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FDOT to spend $400K to fence off dangerous sections of train track after Seminole County boy's death

SEMINOLE COUNTY, Fla. — Nearly three months after 13-year-old Marcees Kilpatrick was struck and killed by a SunRail train in Seminole County, the Florida Department of Transportation announced a plan to make areas of train track safer.

FDOT has allocated $400,000 to put up fencing in the area where Kilpatrick died in the area of McCracken and 18th Streets.

Along with the 2,400 feet of fencing planned there, 11 other areas also determined to be trespassing hotspots will have fencing installed to keep people from crossing the tracks.

Work is expected to start in January 2018.

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Area residents, though, would prefer to see the money spent on bike paths or a pedestrian walkway.

“A child has been killed and still they want to put a fence? What kind of fence? They want to put up a chain link fence?” Sanford resident Francis Oliver asked. “How long you think that is going to stay?”

There are ways to make the area safer that don’t involve fences, Oliver said.

“You got two subdivisions there, both are black, and you are going to fence them off and divide the community when already the buses have been taken out of the community?” he asked.

The Florida Department of Transportation released the following statement about the plan to put up the fencing in Sanford:

"Cut-through foot traffic over the mainline railroad tracks in this area is potentially dangerous. This fencing is being constructed for the safety of residents, train passengers and train crews."

Jeff Levkulich

Jeff Levkulich, WFTV.com

Jeff Levkulich joined the Eyewitness News team as a reporter in June 2015.