On April 8, 1996, a dedication ceremony was held for the Kansas Department of Transportation (KDOT) Employee Memorial near the city of Paxico in the northeastern region of the Sunflower State. This memorial, which is specifically located at the Paxico Safety Rest Area on Interstate 70, commemorates state highway employees who have lost their lives in work zone collisions.
The public officials taking part in the dedication of the KDOT Employee Memorial (also known as the Kansas Highway Workers Memorial) were Bill Graves, governor of Kansas; E. Dean Carlson, secretary of KDOT; and Colonel Lonnie McCollum, superintendent of the Kansas Highway Patrol.
Graves said to those in attendance, “This memorial recognizes not only the highway workers who were killed on the job, but all highway workers who have toiled or will toil in a work zone.” Graves further noted, “This memorial stands to remind all Kansans of the dedicated service provided by each and every highway worker.”
The KDOT Employee Memorial was designed by the department’s Landscape Section in the Bureau of Design. This memorial is comprised of 10 limestone panels altogether. A set of five of those panels is situated on the north side of the rest area, while the other five panels stand on the rest area’s south side.
Photo Credit: Kansas Department of Transportation
For more information on the KDOT Employee Memorial and those state highway employees who have lost their lives in work zone accidents, please check out https://www.ksdot.gov/offTransInfo/GoOrange/Memorial.asp
Transportation History 
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