Work begins on bridge suicide barrier

Drivers crossing Cold Spring Bridge on Highway 154 today face the first of several months of delays as construction work on a suicide barrier along the 1,200-foot span commences after years of stops and starts.

The grid-mesh wire fence, which will line both sides of the historic steel arch bridge when work is finished sometime this spring, depending on weather, is expected to deter people from jumping to their deaths 400 feet below.

Since the bridge was completed in 1963, 55 people have used it to commit suicide, with 34 deaths in the last 25 years.

The barrier also will protect public safety personnel who try to stop people from jumping, according to Caltrans and the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Department.

The saga began in 2005, when law enforcement, community groups, local politicians and Caltrans began meeting to discuss suicide deterrents for the bridge.

The barrier was opposed by some, most prominently by the group Friends of the Bridge, which wanted Caltrans to install a horizontal barrier — essentially a net that sticks out from each side of the bridge below the roadway.

Such a deterrent, they argued, would prevent suicides as well as a vertical fence but not obstruct drivers’ views from the scenic bridge, which offers spectacular views of the Santa Ynez Valley.

The group stopped construction in June 2010 by suing Caltrans, charging that the 2009 final environmental report on the $778,000 project didn’t adhere to state law.

In July 2010, Santa Barbara County Superior Court Judge Thomas Anderle supported the group’s position, and ruled that the public had been shortchanged because the first draft environmental report in May 2008 did not address alternative designs or ways to offset the suicide barrier’s impact on bridge views and its historical status.

He issued a writ that set aside Caltrans’ certification of its environmental impact report and approval of the project, and ordered that all activities be suspended until the agency recirculated its impact report to the public and brought the project into compliance with the California Environmental Quality Act.

In December that year, Caltrans released an environmental report that included the design options, and held a meeting in January 2011 to gather public comment.

In May 2011, Anderle opened the door for construction to continue when he discharged the writ, stating that Caltrans acted appropriately in its creation and circulation of the supplemental environmental documents.

Jim Shivers, a District 5 spokesman for Caltrans, said last week that it took a number of months to begin construction after the ruling because specially made components for the barrier had to be manufactured before they were delivered to the contractor, Bugler Construction of Pleasanton.

Drivers using the bridge for the next several months should expect one-way reversing traffic control from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Friday until the project is completed.

Detour signs will be posted to direct bicyclists and pedestrians away from the bridge during construction and the California Highway Patrol will maintain safety in the construction zone.

Source: Megan Cooley, LompocRecord