Slow down!

That strong message was sent by the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation and other first responders during a media session at the intersection of Route 309 and Route 443 in West Penn Township on Wednesday.

“We’re here to just bring awareness to the traveling public,” said Chris Kufro, PennDOT acting District 5 executive.

“We’re out here and working. You’re going to see a lot more activity and just in nature, a lot of activity going on from us and other people working on the road.”

PennDOT representatives spoke about work-zone safety, as its crew worked on the roadway adjacent to Leiby’s Ice Cream House & Restaurant outside of Tamaqua.

You’re seeing a lot of people speeding through these work zones,” Kufro added. “Keep space between each other, take your time, don’t be in a rush and be aware of your surroundings. Be present in the moment.”

The roadwork in West Penn should last roughly a week. Kufro explained it’s a core maintenance project, which includes roadway patching and some milling operations.

“They’re not doing the whole roadway, but they are getting the bad spots. It’s a common operation stretched out over a long distance. You see the cone sand trucks set up where the men and ladies are working,” Kufro added.

State trooper David Beohm talked about Pennsylvania’s Move Over law, put into effect earlier this year, which according to the PennDOT website, requires drivers approaching an emergency response area who are unable to safely merge into a lane farther away from the response area to “pass the emergency response area at a speed of no more than 20 miles per hour less than the posted speed limit and reasonable for safely passing.”

An emergency response area is where an emergency vehicle has its lights flashing, or where road crews or emergency responders have lighted flares, posted signs, or try to warn travelers.

“It has stiffer penalties,” said Beohm. “If you’re just out driving on the road, and you see a firetruck, tow-truck, PennDOT, road service, you have to get out of the lane and go around them and give them that opportunity to work.

“Not everyone gets to work in a safe environment. … You have to work with traffic buzzing behind your back. It’s not fun at 30 mph, let alone at 55 or 60. It’s good they made the penalties worse now, maybe people will slow down.”

In August, PennDOT is set to perform milling and paving on the opposite side of Tamaqua on Route 309.

“It’s definitely needed,” said Tamaqua Borough Manager Kevin Steigerwalt.

“We would like to see all of 309 and all of 209 through the borough resurfaced. I understand that the state’s funding is limited due to the pandemic. And my understanding is that is eventually they’re planning to do all of 309 in the county line. That’s what we’ve been told.”