After decades, Golden Gate Bridge gets nets to deter jumpers

Kevin Hines regretted jumping off San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge the moment his hands released the rail and he plunged the equivalent of 25 stories into the Pacific Ocean, breaking his back.

Hines miraculously survived his suicide attempt at age 19 in September 2000 as he struggled with bipolar disorder, one of about 40 people who have survived after jumping off the bridge.

Hines, his father, and a group of parents who lost their children to suicide at the bridge relentlessly advocated for a solution for two decades, meeting resistance from people who did not want to alter the iconic landmark with its sweeping views of the Pacific Ocean and San Francisco Bay.

On Wednesday, they finally got their wish when officials announced that crews have installed nets on both sides of the 1.7-mile bridge.

Nearly 2,000 people have plunged to their deaths since the bridge opened in 1937.

City officials approved the project more than a decade ago, and in 2018 work began on the 20-foot-wide stainless steel mesh nets. But the efforts to complete them were repeatedly delayed until now.

The nets — placed 20 feet down from the bridge’s deck — are not visible from cars crossing the bridge. But pedestrians standing by the rails can see them. They were built with marine-grade stainless steel that can withstand the harsh environment that includes salt water, fog and strong winds that often envelop the striking orange structure at the mouth of the San Francisco Bay.

As the project neared completion in 2023, the number of people who jumped fell from an annual average of 30 to 14, with the deaths in the spots where crews had not finished installing the barriers yet. Some people still jumped into the net, and crews then helped them out of there. A handful of them jumped into the ocean from the net and died.

The nets are meant to deter a person from jumping and curb the death rate of those who still do, though they will likely be badly injured.

“It’s stainless-steel wire rope netting, so it’s like jumping into a cheese grater,” bridge official Dennis Mulligan said. “It’s not soft. It’s not rubber. It doesn’t stretch.”

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