Golden Gate Bridge options to prevent suicides GOLDEN GATE BRIDGE Extending railings, adding nets would change span's looks

Designs of new Golden Gate Bridge suicide barrier, including replacement rails and a net that extends out from the sides of the bridge. Courtesy of Golden Gate Bridge Highway and Transportation District Designs of new Golden Gate Bridge suicide barrier, including replacement rails and a net that extends out from the sides of the bridge. Courtesy of Golden Gate Bridge Highway and Transportation District Photo: GG Bridge Highway/Transportation, Courtesy Photo: GG Bridge Highway/Transportation, Courtesy Image 1 of / 3 Caption Close Golden Gate Bridge options to prevent suicides 1 / 3 Back to Gallery

Erecting a suicide barrier on the Golden Gate Bridge would cost between $25 million and $50 million and would alter the look of the historic span, bridge officials said Monday.

Bridge officials outlined five design options that were studied in an environmental impact document scheduled for release today. Two of the alternatives would extend the existing 4-foot rail so it would rise to 12 feet in height; two would replace the entire railing, one with a 10-foot-tall barrier, another with a 12-foot-barrier; and another calls for hanging nets on the sides of the bridge to catch jumpers after they climb over the railing.

The nets would cost $25 million, and the four other railing designs would cost between $40 million and $50 million. The estimated price is expected to rise the longer the proposed project is delayed, and building a barrier would be a challenge because the bridge district's piggybank for such a project is bare.

"There is no funding available now," said bridge district spokeswoman Mary Currie.

Each of the studied alternatives would retain the structural integrity of the suspension bridge.

All the potential barriers - which are intended to impede but not absolutely prevent suicide attempts - would change the look of the bridge, according to the draft environmental document.

The biggest visual impact for those looking at the bridge would be from the popular Vista Point outlook on the north end of the bridge. The railing options also would obstruct the views from the bridge for pedestrians, bicyclists and motorists. All the railing alternatives include what would amount to glass windows at numerous points along the 1.7-mile span to give bridge users unimpeded views when they look at the water and the landscape beyond.

The main visual difference in the railing proposals are whether the designs call for vertical or horizontal stripes. The study did not determine which design would be most effective in preventing suicides, Currie said.

The $2 million study is now subject to a public comment period, scheduled to end Aug. 25. The Golden Gate Bridge, Highway and Transportation District's board of directors, which is made up of 19 representatives for San Francisco, Marin, Sonoma, Napa, Mendocino and Del Norte counties, will then decide whether to pursue the idea of constructing a suicide barrier. If the directors vote to proceed, they then can pick a preferred design.

The environmental report also provided another option: to maintain the status quo.

Bridge district administrators have yet to voice their preference.

More than 1,250 suicides from the Golden Gate Bridge have been recorded since it first opened in 1937, and talk of doing more to keep people from jumping has been the subject of public debate for almost seven decades. But the idea of altering the lines of the graceful Art Deco structure - one of the Bay Area's most prominent landmarks that is eligible for inclusion on the National Register of Historic Places - has in large part stopped the plan from going forward.

Last year, at least 35 people leaped to their deaths, well above the historic average of about 20 suicides a year. This year, at least seven suicides have been recorded, according to Marin County deputy coroner Jeff Sherman.

Currie said the environmental study is the most serious review to date in the suicide barrier discussion. It was pushed in large part by mental health experts, including leaders of the Psychiatric Foundation of Northern California and San Francisco Suicide Prevention.

"A barrier will make a big difference in preventing suicides," said Dr. Mel Blaustein, president of the Psychiatric Foundation of San Francisco and the medical director of psychiatry at St. Francis Memorial Hospital. Many times, he said, despondent people attempt suicide on impulse. He likened the Golden Gate Bridge, with its easy access, to a loaded gun. Add the allure of the famous span, and it has become the top suicide magnet in the world, Blaustein said.

"There is almost a romance with the bridge as a place to commit suicide," he said. "Were there a suicide barrier, a lot of these suicides wouldn't happen."

Currie said the earliest the bridge directors would make a decision on the proposed suicide barrier would be October. If they give the go-ahead, the next step would be to find funding for the project.