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Readers have raised questions about DOT’s $50,000 plan to put a second safety fence on a pair of I-440 Beltline bridges over Crabtree Creek, where two people have fallen through a narrow gap to their deaths since 2005. (See Dec. 4 story and Dec. 8 letters from 1, 2, 3 readers.)

1) Why will it cost so much to erect a simple chain link fence along the bridge railing?

2) Rather than a vertical fence to prevent people from jumping or falling off the bridge, why not a horizontal net to catch them?

Terry Gibson, the state highway administrator, paused outside a legislative meeting room today to answer those questions.

1) COST. ... [MORE]

View Beltline @ Crabtree Creek in a larger map

Citing the Nov. 27 death of a man who fell through a gap between two bridges after stopping to aid drivers in an accident on Raleigh's I-440 Outer Beltline, state Transportation Secretary Gene Conti said today that DOT will add a protective fence to the bridge.

"We regret that this terrible accident occurred, and we’ll do whatever we can to prevent another such tragedy, here or anywhere else across the state,” Conti said in a speech to the Crabtree Rotary Club. ... [MORE]

View Beltline @ Crabtree Creek in a larger map

While investigators study the weekend death of a Willow Spring man who fell through a gap between bridges on Raleigh’s Interstate 440 Beltline, state Department of Transportation officials have launched a wide-ranging study to figure out how to prevent similar deaths on 17,000 state-maintained bridges across North Carolina.

“We’re trying to determine the magnitude of this problem, not just with this bridge but statewide,” Terry Gibson, the state highway administrator, said today. “I’ve got our folks across the state ... studying every bridge in the state that has a gap like this.”

Carroll Lee Eames Jr. of Willow Spring had stopped his car on the Outer Beltline Friday night to help victims of a three-car accident on the bridge over Crabtree Creek, between Six Forks Road and Glenwood Avenue.

A Raleigh police report said the three cars were in the second lane from the inside median, which includes a breakdown lane on the median shoulder. Eames was in danger of being struck by oncoming cars that swerved to avoid the disabled cars, and he jumped over a low concrete barrier on the inside of the breakdown lane. ...