Idaho Transportation Department worker killed by semi truck
Idaho Transportation Department employee Mark Reinke was struck by a semi truck and killed Thursday morning while working on a stretch of U.S. 20 in southeast Idaho.
Reinke, 56, was driving a backhoe and had his seatbelt secured when a semi truck traveling westbound on US-20 about 5 miles outside of Arco hit him from behind. He died around 7 a.m., according to an ITD news release.
Reinke had started working for ITD last summer. He is ITD’s 40th employee to die on the job since 1960.
“At ITD, we value every single employee, and losing any one of them is like losing a member of the family,” said ITD Director Brian Ness. “Our thoughts and prayers go out to Mark’s loved ones, and to those in District 6 who had the privilege of working with Mark.”
The Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates that from 2003 to 2017, the number of road work-related deaths averaged 123 per year.
