The timing stinks

Imagine fleeing from Nauvoo and getting stuck in a construction queue or being shunted off to a detour!

Maybe that's why they fled Nauvoo in the dead of winter!
 

Helping hands

There are lots of ways that missionaries can give service. Tearing up roads is probably not one of them.

We forced some of these

Yeah, it's Star Wars Day! Once again we've taken liberties with the latest Star Wars movie and turned them into messages about being safe in work zones (because May is Work Zone Safety Awareness Month, don't you know).

That should do it with our public service messages for now. We'll return to our regularly scheduled program tomorrow! Be careful out there, and may the force be with you!

I may add one of the videos as well...

Exploring some more

Just a couple more from Explore Provo.

If you're a comics nerd like me, you may be interested to note that these were originally drawn using ancient technology — Radiograph pens on Bristol board, and a lot of the shading is done with ziptone film. It's so much easier nowadays with Photoshop!

Working it

With May being Work Zone Safety Month (I know it's marked on your calendar, isn't it?), I thought it might be good to revisit some of my Explore Provo cartoons. These were done as public service announcements during a project to rebuild University Avenue in downtown Provo — a couple of decades ago!

It's May, and you know what that means

We interrupt our regularly-scheduled sketchbook for these public service announcements.

As you undoubtedly know, May the Fourth is Star Wars Day (as in "May the Force be with you"). We at the Oregon DOT decided it would be fun to take advantage of that date, because May is also Work Zone Safety Month. So we have about a dozen memes that we're sending out on our social media accounts (@OregonDOT on Twitter and /OregonDOT on Facebook) to reinForce (see what I did there?) the message.

Here are a few samples.

But wait! There's more! Tune in tomorrow for some additional ads — and may the Force be with you!

Monday Sketchbook: Back to School

It's back to school time around here, and I just happened to stumble across one of my old sketches for Explore Provo. The University Avenue reconstruction project had progressed to a point right in front of Provo High School right at the same time that school was about to begin. We were able to work with the school district to work out access to the school. And wisely, we chose not to run this cartoon.

Under construction

May is Transportation Safety Awareness Month, so I figured we ought to at least have one mention of work zone safety.

Monday Sketchbook: Tales from the road

We just got back from a road trip, and there's nothing like driving hundreds of miles to get one's mind thinking of cartoon ideas. These, of course, are some that didn't make it past the sketchbook --

In Idaho there are several signs that say "game crossing." Animal crossing signs are usually more specific, like "cattle," "deer" or "elk." Why the Idaho DOT used the not-quite-generic "game crossing" I don't know, but I'm pretty sure I'm not the first person to envision this:


As we crossed into northern Utah, there are several interchanges that were developed for ranchers, not a specific town or city. They're labeled "ranch exit." So what else do they offer besides ranch?

This one is almost more of an editorial comment. In Oregon, when the sign says to slow down to 55 in the construction zone, most drivers slow down to 55. In Idaho the speed limits are a little higher, and traffic stays pretty close to the posted construction speed. In Utah, however, driving is more of a competition -- if you get there first, you win. It doesn't help that I-15 along most of the Wasatch Front is under construction. All I can say is, thank goodness for the HOV lanes and a V8 engine!

But wait! There's more!

I'm actually surprised that more of these don't disappear from construction zones. Not that I'm advocating that... Just sayin'...

Orange cone season!

Yesterday at the Oregon Department of Transportation we held a press conference to announce the beginning of the summer construction season -- between Memorial Day and Labor Day.

Our goal this year is zero fatalities in work zones. Last year in Oregon there were nine. The odd thing is, the people who get injured or killed the most in work zones aren't the workers. It's drivers. And the most common cause of work zone crashes? Inattention.

So, please, this construction be careful when you see the orange cones. Slow down, pay attention.

This has been a public service message from this comic strip. Thank you.