The South Carolina Department of Transportation installed 470 miles of cable barriers on roads throughout the state in 2001, and that action has saved lives, according to officials.

The cable barrier program recorded more than 10,000 hits, or “saves,” between 2001 and 2006, according to transportation department officials.

An Upstate man, however, is dead after a cable barrier failed to stop a tractor-trailer from crashing into the opposite lane of traffic on Interstate 85 on Thursday. Richard Veres, 53, died at the scene of the collision on I-85 in Cherokee County.

South Carolina Highway Patrol officials said the driver of a UPS truck ran off the right side of the road, overcorrected and then crashed through the cable barrier.

One interstate crossover fatality was recorded in South Carolina in 2005. One such fatality also was recorded between Jan. 1, 2006, and Aug. 31, 2006.

In the year 2000, the last full year before cable median barriers were installed, 27 crossover fatalities were recorded on South Carolina interstates.

Hugh Atkins, chairman of the South Carolina Transportation Commission, said concrete barriers are better than cable barriers but also are more expensive. A mile of cable costs $40,000, he said, whereas a mile of concrete cost nearly $2 million.

“(Installing concrete barriers) was cost-prohibitive to our budget,” Atkins said.

U.S. Department of Transportation officials have reported that cable barriers demonstrate several advantages over concrete barriers.

“Cable median barriers are more forgiving than traditional concrete barriers and can be effective when installed on a sloping terrain,” according the federal transportation department Web site. “Collision forces are deflected laterally, thereby reducing the forces transmitted to vehicle occupants.”