The joke that there are two seasons in the Midwest — winter and construction season — can often feel like a reality in Wisconsin. As road projects and home construction sites continue to pop-up and remain through the warm months of the year, it’s important to be mindful of the crews and vehicles who share the road with you.

Feeling inconvenienced by construction-related slowdowns can be distracting or lead to road rage. Instead of letting construction get the best of you and cause you to crash and suffer injuries, you can do a few simple acts to prepare for driving through construction sites this summer.

Slow down

There are usually several warning signs that you are approaching a construction site. These can be literal, fluorescent road signs or other context clues like traffic cones or dirt piles. The best thing you can do when you see the signs are to slow down. That way you are a lot less likely to bump into any traffic cones or hurt anyone.

Be in the know

Whether you are taking a short trip to your local grocery store or taking a long road trip, a little planning ahead can be useful. Specifically, it could be helpful to have an app to alert about road closures, so they won’t come as a surprise as you approach them. The Wisconsin Department of Transportation makes it easy to locate nearby roadwork and closures on their 511 site and app.

Take a detour

Sometimes road closures may reroute you on a detour. Other times you might find yourself driving alongside road projects on city streets or highways where construction crews have blocked off lanes or cut lanes down in size. Avoiding hazards of construction sites, like having to watch out for construction workers, construction hauling vehicles and debris, can be hectic. So, one easy way to avoid all the hassle, is to take alternative routes whenever they are available.

Instead of letting construction interrupt your summer, working around it and planning ahead can make for easy, summer cruising.