Bridge suicides prompt calls for study
San Diego joins Coronado in support of feasibility study for barriers, nets
Aiming to curb or prevent suicides on the San Diego-Coronado Bridge, San Diego City Council members endorsed on Tuesday a feasibility study to determine whether suicide barriers or nets could be installed to catch jumpers on their way down.
The two-mile bridge over San Diego Bay, which has connected San Diego and Coronado since 1969, has been the site of more than 360 suicides since it opened. And the numbers have spiked over the last four years.
The study would determine whether the state Department of Transportation could install nets similar to those San Francisco plans to add to the Golden Gate Bridge to prevent suicides there.
The Coronado City Council recently made a similar endorsement, and the nonprofit Coronado Bridge Collaborative has launched an online campaign to raise the roughly $25,000 they estimate the study would cost.
“This request will go a long way to informing the state Department of Transportation of our two cities’ interest in addressing this particular issue,” San Diego Councilman Todd Gloria said Tuesday.
Gloria said he believes something similar to San Francisco’s plan, which cost $76 million, might make sense in San Diego.
“This has real impacts on people’s and families’ lives,” he said.
San Diego officials said Toronto and Washington, D.C., have seen sharp drops in bridge suicides after installing barriers. Studies show that most people who attempt suicide don’t make a subsequent attempt if they are unsuccessful.
Rhonda Haiston, founder of the Coronado Bridge Collaborative, said she plans to hire an independent engineering firm to study potential barriers or nets, and then present those findings to the state Department of Transportation for review and analysis.
Gloria suggested he and his colleagues should make contributions so the study can be completed by next summer. To donate, visit https://www.gofundme.com/notonemorelife.
