NCDOT will soon install guardrails where 5 teens died in a crash on Capital Boulevard

The spot where five teens died when the SUV one of them was driving hit a bridge abutment on Capital Boulevard in the fall of 2021 will soon have a guardrail.

N.C. Secretary of Transportation Eric Boyette has approved a contract to erect guardrails at four places in Wake County. One of the guardrails will run along Capital in front of the concrete abutments supporting the Fairview Road overpass just north of downtown Raleigh.

It's not clear whether a guardrail would have saved the lives of the teens. Police estimated that Kamari Strayhorn, 17, was going 80 mph when the Lexus SUV hit the abutment. After a long straightaway, southbound Capital bends to the left at the Fairview Road bridge, and Strayhorn went straight into the abutment, apparently without braking, according to a Raleigh police crash report.

Strayhorn and the four other boys, ages 13, 14 and 17, were not wearing seat belts. The crash took place about 6:15 a.m. on Oct. 17, 2021, a Sunday.

The Fairview Road bridge abutments are just a few feet from the pavement, where the speed limit is 45 mph.

The three other guardrail projects involve places where creeks are exposed and present a hazard, said NCDOT spokesman Aaron Moody. They are on Buffaloe Road near Beaverdam Creek in Raleigh; Victory Church Road near Upper Barton Creek, north of Interstate 540; and Rogers Road east of Heritage Branch Road in Wake Forest.

NCDOT expects to install about 1,650 feet of guardrail at each location, Moody said, for a total cost of about $150,000.

NCDOT and the City of Raleigh identified the Fairview Road bridge as a good place for some sort of barrier not long after the fatal crash. After settling on guardrails, NCDOT then needed to weigh the project against numerous similar safety efforts across the state to determine when it would get done.

The secretary of Transportation approves dozens of small-scale safety projects statewide every month, including guardrails, turn lanes, warning lights and traffic signals.

Moody said the four Wake County guardrails approved this week should be installed by the end of the year.