'Happy Flagger' brightens up orange barrel-lined roads

BLUFFDALE — Somewhere in middle of a thousand orange barrels stands a woman who will dance for you.

And if she's not jiving to her own beat when you whiz past her along the construction-muddled section of Redwood Road, she'll at least flash a smile and throw you a wave.

Three dozen other flaggers along the road-widening project wave from time to time and occasionally bust a grin, but Jullyn Doyle is the only one who has impressed commuters enough to earn the widespread alias, "the happy flagger."

"Of course I know her," Lehi resident Erin Broadbent said while shopping in Saratoga Springs. "Everybody does. She's good for a bad day."

Maybe "everybody" is an exaggeration, but Doyle's popularity could extend to the roughly 10,000 drivers the Utah Department of Transportation says pass her during one eight-hour shift.

So how can such a petite woman, who might push 115 pounds with rocks in her pockets, create such a big stir?

For morning commuters, she may be the first smile of the day. For other motorists, she's a pleasant break in the 10-mile-long stretch of orange barrels.

"I just know how frustrating it is to sit in traffic," Doyle said from the side of the road. "I just want to make people as comfortable as possible."

Apparently her charm is appreciated.

Minutes before the Deseret News stopped to chat, a woman pulled over on the dusty road and gave Doyle a box of Belgian chocolates with a thank-you card signed by the woman's kids in colorful irregular letters.

"Your smile makes the road brighter," the card said. "It's the sweetest tune in world."

Doyle has received several gifts, all of them sentimentally saved as tangible encouragement to continue her exhausting mission of making strangers smile.

Fellow flaggers don't seem to mind her recognition; several of them extolled her for cheering them up as well.

"She's so dope," said flagger Nick Record. "I don't how to explain her, but she's awesome."

Doyle wasn't always throwing the thumbs-up at strangers or beaming with such optimism.

She's a single mother of six children, ranging in age from kindergarten to college, and for the past few years she's battled a fierce drug addiction that's landed her in and out of jail several times.

Then, two years ago, Springville-based traffic control company Sageland Services gave her a chance at a steady, decent-paying job in spite of her crime-riddled past, Doyle said.

Despite the $12.75 hourly wage she earns controlling traffic, Doyle said she still needs food stamps to take care of her family.

"I'm just glad Sageland put a single mom to work," she said, sitting on a tailgate, resting her legs. "I love my job. And I would challenge other employers to hire working moms, too."

E-MAIL:jhancock@desnews.com