Since the Coronado Bay Bridge opened in 1969, there have been over 400 deaths from people choosing to jump.
In the more than half-century it’s been around, the structure – built in a showstopping curve to make Coronado accessible while allowing Navy ships to pass underneath – has adopted another moniker. It’s often recognized as the second-most utilized bridge in the nation for suicides, after the Golden Gate Bridge.
For over a decade, activists have been fighting to put a physical barrier in place. One advocate, Bertha Loaiza, survived the over 200-foot fall in 1985 when her mother jumped off the bridge with Loaiza, then 3 years old, in her arms. As an adult, Loaiza has been outspoken about bridge safety and mental health awareness, pushing for a barrier that would prevent such tragedies.
“When my mom died, it was a month before my fourth birthday,” Loaiza told the San Diego Union Tribune in 2021. “I just celebrated my 40th birthday. I wasn’t even expected to make it to 4 years old, let alone 40.”
The California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) recently announced plans to install vertical steel netting between 7 ½ and 8 ½ feet above the bridge’s concrete barrier, at a cost of $140 million. Construction is slated to begin in summer 2026, with an estimated completion date in late 2028.
Horizontal netting, similar to the layout of the Golden Gate Bridge, was also considered at one point. That style has proven successful, as suicide rates at the San Fransisco bridge have dropped 73%. But horizontal nets require bridge closures so first responders can safely retrieve individuals. In 2022, The San Diego Fire-Rescue Department and police department said a horizontal net “creates additional risk to both public safety personnel and the person that would have to be extracted from this type of deterrent.”
The vertical netting option, on the other hand, is designed to eliminate jumping altogether. It was implemented to Florida’s Sunshine Skyway Bridge in 2021 and, a year after installation, there were only four deaths by suicide compared to the 12-to-15 yearly average before that.
Either way, what’s clear is that a net barrier delivers results, and it is long overdue in Coronado.
It’s important to note that the nation’s mental health crisis needs to be met with other avenues of support. There are local nonprofits dedicated to providing mental health care, such as “Strength in Service,” and perhaps we should also be focusing on building a crisis care center. Utah just opened the nation’s first mental health crisis center, and this might serve as a template for our community. We need to be strenghening suicide intervention measures before anyone reaches the edge, along with building a physical net deterrent.
We can safely say that the four-inch spikes added along the railing of the bridge in 2019 have done nothing to deter suicides. In fact, some people argue that the spikes actually prompt a more immediate jump.
Sure, Coronado’s net deterrent has a hefty price tag with a timeline that’s a few years out, but enough with the spikes. We’ve gone far too long without a real deterrent. The mesh represents a positive step toward change, and the high cost is worth the protection of human lives.
The funding, which Caltrans is responsible for, has not yet been secured. (Yes, we are talking tax dollars here.) Fatalities caused by suicide do not qualify under the Highway Safety Improvement Program criteria, so the project is not eligible for that type of federal funding. With no clear funding avenue at the moment, there is reason to be concerned that the project could get stalled.
The project is however, a progressive design-build format allowing the deterrent to be designed and constructed at the same time, which officials tout as saving time and money.
But let’s consider for a moment just how large our price tag is: $140 million compared to the $3.4 million it cost to install a very similar design on the Sunshine Skyway Bridge. Granted, that was in 2021, but those are still drastically different numbers.
We’ve got a potential design and timeline, and for that, everyone is grateful. Above all, our north star is to get this project done. But moving forward, we need to critically examine the cost breakdown to see if there are ways to cut costs while achieving the same result.
If you are having thoughts of suicide, or are concerned that someone you know may be, call or text 988 to reach the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline.
