Each April, National Work Zone Awareness Week (NWZAW) brings attention to motorist and worker safety and mobility issues in work zones. To collaborate with this event the AGC of South Dakota (AGC of SD) conducts a statewide billboard coloring contest, featuring the artwork and work zone safety messages created by South Dakota fourth grade students.
“We have been partnering with schools across the state for the past 11 years and have found students are very creative and have great ideas for safety messages,” said Lindsay Willits, deputy executive vice president of AGC of SD . “The billboards have become an excellent way to convey those messages to the public and recognize young students across our state.”
The contest submissions have grown over the years with more than 500 pieces
of original work zone safety artwork
received annually. AGC of SD members with active jobsites throughout the state select the school’s artwork they would like to review and then chooses the winning artwork to be displayed on a billboard near their respective jobsite(s).
To celebrate the winning submissions, press events are held at winning students’ schools, where the winners are announced. Each winning submission receives a mini-billboard and $25, and their teacher receives $100 to be used for classroom supplies or a party.
AGC of SD participated in NWZAW, April 17 – 22, 2023, by hosting two school press events and a press conference in partnership with the South Dakota Department of Transportation (SDDOT), the South Dakota Highway Patrol and the City of Sioux Falls. This year, school press
events were held at Humboldt Elementary School in Humboldt, South Dakota and Sonia Sotomayor Spanish Immersion School in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. The 2023 winning artists were Annika and Payton. The NWZAW press conference was held at the 41st Street DDI (Diverging Diamond Interchange) project being constructed by D & G Concrete Construction
in Sioux Falls.
With such a large number of creative and colorful messages, AGC of SD also selected a few of the other drawings used to create a work zone safety-themed calendar that is distributed to members with their annual membership dues renewal. The calendar is also shared and distributed to the many different SDDOT offices.
“We encourage each school to use this annual contest as an activity to teach students about the importance of work zone safety,” said Toby Crow, executive vice president of AGC of SD. “Fourth grade tends to be when kids become aware of their surroundings and can often be heard in the backseat, telling their parents to ‘slow down!’ It is our hope that their ‘slow down’ messages carry over into construction work zones!”