Combined effort aims to stop suicides off Aurora Bridge

The city of Seattle, the state and the Fremont neighborhood are looking at ways to prevent people from jumping off the Aurora Bridge — including installing fencing along the railings or banning pedestrians from the bridge altogether.

So far this year, according to the state Department of Transportation (DOT), six people have committed suicide by jumping off the bridge. That's already more than the four such deaths recorded in an average year.

Last year, nine people jumped to their deaths from the bridge, which was built in 1931 and whose official name is the George Washington Memorial Bridge. It has been the site of 40 suicides since 1995.

"This is one of the toughest issues I've ever worked on," said Stan Suchan, with the state DOT. "There's an emotional component, and we're dealing with difficult mental-health issues. There are those folks who are jumping, which is tragic, and people who live and work near the bridge are affected as well."

In December, the city took one step by installing suicide-prevention hotlines on the bridge, by which callers can reach the Crisis Clinic or a 911 operator.

Through the middle of April, five calls were made from the phones to the Crisis Clinic. In a separate call in late April, a suicide was prevented when the Crisis Clinic was able to alert police in time, said Gregg Hirakawa, with the Seattle Department of Transportation.

"We know we saved at least one life," he said.

Not only are more people jumping from the bridge, they're jumping during daylight hours, said Hirakawa. That makes it even more traumatic for witnesses, he said.

Some members of the Fremont community have been pushing the state to close the bridge to pedestrians, as a pilot project. That decision would have to be made by the state, which owns the bridge, even though the city operates it, Suchan said.

"The community is still talking about it," Suchan said. "We've yet to talk to pedestrian and bike advocacy groups. Ultimately, this will be a decision by the city and the state. If the city opposes it, this is something WSDOT is going to consider."

Hirakawa said the city would strongly oppose closing the bridge to pedestrians, worried that this would push bicyclists onto the narrow bridge roadway.

"We believe it would be a terrible idea," he said. "If we put cyclists on the roadway on the Aurora Bridge, it would be a significant danger to cyclists."

Michael Jerrett, executive director of the Fremont Chamber of Commerce, said it is a sensitive issue and his group has not reached a consensus on what should be done.

All the Fremont stakeholders need to be involved, and bicycle advocates weren't at the last meeting where the issue was discussed, he said.

What Jerrett's organization wants is a taller barrier on the bridge to keep debris from going into the Ship Canal and to prevent people from jumping. Suchan said the state is considering fencing on the bridge and even has a description on its Web site.

"This type of preventative measure is a significant engineering and political challenge," according to the Web site. "We're concerned about people committing suicide by jumping from the Aurora Bridge. However, it's important that we carefully consider any suicide prevention measure to be sure that it will be effective, to avoid unintended negative consequences and to comply with regulations and laws."

There's been no preliminary engineering work done, no environmental review and no cost estimates. Complicating things is the fact that the Aurora Bridge is a national historic landmark, so any changes would have to go through a permit process.

"This affects people's lives in so many ways and so deeply," Suchan said. "It's very compelling, and we want all the ideas we can get."

Susan Gilmore: 206-464-2054 or sgilmore@seattletimes.com