SCOTTSVILLE – A bridge in Allen County now bears the name of a Kentucky Transportation Cabinet employee killed on the span in 2015.

A few dozen KYTC employees – many from the Department of Highways offices in Bowling Green and Scottsville – and family members of deceased highway equipment operator Titus Elijah Morris gathered Friday morning under a red, white and blue tent beside the bridge over the West Bays Fork outside Scottsville, where a green highway sign saying “Titus Elijah Morris Memorial Bridge” was on display.

It would have been Morris’ 36th birthday, according to his brother Trey Morris.

“My brother was a simple man who loved his family dearly,” he said. “His free time was spent working with family on the farm, going to nieces’ and nephews’ ball games and tinkering on things.”

Trey Morris occasionally dabbed at his face with a tissue while quoting Matthew 5:4, which states “blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted,” and he led the assembly in a prayer.

He also thanked Rep. Wilson Stone, D-Scottsville, for filing a House bill calling for the bridge to be renamed in Titus’ honor.

Stone, who could be seen under the tent after the dedication comforting Titus Morris’ family members, said renaming the bridge gives more recognition to KYTC workers.

“We take those people for granted, I’m afraid,” he said. “We just wake up and expect the roads to be safe.”

Wes Watt, spokesman for the Department of Highways in Bowling Green, said Titus Morris died Dec. 22, 2015, shortly after a trailer being pulled by a vehicle swung into the oncoming lane and struck him.

“It’s just a small token of our appreciation that we can offer to someone who gave their life keeping our roadways safe,” he said.

Bowling Green’s Department of Highways Chief Engineer Joe Plunk, who spoke at the dedication and introduced the other speakers – including state Highway Engineer Patty Dunaway and Sen. David Givens, R-Greensburg, president pro tem of the state Senate – said a picture of Titus Morris displayed during the dedication was also hanging in the Bowling Green office next to a memorial for other fallen highway workers.

“The photo is a daily reminder to me of the love and the humor that Titus brought to the workplace each day. The photo is also a reminder of the dangers that our highway workers face every day,” Plunk said before stressing the importance of remaining vigilant on the road.

Josh Howard, a highway equipment operator who worked with Titus Morris almost every day, said he was working a different assignment when Titus Morris was struck.

At the time, Titus Morris was performing a routine job that requires clearing out drainage holes in the bridge, a job that normally only takes a few minutes.

“You never imagine in that five-minute period that kind of thing would happen,” he said.

Howard said Titus Morris’ outgoing personality made him well-known in the community. Howard speculated that quite a few people from the Scottsville area would come to see the new signs marking the Titus Elijah Morris Memorial Bridge.

“He was the life of the party,” he said. “He kept everybody laughing, everybody going.”

Titus Morris was not married and did not have children, according to his father, Jimmy Morris, who said his son’s death has made him more aware of the dangers that exist for road workers.

“Titus always made the comment ‘I have a dangerous job’ and me and his brother would always laugh,” he said.