It's national Work Zone Awareness Week, and officials with the Indiana Department of Transportation are asking Hoosiers to slow down and drive safely as the state heads into roadwork season.

According to INDOT, the state plans more than 1,300 road projects for this year's construction season. Mallory Duncan, INDOT's strategic communications director, advised folks to map out their drive ahead of time so they can avoid or be aware of construction projects along their route.

"If you don't know where construction zones are and if you don't know they're in your path," she said, "that leads to frustration, it can lead to speeding, and then a whole host of other issues."

The state is investing more than $3 billion in new projects and preventive maintenance work for Indiana roads and bridges this year. It's all part of Gov. Eric Holcomb's larger Next Level Roads plan, which will invest an estimated $60 billion into state road improvements over the next two decades.

Duncan said there were more than 1,500 work-zone crashes in Indiana in 2021, five of which were fatal. She added that those numbers are about even with prior years, and weren't influenced by a reported spike in traffic fatalities across Indiana and the nation last year.

"We saw a huge uptick in speed on the roads," she said, "but as far as work-zone crashes, we've stayed pretty average. But any work-zone crash, any work-zone fatality, is too many."

According to the U.S. Department of Transportation, the first nine months of 2021 saw more than 31,000 fatal traffic accidents, up about 12% from the same period in 2020, and the highest fatality count for a "first nine month" period since 2006. Nationwide, INDOT reported more than 760 fatal work-zone crashes last year.

Over the weekend, a conference featuring thousands of local government leaders from around the U.S. wrapped up. A Minnesota mayor was in attendance and acknowledged the job requires a more dynamic approach to meet the needs of people in their communities.

This year's summit, hosted by the National League of Cities, was held in Kansas City. It featured a schedule covering such topics as closing racial wealth gaps and strengthening mental health care.

Jake Spano, mayor of St. Louis Park, felt it reflects an evolving mindset for municipalities.

"Mayors and council members that have been sort of responsible for things like, 'Are potholes filled? And is the water clean to drink?' are increasingly dealing with homelessness and housing issues, and mental health," Spano outlined.

He acknowledged the scarcity of mental health providers is a big challenge. But he added after taking on extra duties the past couple of years, local leaders have expressed a desire to share ideas for solutions. For cities like his, Spano noted aging infrastructure is another priority. This past summer, St. Louis Park experienced two water-main breaks, leading to backlash from some residents.

While insurance helped cover damage, the city also used American Rescue Plan funding to provide reimbursements to the affected property owners. Spano emphasized extra federal support has helped deal with these issues, but thinks local leaders cannot always wait for assistance, and they have to avoid closing themselves off from community partners.

"It's been a challenge, but I think what the last two years have reinforced is all of those relationships we built up with those in our community and school system and the business world, were really, really pivotal to getting through the last couple of years," Spano pointed out.

The conversations come as municipal leaders, especially in rural areas, noted they are facing more budget pressure these days, which affects services like public safety. In Minnesota, local government funding is likely to come up when state lawmakers reconvene next year with a major budget surplus in hand. Political analysts say with one party now in control, there might not be as much gridlock, but many other priorities will be competing for aid.

Visitors and residents of Maine count on the New England 511 website for real-time road and weather conditions, and a recent makeover could help even more people navigate their travels.

The website is now more mobile-friendly, helping drivers through Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont view the fall colors. It provides links to live cameras, construction alerts and traffic warnings.

Paul Merrill, director of communications for the Maine Department of Transportation, said the website gives users a heads-up, whether they are on vacation or making their daily commute.

"You might roll out of bed and say, 'Oh, there's a tree down on the road that I take to the office. It's going to take me a little extra time to get to work,' " Merrill noted.

The website address remains the same, but because of extensive changes, current users of NewEngland511.org will have to create a new account to continue receiving email or text notifications. Merrill said the "MyTrips" alerts generated by the old website will stop on Oct. 23.

Individual alerts will now come from a system called "My 511," with the goals of alleviating not only congestion, but the air pollution that comes with it.

Merrill pointed out the site is both old and new, with links to state permits for parks as well as information on bicycling through New England and where to find electric vehicle charging stations.

"Poke around, see what features are there, there's a lot," Merrill urged. "Kick the tires, see what's there, as you go in and set up a new alert."

He added it takes only a few minutes to set up a new account, which could save a lot of time down the road.

And the website is not only for road travelers. It lists all state and regional airports and flight information, as well as important details regarding train travel throughout New England and its extensive walking trails.

Merrill emphasized riders of Maine's ferry service, for example, can get important updates.

"That's really the quickest way to get information from the department if there's a ferry run that's canceled or delayed," Merrill stressed. "They are a big user base here."

The new website arrives as construction is expected to increase throughout New England due to new federal funding from President Joe Biden's infrastructure law, which designates some $400 billion over five years to help repair the nation's roads and bridges.

A proposed high-speed rail line could change the way people travel across Long Island and through the New England states. The line, conceived by the North Atlantic Rail Alliance the North Atlantic Rail Alliance, would provide easier access to such cities as Boston, Hartford, New Haven and Providence from New York.

Robert Yaro, president of North Atlantic Rail, said the idea grew from a discussion on how to cut travel times between New York and New England.

Yaro noted the concept is achievable, but finds the biggest challenge so far is a lack of faith in projects of this size.

"Well, there's this kind of general skepticism in this country that we can't do big things anymore," Yaro said. "The people just don't think we have the ability to pull off multistate, multibillion-dollar investment projects of this kind."

There have been-growing efforts to integrate high-speed rail into the U.S. system in recent years. Currently, the only contender in the country is Amtrak's Acela line, which averages only 82 miles an hour, despite a capability of 150 miles an hour. But with a cost estimate of more than $23 billion, the new route would need financial backing as well as public support.

The North Atlantic Rail route crosses several East Coast states, while most high-speed rail efforts have been state-specific. One example is California's high-speed rail service, which has languished since critics have said it isn't as necessary as its backers have made it out to be.

Yaro finds misconceptions about high-speed rail have prevented it from catching on in the U.S., and he thinks. He thinks what's missing is a lack of political will.

"We kind of accept the fact that we're stuck in traffic, and we've got slow roads," Yaro said. "And there's nothing we can do about it. This is part of the answer that, 'Yeah, indeed, we can do a darn thing about it.' The rest of the world is moving ahead with these projects, and we're not -- and it's putting us at an increasingly competitive disadvantage with the rest of the world."

He adds crossing Long Island Sound is one of the more challenging parts of the route. Previous proposals have involved bridges, but this one includes building a tunnel strictly for electric-train use. Though still in its infancy, Yaro said the new route could come to fruition within the next two decades.