Notes on the Suicide Barrier at the Golden Gate Bridge

 
The guard rail that separates pedestrians on the Golden Gate Bridge from the outer ledge and the water 225 feet below is only 4 feet high. There is no suicide barrier.

For more than 50 years, the Golden Gate Bridge District has resisted the idea of building a suicide barrier on their bridge. They have cited various reasons – engineering, cost, effectiveness, and esthetic.

A decade ago, they instituted a “non-physical barrier” method of suicide prevention that includes security cameras, bike patrols, and hotline phones – but the suicide rate at the Golden Gate Bridge remains constant. There are roughly 20 suicides there each year.

The Bridge District authorities invested millions of dollars in a barrier between the pedestrian walkway and the roadway – though there has never been a pedestrian/vehicular fatality. They have also invested in the development of a moveable median divider, though head on collisions on the bridge are practically non-existent.

When the nature of this film was revealed, the Bridge District was once again forced to confront the issue of a suicide barrier. The press frenzy was intense. Vocal, and more organized outcry by family members and mental health care professionals prompted the authorities to authorize a study of a suicide barrier. Citing financial burden and hardship, the Bridge District made no provisions for this study in their budgets; grants by state and federal transportation bureaus provided nearly three quarters of the $2 million dollar estimated costs, but for almost a year the Bridge District refused to move forward until all the funds had been gathered. Finally, in March 2006, when news that THE BRIDGE would be shown at the Tribeca Film Festival and the San Francisco International Film Festival, the authorities voted to begin the study with the funds at hand. Additional state transportation funds were provided in April 2006 so that the study is now fully funded – but the results of the study are many months away, and the estimated cost of actually building a barrier is $25 million.

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