Caltrans to Install Spikes Along San-Diego-Coronado Bridge for Suicide Prevention

National Guardsman and law enforcement officers are watching for terrorist attacks on the Coronado Bay Bridge, linking San Diego (background) to Coronado Island, November 2, 2001 in San Diego, CA, after Gov. Gray Davis announced “credible evidence” that terrorists may be planning to attack bridges over the next few days. Davis specified four bridges including the Golden Gate and Bay bridges in San Fransisco, the Vincent Thomas Bridge in the Port of Los Angeles, and the Coronado Bay Bridge. (Photo by David McNew/Getty Images)

by: Los Angeles Times

Posted: Jun 8, 2018 / 08:57 AM PDT

Updated: Jun 8, 2018 / 08:57 AM PDT

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Caltrans plans to install small spikes on the San Diego-Coronado Bridge as a temporary suicide deterrent while it pursues a permanent barrier.

The spikes, similar to those used to prevent pigeons from roosting on ledges and roofs, would sit atop the short wall that now lines the bridge, where more than 400 people have jumped to their deaths since it opened in 1969.

Officials hope to have them installed within one year.

“I think it’s a start, and something is better than nothing,” said Wayne Strickland, a retired Coronado firefighter and president of the Bridge Collaborative for Suicide Prevention, a grassroots group that has been leading the push for barriers. “The way it is now, it’s just too easy, and that’s why people go there.”

Read the full story on LATimes.com.