Franklin Co. Commissioners Propose Flashing Sign For Slab Crossing Where Preacher's Wife Died

Wednesday, January 23, 2019 at 7:14 AM

By Mike Perleberg @mikedup84

Carol Jackson's vehicle was swept away by flash flooding on Pipe Creek Road on New Year's Eve.

The Pipe Creek Road slab where Carol Jackson died when her vehicle was swept away by rushing water on New Year's Eve. Google Street View photo.

(Franklin County, Ind.) - Flashing LED signs could be placed at a deadly creek crossing in Franklin County.

Carol Jackson, 63, died when her vehicle was swept away by flash flooding at the slab crossing on Pipe Creek Road near Metamora on New Year’s Eve. A slab crossing is a layer of concrete laid across a creek bed which allows vehicles to cross, but only when water is not rushing over it.

A warning sign at the crossing had been vandalized with spray paint the night Jackson, the wife of a local preacher, died.

The Brookville Democrat-American newspaper reports that Franklin County Commissioners plan to purchase two LED-trimmed warning signs to be placed at the slab crossing. The solar-powered signs with batteries for operating at nighttime are $1,600 each.

Commissioners plan to approach county council to request the funding needed for the LED signs.

Constructing a bridge at the Pipe Creek Road slab crossing would cost an estimated $2 million, according to the newspaper. There are 25 slab crossings in the county.

Preacher's Wife Dies In Franklin Co. Flash Flood