Is Police Presence Lacking In Duluth Area Construction Zones?

Since we're fully in what many call construction season in the Twin Ports, just about everyone is fed up with the detours, single lanes, and not being able to keep up with what roads are open or closed.

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It's tough to swallow, but despite the frustration, it's necessary to keep our roads in repair and unfortunately that means down time.  Think about how many people complain online how bad the roads are, many the same people who dislike the construction.  Online complaining and self proclaimed road repair experts are for another day though.  I want to touch on driving behavior in construction zones.

While I rarely do anymore, at my other gig I worked on the sides of highways often enough, so I have an appreciation for the crews that do that work.  In our world of mobile phones while driving, and bad attitudes all around, people seem just more angry while driving.  To me, it seems like it's been worse since the pandemic started to dwindle into a memory.

With the angry, selfish, and aggressive driving comes speeding and cutting people off.  What I feel has been missing from those scenes, especially in or just before or after construction areas is law enforcement presence.

Seriously, I rarely see officers around those zones unless they are cruising through one, and very rarely see anyone pulled over near them.  I didn't reach out to any agencies directly but I spoke to several friends in law enforcement around the area from different branches, and they all said something similar.

"We don't have the staff to put as many officers as we should or would like on traffic duty".  This makes sence as it seems every department is hiring quite often now it seems.  While it makes sense, you can't help but wonder if they were to pay more, could they pull in more qualified candidates and justify the pay with being able to make more traffic stops and fine people who really deserve it?

I appreciate what our law enforcement officers do, and it's too bad the field is in such need of solid people who want to do that tough job.  I think until we see more enforcement of the aggressive driving and speeding, especially though construction zones, it's not going to stop.  Maybe traffic cameras like they use in Europe is something to look into if we can't provide enough enforcement on the roads.