DOH Seeking Information to Establish Statewide Fallen Worker Memorial for Highway Safety

The West Virginia Division of Highways is seeking assistance from the public in order to establish a statewide fallen worker memorial for highway safety to honor those who lost their lives while performing their jobs.

The first step toward success of this project is to collect the names of those fallen workers. WVDOH staff have been able to track work zone fatalities through the mid 1970’s and continue to research job related deaths at the state archives. The DOH is now reaching out to the public for any information that could help us honor the fallen.

For inclusion on the memorial, the deceased must have been an active full-time or part-time employee of the Division of Highways, Department of Highways or the State Road Commission.The death must have been from a work-related accident or injury. The names of the honorees, once permission is granted by their families, will be enshrined on the memorial. This will include employees who died from1921 to the present.Room will be left for names to be added, although we continue to campaign for no more work-related deaths on West Virginia roadways.The memorial’s design will be selected from entries submitted by WVDOH employees.

This effort has been spearheaded by WVDOH District 3 staff. After a fellow employee, Randy Bland, was fatally struck while performing his job in a work zone, a committee gathered to look at ways to honor Randy’s sacrifice. In doing so, they found that there is nothing, statewide, that honors the many men and women who have made the same sacrifice.The committee arrived at the idea to construct a memorial that honors all state highway transportation workers who died performing their jobs.The memorial will be a placed at the Williamstown I-77 Welcome Center where family members, friends and colleagues can reflect on their loss and where the traveling public can become more aware of why safety is of the upmost importance by reflecting on the sacrifices made by those honored.

Please assist our efforts by gathering and forwarding names, a brief synopsis of their accidental death, and any available family contact information for any workers meeting the criteria. Information can be sent by email to Candice.M.Caviness@wv.gov or by mail: