The Golden Gate Bridge received its fair share of coverage last week with the announcement of $5 million in funding for a suicide barrier and news of carpoolers making the switch to FasTrak on the bridge.
On Wednesday the Marin Independent Journal reported that the Metropolitan Transportation Commission’s Programming and Allocations Committee approved $5 million in funding for the design of a suicide barrier on the Golden Gate Bridge. The full commission is expected to approve the money on July 28, and the Golden Gate Bridge Board of Directors would accept the funding when it meets Aug. 13. The barrier’s full price tag is $45 million and would take 18 months to build. The suicide barrier would have a stainless steel cable net extending 20 feet below and 20 feet from the side of the span that would collapse slightly if an attempt was made. The collapsing of the net would make it difficult to get out and from there the use of a “snooper” truck with an elongated arm would collect the jumper. An estimated two dozen people jump from the Golden Gate Bridge each year and more than 1,300 people have done so since it opened in 1937.