The L.A. Times on the Aurora Bridge Suicide Barrier

Courtesy WSDOT

California has two bridges that are magnets for jumpers, the Golden Gate in San Francisco, and the Coronado in San Diego. Seattle's Aurora Bridge may be second or third in this tragic popularity contest, says the Los Angeles Times, but it has its own distinction in that so many miss the water:

That dubious honor ["despairing jumpers in danger of becoming deadly missiles"] is reserved for Seattle, where the 78-year-old Aurora Bridge runs 167 feet above the west end of Lake Union--half of it over land.

The story, "In Seattle, a suicide barrier for a deadly bridge," charts the difficult process of the city getting around to doing something about a bridge where over 230 have ended their lives. Since 1995 alone, Kim Murphy notes, there have been almost 50 jumpers, with over half hitting the ground outside of Fremont offices. Seattle FRIENDS says on average, there is a suicide every three months.

After more than a decade of discussion--how about banning pedestrians? How about building a caged walkway?--the utility of a suicide barrier finally overcame the barrier of aesthetics. For $4.6 million, "a series of thin, closely spaced vertical posts 8 feet, 9 inches high" is being installed, which we're getting at almost 50 percent off, thanks to the recession.

Gig Harbor's Massana Construction will be installing the fence this summer, and finish by fall. Lane closures (double lanes at night, single lanes during rush hour) will occur, but WSDOT thinks there may be fewer than they estimated.