Golden Gate Bridge fitted with suicide net after 2000 deaths

It’s one of the world’s most iconic landmarks, but the Golden Gate Bridge has a dark side and now it is undergoing a major change.

A suicide prevention net has finished being installed on San Francisco’s iconic Golden Gate Bridge after thousands of deaths and decades of calls for change.

The large metal net has been installed around approximately 95 per cent of the iconic US bridge, extending six metres wide and spanning across 2.7km.

“The purpose of the net is to reduce the number of deaths associated with individuals jumping off the Bridge,” the Golden Gate Bridge Highway and Transportation District said in a statement.

“The net is a proven design that deters people from jumping, serves as a symbol of care and hope to despondent individuals, and, if necessary, offers people a second chance.”

Nearly 2000 people are known to have jumped to their deaths since the bridge opened in 1937.

The net was first approved by city officials over a decade ago in 2014 before work began in 2018.

Only now has construction been fully completed, costing $US224 million ($A334 million).

Installation of the $US224 million net has finally been completed. Picture: ABC7 News

The six-metre-wide wide net was first approved by city officials over a decade ago. Picture: ABC7 News

Dennis Mulligan, the general manager of the bridge, said the net, which consists of marine-grade stainless steel feels like “jumping into a cheese grater”.

“It’s not soft. It’s not rubber. It doesn’t stretch,” he told the Associated Press.

“We want folks to know that if you come here, it will hurt if you jump.”

The Golden Gate Bridge Highway and Transportation District said the new addition has already helped save lives.

In 2023, as the project was nearing completion, there were 14 confirmed suicides, reducing the number of deaths by more than half.

Kevin Hines, who is one of only around 40 people to survive after jumping off the bridge, was one voice calling for change.

He was 19 when he jumped over the trail in September 2000, shattering his vertebrae and breaking his ankle.

“Had the net been there, I would have been stopped by the police and gotten the help I needed immediately and never broken my back, never shattered three vertebrae, and never been on this path I was on,” he told the Associated Press.

“I’m so grateful that a small group of like-minded people never gave up on something so important.”

Kevin Hines, now a suicide-prevention advocate, jumped over the bridge and shattered his vertebrae in 2000. Picture: Facebook@KevinHinesStory

The net has already helped save lives. Picture: iStock

Heather Quisenberry, who lost her son to suicide, told The Guardian a suicide deterrent would have saved him if installed sooner.

“On the one hand, I’m grateful that the net that we fought for, for so long will be complete and that it will stop future suicides from happening on that bridge,” she said.

“But on the other hand, if some suicide deterrent had been installed sooner, my son and others may have not had to die.”

A commemoration ceremony is expected to take place in April to mark the completion of the net.

Originally published as Golden Gate Bridge fitted with suicide net after 2000 deaths