Nets on the Narrows? What it would take to put suicide prevention nets on the bridges

By Julia Park The News Tribune

TACOMA – “Life is worth living. There is help.” Since signs with messages of hope and phone numbers to call for help were tacked onto the Tacoma Narrows Bridge in 2021, Jud Morris of the Gig Harbor/Key Peninsula Suicide Prevention Coalition says it’s made a difference for at least two families.

Those families said their loved ones chose not to end their lives after seeing the signs, Morris said.

Could suicide-prevention nets save even more?

“One life lost is too many, so if there’s anything we can do to help save a life, in my mind, it’s worth it,” Gig Harbor Mayor Tracie Markley told the News Tribune on Aug. 15.

Washington State Patrol troopers responded to reports of 52 people they suspected were in danger of dying by suicide on the Tacoma Narrows bridges last year, averaging one a week, according to WSP spokesperson John Dattilo. There were 48 reports in 2022 and 58 in 2021.

Those numbers include all calls troopers responded to whether there was someone on the bridge – for example, if someone reports receiving a family member’s text message suggesting their intent to end their lives there. Troopers might do an area check or consider getting a rescue boat in the water.

Pierce County Medical Examiner’s Office spokesperson Angel Tornquist told the News Tribune via email that there were four people who died by suicide on the Tacoma Narrows Bridge in 2023, according to the office’s records. That number doesn’t account for cases without witnesses or cases where a person’s body is found outside of Pierce County, in which case their office wouldn’t receive the report, according to Tornquist.

During public comment at the Gig Harbor City Council meeting July 22, a woman said she wanted to see suicide-prevention nets installed on the Tacoma Narrows bridges. She has been talking to her neighbors about the idea and said some are on board.

Here’s what it could take to get that done.

A big project

Washington State Department of Transportation spokesperson April Leigh wrote in an email that placing nets on the bridge, an extremely tall structure in a windy area, would be challenging and potentially expensive.

“The bridge would require extensive evaluation,” Leigh wrote. “The evaluation would need to account for how wind and new weight would affect the bridge.”

While WSDOT doesn’t have funding identified to evaluate the feasibility or a cost estimate for such a project, Leigh said the installation of nets on the Golden Gate Bridge completed earlier this year cost about $224 million.

According to the Golden Gate Bridge website, the nets made a difference in 2023, while they were still under construction. There were 14 people who were confirmed to have died by suicide on the Golden Gate Bridge in 2023, compared to an average of 30 a year over the prior 20 years.

The nets on the Golden Gate Bridge were inspired by similar barriers to deter suicides on other structures around the world. They are made of marine-grade stainless steel netting that extends 20 feet from the east and west sides of the 1.7-milelong bridge over the water, the website says.

Another bridge closer to home also has a barrier, but it’s much smaller and has a fence instead of a net. WSDOT installed an 8-foot-9 fence on both sides of the George Washington Memorial Bridge in Seattle, also known as the Aurora Avenue Bridge, in 2011, according to an archived WSDOT web page that spokesperson Leigh confirmed remains accurate.

The Aurora bridge is 2,945 feet long, compared to the 5,979-foot westbound and 5,400-foot eastbound spans of the Narrows bridges.

The Aurora bridge was deemed the second-deadliest bridge in the country behind the Golden Gate Bridge because of the number of people who died by suicide there, according to advocacy group Seattle Friends. More than 230 people have died by suicide there since it was completed in 1932.

There was only one suicide between February 2011 when the fencing went up and March of the following year, KING 5 reported in 2012.

Updating suicide prevention signs

Morris, vice president of the Gig Harbor/Key Peninsula Suicide Prevention Coalition, told The News Tribune on Aug. 8 that the coalition has discussed getting nets on the bridge but that it isn’t a realistic focus of the coalition.

“It would take a tremendous community organization effort,” Morris said.

Morris said he believes nets aren’t an ultimate solution because they don’t prevent a person from choosing to jump off the net after it catches them. But they can give a a person another chance to reconsider.

Instead, the coalition is focusing on a more achievable goal: getting the suicide prevention signs on the Narrows bridge updated with the three-digit number 988, which people could call for help if they’re suicidal or in crisis. Calling or texting 988 routes callers to the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline where they can talk with trained crisis counselors, get support and find resources for free 24 hours a day, seven days a week, according to the 988 Lifeline website.

The number was instituted by federal law in 2020, and the state launched its own 988 support website in May, The News Tribune reported earlier this year. The previous 10-digit crisis phone number, 1-800-273-8255, will remain available as well, the 988 Lifeline website says.

Morris said the coalition’s board authorized the $500 in funding to pay for the new labels at their monthly meeting Aug. 21, and it is in the process of getting them printed by the vendor. He didn’t provide an exact date for when the coalition would affix the labels to the signs but told the News Tribune he expected it to happen in the next month or two.

WSDOT worked with the coalition in 2019 to install the existing signs on the eastbound Narrows bridge, according to WSDOT spokesperson Leigh. The Gateway reported that the installation of 20 signs on the bridge finished in 2021 and was paid for through a $30,000 grant from Pierce County. The grant also was used to help invite Kevin Hines to speak in Gig Harbor about his experiences as a suicide survivor. Hines attempted to end his life on the Golden Gate Bridge in 2000 and has become one of only 36 people to survive the fall, according to Hines’ website.

At the time, the coalition was putting pressure on the governor and WSDOT to pay for netting and barriers on the Narrows bridges, The Gateway reported in 2021. Morris wasn’t sure why those efforts weren’t successful because he wasn’t directly part of those conversations. The coalition’s former president, Bob Anderson, also told The News Tribune via email he wasn’t able to provide more information.

Gig Harbor Mayor Markley said she previously served on the board of the coalition and remembers the coalition’s leadership expressed interest in seeing nets on the bridge around five years ago but ran into pushback from WSDOT mostly because of the cost. She said she couldn’t remember the dollar figures they talked about at the time.

She said she would “certainly provide a letter of support” for getting nets installed on the bridge if asked, but the project is entirely out of the city’s jurisdiction. It seems like the idea comes up every year but gets denied by the Legislature when it comes up for consideration in the transportation budget, she said.

Find help

If you or someone you know is suicidal or in crisis, you can call 988 to get help. The Lifeline works across the United States and can provide interpreter services, as well as crisis counselors trained to support LGBTQI+ callers, according to the 988 Lifeline website.

The Washington State Department of Health also has suicide prevention resources online.