BERLIN, CT (WFSB) – A man endangered highway workers when he collided with a state Department of Transportation vehicle on Route 9 in Berlin, troopers said.

State police said 46-year-old Brian Ayers of West Hartford was drunk at the time.

It happened on Thursday around 9:15 p.m. Troopers were assigned to help at a construction project on Route 9 north near exit 34. They said a CT DOT supervisor’s vehicle was rear-ended by a driver in the construction pattern.

“The left lane of Route 9 northbound and the exit 34 off ramp were closed for this project, and a vehicle traveling north in the right lane had veered left inside the construction pattern and collided with the rear end of a parked DOT vehicle which had actively displayed emergency safety lighting,” state police said in their report.

Several troopers responded. The DOT supervisor reported minor pain from the collision but refused a ride to a hospital. The driver of the other vehicle, whom troopers identified as Ayers, was not hurt.

“Ayers was exhibiting clear signs of impairment on scene, to include the odor of an alcoholic beverage emanating from his person, an open alcoholic container within the vehicle, and that he was extremely unsteady on his feet,” troopers said. Ayers failed standardized field sobriety testing.

He was arrested and charged with endangering highway workers,illegal operation of a motor vehicle under the influence of alcohol/drugs in a construction zone,failure to maintain a proper lane in a construction zone,and first-degree reckless endangerment.