Kellen Cloud’s line of work has always been dangerous.
For the better part of the past two decades, Cloud has worked at Green Mountain Flagging, a company that stations traffic controllers at construction sites around the state. He recalled when a coworker had their body pushed by an impatient driver, and when another had to jump out of the way of a truck that would not slow down.
“You have to be a little crazy to do this job,” he said with a laugh, during an interview last month at the company’s headquarters in Williston.
In recent years, though, Cloud said his job has gotten noticeably more dangerous. People seem to be driving more recklessly than in the past, he said — something data suggests could be a lingering impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. Meanwhile, data also shows more people are injured or killed in work zones today than a decade ago.
It’s a concern that led Cloud, along with many others in the state’s construction industry, he said, to support a state plan aimed at bolstering speed enforcement in work zones using relatively new technology: automated cameras.
The program, which Gov. Phil Scott signed into law in May 2024, would deploy cameras at a small number of highway work zones around the state over a period of 15 months. The cameras would capture photos of the license plates of cars going at least 10 miles per hour over the posted speed limit. After a review by a police officer, speeding drivers would be mailed a warning notice, and if they offended again, could face civil fines.
Under the law, the state was required to start a public outreach campaign about the use of the cameras on April 1, 2025, with a pilot taking effect July 1. But the program — which already exists in some form in more than 15 other states — has yet to materialize.
Vermont Agency of Transportation leaders have said they could not meet the pilot’s deadlines because no law enforcement agency has yet raised its hand to help out. Even though the cameras are automated, under the legislation creating Vermont’s program, a police officer must review the images the cameras collect and send out citations.
That delay has frustrated some legislative leaders in recent months. They’ve criticized Scott’s administration for failing to implement a program the administration supported — especially when there’s often little consequence for speeding through work zones now.
That’s because while police officers typically park near construction sites with their cruisers’ lights flashing, they’re encouraged to remain at their posts rather than leave to chase down a speeder, several state officials said.
Joe Flynn, Vermont’s transportation secretary, said his agency is committed to getting the pilot program underway, even though it will be on a slower timeline than the Legislature dictated. He said officials are confident the cameras could change drivers’ behavior; data from Pennsylvania, for instance, shows speeding in work zones has dropped by 37% since that state first deployed a similar automated system five years ago.