Suicide Deterrent Construction Under Way

While visiting the Golden Gate Bridge and surrounding area, observant sightseers may notice scaffolding in some sections of the bridge and the beginning of installation of support arms 20 feet below its roadway. These will support suicide-deterrent nets, a major construction project that began in April 2017 (see Psychiatric News, September 13, 2018).

Friends and family of suicide victims and mental health advocates, including APA, lobbied for many years for a suicide-deterrent structure. Funding for this $211 million project was cobbled together from various federal, state, and local government sources as well as from charitable donations.

“We’re at the beginning of the long arc of a big project,” said Paolo Cosulich-Schwartz, Golden Gate Bridge Board spokesperson. “It’s exciting that we’re at the beginning of the construction phase, and we’re happy to see progress. But we’re still a couple of years out from completion.” The project is on track for completion in early 2021, he added.

Since the Golden Gate Bridge opened more than 80 years ago, more than 1,700 individuals have died by suicide from the bridge, whose side railing is only 4 feet high. In fact, the bridge’s death count is one of the highest of any bridge in the world, second only to the Nanjing Yangtze River Bridge in Nanjing, China. When completed, the suicide-deterrent net at the Golden Gate Bridge will be the largest in the world. It was modeled after similar systems installed in various locations around the world that have proven to be exceptionally effective deterrents to suicide over the past two decades. ■

More information on the Suicide Deterrent System here.