The city of San Francisco has completed the installation of two stainless steel nets on both sides of the Golden Gate Bridge as part of a campaign to prevent suicides.
City officials approved the project more than a decade ago, but constant delays have prevented the suicide prevention barriers from being completed.
On Wednesday, officials announced that the 20-foot-wide net was installed on each side of the 1.7-mile-long bridge to prevent jumps. There have been nearly 2,000 deaths since the bridge was built in 1937.
Dennis Mulligan, general manager of the Golden Gate Bridge, Highway and Transportation District, said during this week's milestone event that the suicide prevention barriers installed are “already working as designed.”
In 2023, there was a significant decrease in people falling from the bridge, an annual average of 30 to 14, and these deaths occurred in the areas where nets were not yet in place.
He explained that the stainless steel cable net was intended to act as a deterrent and those who tried to jump further would be seriously injured, a local ABC News affiliate reported.
“It’s like jumping into a cheese grater,” he said. “It's not soft.” It's not rubber. It doesn't stretch.'
He added: “We want people to know that if you jump when you come here, it's going to hurt.”
The stainless steel mesh that was installed on both sides of the Golden Gate Bridge. On Wednesday, city officials announced the completed installation
Since the Golden Gate Bridge was built in 1937, nearly 2,000 people have jumped to their deaths, but since the nets were installed, the number of suicides has dropped significantly in 2023 alone
Kevin Hines, now 42, was 19 years old when he survived a suicide attempt by jumping off the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco. Hines is one of 36 people who survived a fall from the Golden Gate Bridge
“We installed a continuous physical suicide barrier along the entire length of the 1.7-mile bridge on the east and west sides,” Mulligan said. “The bridge is sealed.”
The nets will be installed 20 feet below the bridge deck. They are made of marine-grade stainless steel and can withstand the harshest elements such as high winds, salt water and fog, Mulligan said.
Cars driving over the bridge will not see the barriers, but they will be visible to pedestrians standing near the tracks.
Mulligan said before the installation was complete, some tried to jump off the bridge but instead fell into the net and crews helped them.
However, he said a handful of them managed to jump from the net into the sea and died.
Kevin Hines, now 42 and suffering from bipolar disorder, was 19 when he jumped from the Golden Gate Bridge and miraculously survived in September 2000.
Hines is just one of 36 people who survived the jump from the landmark.
For decades, Hines, his father and a group of other parents who lost their children on the bridge campaigned tirelessly for a barrier but faced resistance.
Some argued the nets would compromise the integrity of the bridge and impair the majestic views of the Pacific Ocean.
Other critics claimed that if someone is determined to take their own life, they will find another way.
Hines said: “Had the net been there, I would have been stopped by the police and immediately got the help I needed and never broke my back, never broke three vertebrae and never would have been on the path to being on that I was.”
“I am so grateful that a small group of like-minded people never gave up on something so important,” said Hines, who works as a suicide prevention advocate.
The nets will be installed 20 feet below the bridge deck. They are made of marine-grade stainless steel and can withstand the harshest elements such as high winds, salt water and fog, Mulligan said
Dayna Whitmer's son Matthew jumped off the Golden Gate Bridge in 2007. She believes that if the net barriers had been on the bridge at the time of his attempt, he would have simply run away
The project to build nets around the bridge began in 2008 and in 2014, Golden Gate Bridge, Highway and Transportation District officials approved the $76 million project, but construction costs jumped to $224 million Mulligan told ABC News.
The project's two main contractors filed a lawsuit against the district, alleging deficiencies in the government's design of the networks and deterioration of the bridge's maintenance platforms, which led to an increase in the construction fee.
In October, the bridge district filed a countersuit, Mulligan said. A hearing on the issue is scheduled for June.
The Bridge Rail Foundation, whose mission is to end suicides on the Golden Gate Bridge and a major supporter of Nets, cited a study from Harvard University and the University of California Berkeley that said most survivors do not will try to take his own life again, the news agency said.
One of those believers is mother Dayna Whitmer, who tragically lost her son Matthew when he jumped to his death from the bridge in 2007. His body was never found.
The heartbroken mother told ABC News that if the nets had been there during her son's suicide attempt, she believes he would have been discouraged.
“When they get to the point where they can’t do it anymore, they just throw up their hands and walk away,” she said in part.
“And I think he would have.”
If you or a loved one need help, call the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline on 988.