge will be her last project before she retires.

“I’m proud to have this be my last one,” she said.

KDOT Values Series: District mentors help employees grow and improve

By Deb Gruver, Public Affairs Manager, south central Kansas

When Robin Gregory, the Acting Construction Engineer in Winfield, needed some advice recently about a bridge replacement project on U.S. 166 in Arkansas City, she called District Construction Mentor John Gatz.

Gatz, who works out of the District Five office in Hutchinson, drove down to the project site to lend a hand – and some expertise.

“We talked about driving the piling on the abutments on that bridge and the PDA (pile driving analyzer) that was run. She wanted another set of eyes to look at it,” Gatz said.

Gatz and Gregory met briefly that day as construction crews continued work on the bridge over the Arkansas River.

 “A mentor is great to have, especially when it’s been a while since you’ve done something” such as a bridge replacement, Gregory said.

In addition to reviewing paperwork, “he helps build confidence too,” Gregory said of Gatz. “He’s very easy to talk to and gives me feedback on my inspectors when I ask about their work.”

District Five Construction Mentor John Gatz helped teach some classes recently at the District Five materials lab in Hutchinson, working here with Engineering Technician Alan Perry.

KDOT has District Construction Mentors in each of its six districts across the state. Their role is to share their experience, problem-solve and help Engineering Technicians and others improve their skills. The department began hiring mentors in about 2005 or 2006, said Kevin Palic, Field Construction Engineer.

“They help with training and improving consistency across the district,” Palic said of mentors. “They’re kind of an assistant to the District Construction and Materials Engineer and help train our ETs (Engineering Technicians) across the district.”

Mentors play an important role at KDOT and provide valuable knowledge to newer employees, Palic said.

“I think they’re a valuable asset to have in every district. Not very long ago not every district had one,” he said. “We made a push to make sure every position was filled.”

District Five Engineer Brent Terstriep said mentors are someone newer Construction Engineers and Engineering Technicians can turn to to bounce ideas off of, and “it’s really important to have someone who can work with people.”

Mentors also provide important help cross-training KDOT employees, Terstriep said.

Gatz, who has worked for KDOT for 17 years, recently helped teach some classes at the District Five materials lab in Hutchinson. He became the District Construction Mentor in April 2018.

Formerly an Engineering Technician Senior in Pratt, Gatz said “I’m getting more comfortable in this role. I’m not on a specific project all the time like I was before. I go to a lot more projects.”

The KDOT Values series focuses on specific standards and goals that the agency strives to reach so transportation in Kansas can continue to move forward. Every district in the state has stories that share how KDOT is achieving our core values and we are sharing a story from different parts of the state every week!

Roundabout project in Stafford County one of February's approved projects

KDOT's south central Kansas Area One Engineer stands at the junction of U.S. 50/U.S. 281, where the new roundabout will be built.  

Work is expected to begin this spring on construction of a single-lane roundabout at the U.S. 50/U.S. 281 junction in Stafford County. KDOT let the project recently.

KDOT's south central Kansas Area One Engineer Scott Mullen said that there were a number of factors that contributed to building a roundabout instead of an interchange. 

"This style of roundabout is being built with special ramps to accommodate the large number of oversize loads that move through central Kansas on US-50 and US-281," Mullen said. "These ramps will allow the large loads to move safely around the exterior, while cars, pickups and normal sized trucks can move quickly through the interior roundabout." 

Mullen said safety was another consideration. 

“The roundabout prevents T-bone accidents, which can still happen at an interchange,” he said, also noting that a roundabout is about half the cost of an interchange.

Roundabouts also are more efficient than interchanges as they keep traffic moving. Turning vehicles don’t have to stop.

The junction will remain open during the phased $5.2 million project.

To read more about the other approved projects, click here. 

Mapping history

Pages of Kansas transportation history – some yellowed, others wrinkled, all fascinating – reside in KDOT offices across the state. John Wiens, an Engineering Technician Senior, keeps watch over roughly 2,000 as-built completed construction plans for the South Central District Office in Hutchinson.

John Wiens, Senior Engineering Technician in District 5, views microfilm in the basement of the Hutchinson office, which is filled with old plans and documents. 

He holds the documents in high regard, believing that they deserve to be preserved.

“I’ve got plans that go back to 1919 – probably even some older than that,” said Wiens, who has worked for KDOT since 1979.

Wiens’ office also features dozens of metal file cabinets holding old project files – records such as contracts, payrolls and change orders. One document dated Feb. 15, 1934, about a K-14 project in Harper County shows the cost of a shovel at $1.19 and a gallon of kerosene at 6 cents.

A report dated Feb. 15, 1934, about a K-14 project in Harper County shows the cost of a shovel at $1.19 and a gallon of kerosene at 6 cents.

The Southeast District Office has a records vault filled with orange project diaries that inspectors have filled out through the years. In the Southwest District Office, KDOT staff members have discovered original bills from the construction of their building.

Shelves of orange project diaries that District 4 inspectors have filled out over the years are pieces of Kansas transportation history.

KDOT has digital files of project documents, but Wiens thinks there’s something to pulling out a plan and spreading it out over a wooden table.

He’s running out of room in his office, but maintenance staff is building him new storage.

Wiens keeps plans hung up on racks “to keep them in good condition instead of just rolled up and thrown in the corner,” he said.

Plans in the District 5 office are stored on racks to keep them in good condition.

“To me, I really feel like they’re important. It’s kind of like a library. It’s history. We have a lot of outside surveyors and engineers who call me daily wanting information from these old records. It’s invaluable, some of it.”

***

Watch for #TBT (Throwback Thursday) posts from the South Central District Office on Facebook and Twitter every week. 

#KDOTTUESDAYS Bridge replacement project wraps up on K-196 in Butler County

Side view of a bridge that is built over Whitewater River in Butler County. 

K-196 between the cities of Potwin and Whitewater reopened Dec. 14 after a project that replaced three bridges.

That portion of the highway – from I-135 in Harvey County to K-254 in Butler County – had been closed since February for the $2,726,000 project.

The new bridges provide 10-foot-wide shoulders to each lane, replacing structures did not offer shoulder room for the estimated 2,000 drivers who use them daily.

Bridge over Whitewater River in Butler County

The bridges are located between Northwest Diamond Road/K-196 Intersection and Northwest Tawakoni Road/K-196. King Construction Company Inc. of Hesston was the primary contractor for the project, which upgraded/replaced Dry Creek Bridge, Whitewater River Bridge and Diamond Creek Bridge.