NCDOT installs guardrails on Capital Boulevard after a 2021 crash killed five teenagers

RALEIGH, N.C. (WTVD) -- After a crash that killed five teenagers over two years ago, NCDOT contractors are putting up new guardrails on Capital Boulevard.

Raleigh police said there have been ten crashes at or near the bridge that carries Fairview Road over the southbound lanes since Fall 2021.

In October 2021, an SUV crashed into one of the concrete pillars, killing five teenagers inside.

According to our newsgathering partners at the News and Observer, state and city officials said the spot was not on any list for a guardrail until the crash.

NCDOT contractors are scheduled to begin the work on Tuesday.

Fairview Road was part of multiple guardrail projects in Wake County approved by the Secretary of Transportation last June, the News and Observer reported.

It's not clear if a guardrail would have prevented the 2021 crash.

But, the hope is the new guardrail will give drivers a visual cue about the bend in a road at that location and prevent any more crashes, NCDOT said.

All the boys killed in the 2021 crash were students.

• 17-year-old Kamari Strayhorn at South Garner High School
• Jeremiah Williams, 17, at Lumberton Senior High School
• Zymeer Dennis, 14, at Wake Forest High School
• Maikeal Freeman, 13, and Lebron Staton, 14, both eighth-graders in Raleigh.