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"Watch the signs, get off your cell phones, drive your car" is message during Work Zone Safety Week

(via Flickr/Mykl Roventine)

Officials with the Missouri and Illinois Departments of Transportation are joining efforts to highlight Work Zone Safety Week, which begins today and runs through Friday.

With the start of spring in St. Louis, crews will be increasing construction efforts, patching potholes and resurfacing roads.

Ed Hassinger is district engineer with MoDOT. He says last year in St. Louis there were 2,500 accidents in work zones and eight people died.

"And that's just too many," Hassinger said. "So we need people to watch the signs, get off your cell phones, drive your car when you're in a work zone and then everything will be okay."

Hassinger says fines can double for violations in a work zone.

Last week, I-70 was shut down in both directions after a gasoline tanker crashed into a MoDOT transportation truck in a work zone. Minor injuries were reported.