Golden Gate Bridge to fit suicide nets
Print Edition
TRANSPORT authorities in the United States on Friday agreed to fund the installation of anti-suicide netting on the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, an official said.
The management authority of the iconic structure agreed to pay part of the US$76 million needed for the “Golden Gate Bridge Physical Suicide Deterrent System Project.”
The rest will be funded by federal and state authorities, said Denis Mulligan, general manager of the Golden Gate Bridge Highway and Transportation District.
Construction of the system, which will provide netting extending 6 meters on either side of the bridge, is due to be completed by 2018, he said.
The netting will be suspended 6 meters below the sidewalks, which run along either side of the bridge, which is 2.7 kilometers long — making the total length of netting 5.4km long.
More than 1,400 people have fallen to their deaths from the bridge since it opened in 1937, including a record 46 suicides last year, Mulligan said.
He said that the authorities have been considering various safety alternatives for about the past decade.
On the decision to choose the anti-suicide netting, Mulligan said: “Of all the options, this has the least visual impact. If you drive across the bridge you won’t see it.
“At the vista points at the two ends you will notice it, because you will look out straight at it, along the length of the bridge,” he said.
“On the sidewalk you will not notice it, unless you’re leaning way over the side.”
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