SAN FRANCISCO  For 73 years, people have poured onto the picturesque red-colored span of the Golden Gate Bridge to take pictures, ride bicycles, commute and, in close to two dozen cases each year, to jump to their deaths, an act transportation officials moved to stop Wednesday by authorizing money for a suicide barrier.

The Metropolitan Transportation Commission, the agency that oversees transportation financing in the Bay Area, approved $5 million in federal money for the final engineering and design of a steel mesh net hanging 20 feet below the span, to catch jumpers. Officials estimate the net system will cost an additional $45 million to build and install.

“Having a deterrent on a structure like the Golden Gate Bridge, that has a singular attraction to people who want to jump, is crucial,” said John Brooks, whose 17-year-old daughter Casey leapt to her death in January 2008. “Just by giving someone a few seconds to rethink things makes the odds better that they won’t go through with it.”