Illinois DOT to use sensors to catch work-zone speed violators

The Illinois DOT believes static speed sensors can do the work of a mobile van.

Two years ago, the agency launched a work-zone speed limit enforcement campaign by using moving fans that would record and capture violators moving through the jobsite. The speeders then received a citation in the mail. Today, IDOT is trying speed sensors located before and in the work zone to nab the heavy pedal pushers.

IDOT and the Southern Illinois Asphalt Co. have placed the new devices on a rubblization project on northbound I-57 that starts at the Franklin-Jefferson county line and runs a total of 8 miles in southern Illinois. Computers will calculate the time it takes a vehicle to move through the zone, and the Illinois State Patrol is expected to monitor the area 24 hours a day to nab the speeders based on the readings gathered by the sensors. Approximately 40,000 motorists moving through the jobsite daily makes it the busiest outside of the state of Chicago.

“Because of the heavy traffic in this location, we feel the extra money to implement this is warranted,” said IDOT Engineer Keith Miley.