West Virginia Department of Transportation State Highway Engineer Jacob Bumgarner spoke Thursday at the West Virginia Welcome Center near Williamstown to remember the 58 WVDOT highway workers who have lost their lives on the job in conjunction with National Work Zone Safety Awareness Week. (Photo by Brett Dunlap)

WILLIAMSTOWN — West Virginia highway officials want drivers to remember that the people who work on the roads around the state are people with families they want to go home to every night.

The West Virginia Department of Transportation (WVDOT) held a memorial ceremony for the 58 state highway workers who have lost their lives on the job at the West Virginia Fallen Workers Memorial at the West Virginia Welcome Station near Williamstown just off of Interstate 77.

The ceremony was held in conjunction with National Work Zone Safety Awareness Week which is commemorated nationally every third week of April.

“We all want to raise awareness of every driver’s responsibility in every work zone every time,” said WVDOT Spokesperson Jennifer Dooley. “Every time you drive through any work zone, heads up, phones down, attention on the road and follow the speed limit.

“This memorial means a lot to every Department of Transportation worker in West Virginia. Many of us know somebody with a name on that memorial.”

There were 58 traffic cones, hard hats and safety vests put up around the West Virginia Fallen Workers Memorial at the West Virginia Welcome Center outside of Williamstown. It commemorates the 58 West Virginia Department of Transportation employees who lost their lives while doing their jobs and reminds drivers to drive safely through work zones as these men and women are working. (Photo by Brett Dunlap)

She remembered Glenn Lough, a West Virginia Division of Highways engineer who lost his life in 2017 and left behind a family, including two daughters.

WVDOT State Highway Engineer Jacob Bumgarner highlighted the number of their workers who wore orange this week to promote work zone safety.

“It should be something that should be in our minds every day as we travel through this great state of West Virginia and so on,” he said. “We want to make sure that when we are in work zones, we slow down and we remember these are work areas for those who repair and try to improve our roadways.”

Highway officials are encouraging people to think about what they are doing when they are driving.

“Pay attention and don’t have any distractions,” Bumgarner said. “Make sure you get through work zones safely every day.”

The West Virginia Fallen Workers Memorial at the West Virginia Welcome Center outside of Williamstown. The statue was created in the image of Randy Bland, a West Virginia Division of Highways crew chief from Wood County, who died in 2015 on the job. The West Virginia Department of Transportation is urging drivers to pay attention in work zones and help keep highway workers safe. This week is National Work Zone Safety Awareness Week. (Photo by Brett Dunlap)

Friday, April 25, is the National Day of Remembrance. There was a display of 58 traffic cones, safety vests and hardhats set up around the statue at the welcome center to commemorate the highway workers who lost their lives while on the job. The statue itself is in the image of Randy Bland, a WVDOH crew chief from Wood County, who died in 2015 on the job.

Highway officials also paid tribute to James Dean Harper, an employee of the West Virginia Parkways Authority, who died April 14, 2025 after being struck and killed while patching potholes on the West Virginia Turnpike.

“With that tragic loss, there is a wife and a young child that is without their husband and father,” Bumgarner said. “That just breaks my heart that he didn’t make it home that night.”

WVDOT has not had to put another name on the memorial this year, but they have had a close call with a worker in Mason County, Randall Randolph, who got hit last January while patching a pothole. He is still recovering but he was able to make it to a recent event at the State Capitol and was able to speak about his experience.

Overall, within the past couple of years, the WVDOT has had a couple of close calls involving workers in work zones in the Clarksburg and Weston areas.

“It was a testament to all of us to be aware and do the right things in work zones,” Bumgarner said. “We want to reiterate the importance of work zone safety.”

The WVDOT’s slogan this year is “Respect the zone so we all get home.”

“That is important each and every day for our workers that are out on the road to make it home to their families as safe and sound as they left that morning for work,” Bumgarner said. “While folks traveling may think of a work zone as an inconvenience, it is a place where these folks work to do the good work they need to get completed.

“These folks are members of the community, they are family members, brothers, sisters, husbands, wives and when they don’t come home there is a big impact to a community and a family. We just want everyone to be very careful, don’t be distracted and drive through the work zones safely.”

WVDOT officials are encouraging people to wear orange this week to remember to drive responsibly through every work zone as well as be mindful of the people who work there and the families who care about them.

“Good things take a lot of time, but bad things can happen really fast,” Dooley said.

Brett Dunlap can be reached at bdunlap@newsandsentinel.com