An Oklahoma Turnpike Authority worker was hit by a trailer in the westbound lanes of the Muskogee Turnpike near mile marker 6 in Wagoner County, authorities said. Both the worker and the driver of the truck pulling the trailer were transported to a hospital by EMS following the crash.
According to News On 6, the truck driver swerved to avoid another vehicle that had slammed on its brakes, authorities said. The truck reportedly lost control and spun sideways, causing the trailer to strike the OTA worker, who was located on the side of the road at the time.
Bobby Stem of the Association of Oklahoma General Contractors released a statement in response to the crash, urging drivers to slow down and pay attention in work zones. Stem said drivers should take work zones seriously, noting that highway workers are people standing just feet away from moving traffic.
A Pattern of Deadly Turnpike Work Zones
This is not the first time an OTA crew has been struck along Oklahoma's turnpike system. In August 2025, Oklahoma Highway Patrol said a semi-truck hit two Oklahoma Turnpike Authority workers near eastbound mile marker 315 in Ottawa County, according to KJRH. In that crash, the worker on foot, Zac Rinehart, was killed, and the other worker was transported to a hospital in Joplin, Missouri, after the semi left its lane, struck the worker on foot and then hit the OTA vehicle holding the second employee.
A separate report identified the deceased worker as 36-year-old Zachary Rinehart of Vinita, who died from the collision, per KOCO. That account states a tractor-trailer traveling eastbound drifted off the roadway and struck Rinehart while he was on foot collecting debris. A second employee, 25-year-old Colton Armstrong of Welch, was critically injured when the tractor-trailer struck a parked OTA vehicle and was also taken to a hospital in Joplin.
Officials Call It a Rare and Preventable Tragedy
That Ottawa County crash involved the death of an Oklahoma Turnpike Authority worker, KOCO reported in a separate article. The outlet also reported that the turnpike worker was killed and another remained in critical condition after a semi-truck driver drifted off the road in a work zone while attempting to retrieve a dropped device.
The dangers facing highway crews extend well beyond Oklahoma's turnpikes. An SUV crash in an Interstate 40 construction zone killed two related highway workers while another relative witnessed the collision, according to News 9. The same report found that 17 people were killed in Oklahoma highway work zones in the cited year, a 55 percent increase from the year before, with 767 workers injured in work zone collisions statewide.
A Nationwide Toll on Roadside Workers
The risk is not confined to Oklahoma. Citing ARTBA data, Construction Equipment Guide reported that an average of 118 workers were killed each year in roadway work zones from 2014 through 2023, and that more than 500 workers have died while performing roadside duties since 2020 alone.
Details on the driver's condition, the exact circumstances leading up to Friday's crash near mile marker 6, and the status of the OTA worker who was hit remain limited. Stem's plea for drivers to slow down and pay attention echoes similar warnings issued after past turnpike work zone crashes, as officials continue to stress that highway crews work just feet from passing traffic.
