RALEIGH – The following are highlights from this week at the N.C. Department of Transportation. The stories below are also featured in
NCDOT Now, the department’s weekly newscast.
NC F1RST Commission
As North Carolina’s demographics shift and new transportation technologies emerge, NCDOT Secretary Jim Trogdon has formed the N.C. Future Investment Resources for Sustainable Transportation Commission --- known as the NC F1RST Commission.
The group, made up of experts in various professions, will meet over the next 18 months to research the impacts of these changes on the state’s transportation investment system and recommend changes to our current investment strategy.
Introduce a Girl to Engineering
Only 13 percent of the engineers in the United States are women. To help change that statistic, NCDOT has partnered with Women’s Transportation Seminars-Raleigh to host “Introduce a Girl to Engineering Day.”
This week, high school aged girls from Wake, Johnston, Rowan and Northampton counties participated. They heard from NCDOT engineers about their daily duties, necessary job skills and what the future of women in engineering could look like.
Work Zone Safety Awareness
Last year, there were more than 7,300 crashes and 32 deaths in work zones across North Carolina. The primary causes: speeding and distracted driving.
As the busy construction season begins, the Governor’s Highway Safety Program and local highway divisions held events across the state as part of Work Zone Awareness Week. The events served to remind drivers to help do their part to keep work zones safe.
When driving in a work zone, remember:
- Don’t tailgate the car in front of you;
- Pay close attention to signs and work zone flaggers;
- Obey the speed limits in and around a work zone; and
- Do not change lanes.
No loss of life is acceptable, so let’s all do our part.