January 9th, 2024
Courtesy of SFTGG and Board of Trustees Member Jason Cohen
By Rachel Swan, Reporter Nov 25, 2024 - San Francisco Chronicle
The scene played out many times at a general hospital in Marin County, always with palpable urgency.
An ambulance would radio from the Golden Gate Bridge, reporting that someone had jumped from the rail — and miraculously survived. At MarinHealth Medical Center, doctors would marshal all resources, said trauma surgeon John Maa.
“There was always a great level of preparation and concern whenever someone was brought in,” Maa recalled. “And a sense of dread.”
But in the last 10 months, MarinHealth surgeons have activated this emergency response only once. Crews finally finished constructing a huge net, woven from enough marine-grade steel to cover seven football fields. It took five years and $224 million to build, a process prolonged by the harsh environment, design complexity and a bitter lawsuit between bridge officials and their construction contractor, which settled this month.
Now fully installed, the net has largely been a success, bridge administrators say — even if it doesn’t save everyone.
As of Nov. 21, the Golden Gate Bridge Highway and Transportation District reported eight suicides this year, significantly less than the average of 30 each year from 2012 through 2023.
“The net is working as intended to save lives and deter people from coming to the Golden Gate Bridge to harm themselves,” said district spokesperson Paolo Cosulich-Schwartz. He noted that the net has served not only as a physical barrier, but as a deterrent as well. In a typical year before its completion, bridge security teams thwarted up to 200 suicide attempts. This year through October, they made 106 interventions.
Bridge district leaders called for patience — and a little faith — when they launched the project a decade ago, persuading the public that it was worth the time and money, and that it wouldn’t mar the beauty of an internationally-revered span.
Golden Gate Bridge suicide nets have been up for nearly a year. Are they effective?
Greg