These should be in every

building available for use by

March 1st. Please begin as

soon as you can with the

opportunity to enhance

safety in our Region. Once

the cards are received by

the safety committee, they

will be analyzed for oppor-

tunities to make our work

place safer. This commit-

tee will also provide you

with safety messages, re-

sults from observation

cards and statistics of our

workplace related to our

behaviors. Safety Committee

members include: Dan

Hinckley, Dave Black, Nick

Peterson, Erick Cox, Brent

Beach, Laurie Huntsman,

Robert Dowell, Rod Asay,

Matt McDonald and Gary

Orton.

ZE-ROads

We’re all familiar with the

term ZERO Fatalities. As

UDOT does all it can to

reduce fatalities on our

highways, we should also

consider our vision of Keep-

ing Utah Moving. A critical

goal to make that happen is

zero injuries not only on

the roads but in our offices,

shops, vehicles, heavy

equipment and work are-

as. Each of us can contrib-

ute to a culture that can

help Keep Utah Moving by

Recognizing and Observing

behaviors that can lead to

injury. Think of half of ZE-

RO as dependent on

me. Recognizing and Ob-

serving unsafe behaviors can

help us Achieve Depart-

ment Safety. As we seek

to implement our

R.O.A.D.S. behavioral

based safety training

throughout the state, re-

member how much we

depend upon and care for

each other and how many

people are depending on

us to Keep Utah Moving

and to see us return home

safely each day.

Each building in the Region

will be receiving observa-

tion card stations where

the cards will be available

and returned after com-

pleted. Remember that it

isn’t an “observation”

without a “conversation”

Rick Torgerson

Director What Does ROADS Mean to You?

Region Four Newsletter

February 2015 Region Four

EMPLOYEE APPRECIATION AWARD Would you like to recognize an employee for going above and beyond? Submit them for an Appreciation Award and they will be recognized with a cool UDOT shirt! To submit someone, fill out the Google Drive Form. Re-gion Leadership will select winners. The form can also be found on the Region website/Forms.

Strategic Goals:

Zero crashes, injuries and fatalities

Preserve Infrastructure

Optimize Mobility

Mission:

Innovating transportation solutions that strengthen Utah’s economy and enhance quality of life.

UDOT Vision:

Keeping Utah Moving

P A G E 2

2014 Construction Projects

SR-18 Redhills Parkway Interchange Cedar South Interchange DDI

US-89 Manti to Keller Lane

SR-128 Guardrail Safety

P A G E 3 R E G I O N F O U R

Christmas Day Casualty A Region Four employee was transported to the Beaver Valley Hospital following injuries he sustained when the 60,000-pound snowplow he was operating slid sideways and tipped over near south-bound I-15 Manderfield Exit.

The fully loaded truck was pushing snow to the side of the road while exiting the interstate when the tires were caught in the soft dirt to the side of the paved road and flipped over on its side, breaking the windows and injuring the driver.

The driver was treated for some lacerations and chest injuries. The truck itself was totaled. It was an old-er model that would cost an estimated $160,000 to $180,000 to replace, which is actually much cheaper than the newer models purchased in more recent years. Insurance is expected to cover the cost.

Fire in the Hole

In November

2014, there was

another rock slide on I-70. Most of the rocks were

too large for the crew to move. Von Bowerman and

Justin Woodard assisted the Salina Shed with the blast

to remove the rocks.

In September 2014, The employees of the R4 East District Blasting Crew and the Blanding Crew came together

quickly under the direction of Area Engineer Jim Chandler to clear a massive rock slide on SR-95 at Comb Ridge.

A Silver Barrel was awarded to those involved from the Blanding, Monticello, Moab and Thompson Crews.

P A G E 4

Letter to the Editor

R E G I O N F O U R N E W S L E T T E R

Von Bowerman

and Steve

Taylor from

the Thompson

Shed received

a Silver Barrel

for this post in

the Moab

Times

March 2 Cedar City Heritage Center/DCFS

March 3 St George Workforce Services

March 4 St George Dixie State University

March 5 St George Human Services

March 16 Price USU Eastern (Price Campus

March 17 Price Workforce Services

Register for your free myHealtyUtah account at

www.healthyutah.org/myhu/

Upcoming Healthy Utah Testing Sessions

Help from the mainte-nance guys….

Yes, that is what I need-ed when I was just pass-ing through your neck of the desert a couple of weeks ago. I was traveling alone for the first time through southern Utah in what we call “no-man’s-land.” When a man is just what I needed when my check engine light went on! At first I thought, “What is the point of stopping? There is absolutely noth-ing I can do about it any-way.” Then another deeper voice inside of me said “pull over now!” I was lucky to have at least an exit available. It was exit 204. I believe it was the Cisco exit. No services!

I was praying that I had stopped in an over-abundance of caution. I got out, checked the tires, 1-2-3-4, check! Looking good! Al-most there — I decided to check the oil too. That would be the worst thing to need out here, at the 204. I pulled out the dip, or is it the stick? Either way, I cleaned it and reinserted it, and checked it again. It was dry. Absolutely no oil in my car! I immediately texted my hus-band back in Denver, because I was sure he could help me somehow. I was only 250 miles away. I’m sure he could slip away from work for me, right? OK, plan B had to be formed immediately. Off in the distance, practically at the horizon, I saw a little white truck with yellow lights on top. This was going to have to be the next best thing

to having my husband race out to save the day. I got back in my car and flashed my brights at him, praying again (did I men-tion I pray a lot) that he would save me! He slowly made his way up to me. He checked the dipstick again, just in case some oil had magically been hiding in there. Another prayer. This nice stranger was able to procure some oil from another road maintenance man and get me back on my way in around 30 minutes. I was saved! By angels on the road maintenance crew working near the exit of 204. In the middle of “no-man’s-land” I found real men! Thank you guys! —Donna Allred Aurora, Colorado

R E G I O N F O U R P A G E 5

Date: Thu, Sep 25, 2014 at 8:41 PM

Subject: Wildlife underpasses

Hi my name is Garrett Fresh. I am 14 years old and I love hunting. I

have a deer and cow elk tag this year. I am very excited for hunting. I

watched KSL's report about the deer underpasses. I just wanted to say

thank you so much for doing that, it will really help me and Utah.

Thank You 11/24/2014 Dear UDOT employees, Two weeks ago I took my family on a trip to Southern California to enjoy some time at Dis-neyland and to hit a few beaches. I just wanted to tell you how enjoyable our drive through Utah was. The roads were smooth, well-maintained, well-marked and just overall really enjoyable to travel along as we made our way to California. The same couldn’t necessarily be said for the other state highways. Thank you for all you do in keeping our roadways safe, smooth and clean. I know it takes a lot of work and a lot of hours to maintain so many road-ways and highways. And I know you usually just hear from people complaining—but not today! Todd Hollingshead Orem

Sunday, March 9th, 2014

Hello,

Just wanted to give a big "thank you" to one of your rest area

employees. On February 4th around 8am, I was at the Parago-

nah rest area on southbound I-15, taking a nap in my car. The

man snowblowing the sidewalks waited until I was awake be-

fore running the machine in front of the car. I could see

where he had started down the sidewalk, then turned around

and worked on a different area because he must have saw me

snoozing. When I awoke and began to stir, he started back

and finished the sidewalk.

Thanks!

Jared from Wyoming

I received a call on 1/13/15 from a

truck driver that wanted our Snow

Plow Drivers to know how much he

appreciated their good work. He said

that Utah has the best roads when it

comes to winter driving. Our people

have the roads cleared of snow better

than anywhere he has been. He asked

that I get the word out to them that

he really appreciated all that you do to

keep drivers safe.

Keep up the Good Work!

Wendy Nez

March 14, 2014

My name is Joe Kolasky and I reside in Washington, Utah. I would like to take this opportunity to thank UDOT and

District Engr. Jim McConnell for all the effort that he put forth getting the guard rail and restraining cable installed along

the South side of I-15 between Green Springs Dr. and the end of the North bound onramp at St. George Blvd. As a

resident I spent countless time stopped at the signal on Red Cliffs Dr. and Mall Dr.. I could see these semi-trucks 30

above me and 50 foot away traveling at 75 miles per hour, and the only protection I had was a chain link fence. I knew

this was a safety issue that needed to be addressed. I contacted the District Engr. and conveyed my concerns to

him. And after about 2 years I was informed that some funding had been found and that UDOT agreed that it was a

safety issue and installed guard rail & restraining cables, job well done, again I thank UDOT for making the citizens in

Washington and St. George a little safer.

Joe Kolasky

P A G E 6

Annual Conference CANstruction

R E G I O N F O U R N E W S L E T T E R

Nevada Flooding Impacts R4 on US 93 in Nevada and SR-56 in Utah. Traffic was routed to SR-56 at exit 59 in Cedar City. During this operation, all traf-fic that was backed up on I-15 in both areas was routed through these areas with the intersection of SR-56 and I-15 and the intersection of SR-18 and SR-56 being heavily impacted. Much manpower and equipment was neces-sary to manage these inter-sections, provide positive driver feedback and direc-tions, and to accommodate the heavy traffic. Once the traffic was rerout-ed onto I-15, it became ob-vious that a 22 mile section of SR-56 was severely damaged and would not hold up through the winter snow plow opera-

On September 6th, an excep-tionally large thunder storm washed out a portion on I-15 near Glendale Nevada, ne-cessitating the closure of I-15 through this area for a period of 10 days. With this closure, travel to and from Las Vegas to Salt Lake City along I-15 was im-possible without rerouting to local road networks in Utah and Nevada. Immediately after the event, UDOT crews in the St. George area assist-ed Arizona in clean-up opera-tions in the Virgin River Gorge to facilitate travel through that area to Mesquite on the South. It became necessary to route traffic on local roadways to facilitate travel and freight movement. A detour was put into place which routed traffic

tions. Crews from Cedar, Cedar Mountain, Long Val-ley, Kanab, Purgatory and Beryl Junction worked swiftly to repair the road-way for the winter season. This immense undertaking, fast response, and safety oriented management pro-vided a viable route for I-15 traffic through these areas.

The Region’s submission won awards for “Best Use of Labels”

and “Peoples Choice”

The Region 4 “Zero Fatalites: Don’t Drive Sauced!” structure

was created by contrasting two different brands of tomato

sauce in order to delineate each letter in “zero.” The structure

is composed of over 7,000 cans. The simple but stable struc-

ture is double sided to reinforce UDOT’s Zero Fatality goal.

Remember don’t drive “sauced,” distracted, drowsy, aggres-

sive, or without proper restraints!

Thanks to our sponsors Lochner, Jones & Demille, Redmond

Minerals, Sunrise, Fresh Market and Civil Science.

R4 Team:

Laurie Huntsman, Captain

Brandon Weight

Bryan Blood

Cameron Gay

Clayton Wilson

Cody Marchant

Sam Grimshaw

Devin Monroe

John Fraidenburg

Jeff Bunker

May Anderson

Rhett Arnell

P A G E 7 R E G I O N F O U R

Who Retired in 2014

Ed Pectol

Cedar City Supervisor Kathy Ryan

Green River Supervisor

Not Pictured:

Norma Daniels - Accounting Tech III, 25 Years

Jay Ekker – Thompson Lead, 23 Yrs

David Johnson – Colton Supervisor, 30 Yrs

David Theobold - Purgatory Lead, 23 Yrs

Dell Tait – Long Valley Trans Tech II, 31 Years

Kerry Savage—Transportation PM, 28 Years

Terry Wiseman—Milford Supervisor, 40 Years

Layne Slack

Area Supervisor

42 yrs

30 yrs

30 yrs

Grant Bagley

Cedar City Lead

20 yrs

Gary Lamoreaux

Cedar Paint

40 yrs

Teri Peterson

Safety Loss Coordinator

35 yrs

George Leighton

Safety Loss Coordinator

32 yrs Lewis Rasmussen

Mt Pleasant Lead

24 yrs

Dave Babcock

Fleet Manager

39 yrs

Delta High School Helps Spread the Word

P A G E 8

R E G I O N F O U R N E W S L E T T E R

9th graders from all over central Utah participated in the Career Fair held at the Sevier

Valley Center in April. The Richfield Maintenance Station displayed a snowplow and

loader outside while the Preconstruction group got technological inside with 3D model-

ing and traffic simulation to better understand project proposals and make better deci-

sions to meet project goals; 3D surfaces, survey & GIS and how we can overlay project

data into maps to help us see our project impacts; and Paleontology and modern day

artifact displays and showed a video about how to make stone tools.

Thanks to:

Pam Higgins

Cameron Gay

Riley Lindsay

Brady Roberts

Kade Murdock

Lance Mooney

Mark Laws

The Governing Youth Council at Delta High School was awarded the first place prize of $1,000 for their participation in the Zero Fatalities Program through the UDOT. Each month GYC student members plan and carry out an activity, highlighting the im-portance of wearing seat belts and driving safely. This year's activities included an assembly featuring Amberlee Snyder, who talked on wearing seat belts and overcoming obstacles; safe winter driving tips, passing out "Don't Drive Stupid" prod-ucts at the Junior Prom, and a variety of others. Also, Shaylee LeFevre put on a "Run to Remember" in memory of her broth-er Michael, as part of her Sterling Scholar projects. We want to thank all of the Delta High students who helped

or participated in these activities, as their involvement helped us win the $1,000. The money will go to help with future Zero Fatali-ties Campaigns to help remind our students to drive safely.

Troy Torgersen took this bison on November 17th

during a once-in-a-lifetime Hunters Choice Hunt on the

Henry Mountain Range.

It has come to our attention that the Region would like

to see more hunting pictures in the future. Send your

trophy pictures to Jami Gentry jami@utah.gov and they

may be featured in the next newsletter.

HUNTIN’ PIX Hunting Party: Lyndon Friant, Bret Sorenson, Lief Condie,

Daniel Torgersen and Troy Torgersen.

2015 Construction Projects Pin Project Status RT Begin End

11454 SR-7; Warner Valley to Washington Dam Road Under Construction 7 7 10

9991 US-89; Manti Under Construction 89 256 259

9993 US-6; Soldier Summit to White River Under Construction 6 211 215

10784 I-15; Pine Creek Climbing Lanes & ITS/ATMS Awarded 15 121 129

10786 US-6; Passing Lanes MP 273 to MP 290 Awarded 6 256 300

10787 I-15; Beaver Ridge Climbing Lanes Project Advertised 15 100 105

11514 SR-9; Arch Bridge to 500 N. in Laverkin Awarded 9 10 13

11522 I-70; MP 141.1 to MP 147 Awarded 70 141 147

11524 US-89; Jct. SR-12 to Panguitch Awarded 89 124 131

12437 SR-116; Y Connect to Mt. Pleasant Awarded 116 2 7

12187 SR-14; MP 13-17, Guardrail & Barrier Improvements Awarded 14 13 17

12188 US-163; MP 0.00-41.41, Install Guardrail Awarded 163 0 42

12463 SR-10; Castle Dale to Jct. SR-29 Awarded 10 38 41

12466 SR-56; Iron Mountain to Iron Springs Road Awarded 56 45 56

12483 I-15; Fillmore to South Holden Advertised 15 168 173

12484 US-163; AZ State Line to MP 11.015 Awarded 163 0 11

12486 SR-25; Fish Lake Road Advertised 25 0 10

12504 SR-24; Loa to Lyman Advertised 24 51 56

12845 US-50; Jct. SR-125 to Jct. SR-100 Awarded 50 93 108

12855 US-191; Blanding Cemetery to Devil's Canyon Awarded 191 52 60

R E G I O N F O U R P A G E 9

For more information on upcoming projects go to UDOT PROJECTS and search for projects in your area.

More 2014 Projects

I-15 Leeds 20 to 24

I-70 Yellowcat to West Cisco

SR-17 Shoulder Widening

I-15 North Beaver to Manderfield

MP 0—140 Barrier Guardrail

US-89 Kanab to Kanab Creek

Southern Parkway 4A

SR-6 Skyview to Tucker