A rendering shows what the constructed net, about 20 feet below the bridge's edge, will eventually look like. Courtesy of the Golden Gate Bridge, Highway and Transportation District
The Golden Gate Bridge Is a 'Suicide Magnet.' So Officials Are Adding a Net
7:13 PM ET
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The Golden Gate Bridge
has long had a reputation as one of America's most beautiful landmarks,
and also one of its deadliest. For decades it has been the "number one
location" for suicide attempts, with nearly 40 known people jumping to
their deaths in 2016 and about 200 more being talked away from its
ledges. Now officials are taking a $200 million step to change that.
On
Thursday, after years of debate and development, California officials
will commemorate the beginning of construction on a "suicide deterrent"
net that will span both sides of the Golden Gate Bridge. California Sen.
Dianne Feinstein and House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi are planning
to attend, along with families who have lost loved ones to fatal jumps,
marking the launch of a first-of-its-kind project by giving remarks and
planting flowers.
“The
Golden Gate Bridge is a source of immense pride to San Francisco. But
for too many families in our community, it has also been a place of
pain,” Pelosi, who represents the San Francisco area in Congress, told
TIME in a statement on Wednesday. She describes the barrier as "a
suicide deterrent system that will save countless lives" and "an
achievement years in the making."
Expected
to be finished by 2021, the project initially estimated to cost $76
million now has a price tag of over $200 million. Priya Clemens,
spokesperson for the Golden Gate Bridge, Highway and Transportation
District, says that increase is partly due to the "experimental" nature
of the project, which led designers to underestimate how much it would
actually cost to attach a net of this size across more than a mile and a
half of open water and windy air. While locals have floated the idea
of adding some kind of barrier since the 1940s, just years after the
bridge opened, discussions about the current project got started about a
decade ago. Suicide prevention advocates have propelled it.
When
the project is completed, the stainless steel mesh net will be located
about 20 feet below the bridge and stretch 20 feet out from its edges,
running the length of seven football fields. If a person jumped onto the
net, it would be unforgiving, Clemens says, perhaps leading to broken
bones. And a person could still find their way to a drop off its
upturned edge. But it is the net's existence, more than its ability to
catch, that officials hope will deter people from trying to jump in the
first place. The number of people attempting jumps has been increasing
in recent years, Clemens says, though it is unclear why.
Researchers
have tried to analyze the Golden Gate Bridge's tendency to draw people
who want to end their lives, sometimes after they've taken flights from
other parts of the country to do so. A 1970s study
noted that from the bridge's opening in 1937 up until that point, more
than 500 known people had leapt off its ledges. Trying to understand the
landmark's "fatal attraction," the researchers sought out interviews
with the roughly 1% of people who had survived.
Of
the six survivors the researchers interviewed, every one said their
plans involved only that spot and four of the six said they would not
have attempted suicide if they had been unable to jump from the bridge –
if, for example, there were a “suicide barrier” that prevented it. One
survivor said the beauty of the “readily available” bridge attracted
them. Another associated the jump with entering “golden doors” to a new
spiritual realm. The promise that the method would be effective brought
them, too. Because the site situated roughly 220 feet above the water
was already so famous for suicides, that reputation apparently became
self-perpetuating.
Similar
reasons for the Golden Gate’s unfortunate appeal were suggested in
studies conducted during ensuing decades. “The Golden Gate Bridge is an
iconic suicide magnet. For some, the bridge is an easily accessible site
— pedestrian access, a 4-foot railing, a bus stop, and a parking lot,”
write the researchers in a 2009 study published by The American Journal of Psychiatry.
“For others, the bridge is a romantic final exit. Some believe bridge
suicide is a painless death. One jumper reportedly left a note on the
bridge reading, ‘Why do you make it so easy?’”
Other
studies showed that structures such as the nearby Bay Bridge, which
spans from San Francisco to Oakland, do not have the same draw. Natural
landmarks, such as Niagara Falls and Mount Fuji’s “Suicide Forest” in
Japan, have also developed notoriety as places people go to end their
life, but studies have shown fewer numbers of successful attempts.
One study
noted that the total number of known suicides at the Golden Gate Bridge
was more than 1,300 by the late 2000s but estimated that with some
bodies washed out to sea and mysterious cars left unclaimed in nearby
parking lots, the actual number might be closer to 2,000.
Clemens
says that discussions in previous eras about adding a barrier were
stalled in part because officials insisted that any added structure
would have to stop suicides completely. Though they still hope that will
be the case, the "100%" criteria has gone by the wayside, as attitudes
toward suicide have shifted, she says: "People see it now as a public
health issue." Over the years, the bridge authority has increased the
number of trained officers patrolling the bridge, where signs already
encourage people to phone or text for help if they feel they're in a
crisis.
The
Golden Gate Bridge remains one of the country’s most popular landmarks.
The span has been crossed by more than 2 billion vehicles since the
opening 80 years ago. More than 10 million people visit the bridge each
year, about double the number that visit the Grand Canyon. Some local
tourism sites brag that it is the most photographed man-made structure
in the world.
The
fact that its looks will be changed – though with an eye to “minimal
visual impact” – has been a top design consideration as authorities
spent years working on the project. Previous suggestions that a fence be
built along its edges were scrapped as people complained that it would
mar the site and ruin the view. Though the steel was originally planned
to be painted the same rusty orange as the bridge, designers discovered
that leaving the stainless steel untouched actually did more to minimize
distraction, helping the net blend in with the water below.
"It's
hard to say why people have chosen this place," says Clemens,
suggesting that the "mystical" nature of the bridge on the edge of
Pacific Ocean may be part of the draw. But, she says, "that’s something
we’re working to stop."
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