A Special Tour of the South Region By Jana Lambert, Bryan, Texas I would like to tell you a story about a boy and his love and fascination with road construction;
specifically, pilot cars and flagging. His name is Rowan and he fell in love with Knife River during one of our widening projects near where he lives. A few weeks ago, I received an email from a young lady named Jenny. She told me that she works with an 11-yearold autistic boy named Rowan, who became very passionate about road construction when one of the roads in their area underwent repairs for over a year. He went from being very upset and frustrated by the delay to becoming friends with all the flaggers and getting excited when he got to follow the pilot car. She also said that when they finished the work a few months ago, he began to miss them terribly and started watching pilot car instruction videos on YouTube. He was also pestering her to buy him a stop/slow paddle and advanced warning signs. She asked if there was any way they could stop by our facilities in Bryan one day and take a little tour of the plants. Well, we were happy to oblige! We arranged a tour with her and Rowan on a Friday afternoon. When they arrived, he could hardly contain his excitement. I have to say that his excitement was very contagious! We first presented him with his own hardhat and safety vest. T
