The state has agreed to install median barriers along portions of Route 17 in Orange County following a spate of deadly accidents.

The state Department of Transportation said yesterday that barriers would go up from the New York State Thruway, Exit 16 in Harriman, to Interstate 84 in Middletown, starting in the spring.

Areas along the state road, which is routinely used by Orange County residents who work in Rockland and by Rockland residents heading upstate, already have barriers. The $10 million project would speed up the planned barrier installation by two years.

Six people have died along that stretch of road, which has a 65-mph speed limit, in the past 15 months. Earlier this month, a Congers man’s sport utility vehicle traveled across Route 17 in Chester, causing a three-vehicle accident that killed a Manhattan couple.

TJN