San Francisco officials voted on Friday in favor of hanging stainless steel nets, costing up to $50 million, from the sides of the Golden Gate Bridge in an effort to ‘catch’ would-be suicide jumpers. Officials said the steel nets, hanging 6 meters below the bridge and extending about 6 meters from each side, would save lives without any defacement to the appearance of California’s world-famous landmark.

Though the net barrier would be the least visible of five alternatives considered, a source of funding the project has yet to be determined. With a 14-1 vote in favor of the net system, the board of the Golden Gate Transportation District rejected several other options to prevent suicide jumps, including extending the existing 1-meter railings and leaving the iconic bridge unchanged.

Charles McGlashan, a board member said: “I feel the net offers a way to do the most humane and highest-minded thing ... in a way that is aesthetically minimal as far as impacts on the bridge.”

Spokeswoman for the bridge authority, Mary Currie, said that the netting was the “locally preferred alternative,” though it still requires a final environmental review. She added that it will cost about $100,000 a year to maintain the nets, compared with $500,000 a year in maintenance costs for various suicide barriers.

About 2,000 people have jumped from the storied bridge since it opened in 1937; so far 19 have made the fatal leap this year. The issue that has been passionately debated is whether public funds should be used for mental health treatment to prevent additional suicides.

Supporting the idea of having nets, the Psychiatric Foundation of Northern California has contended that the effectiveness of barriers has proved to be ‘dramatic’ at other important landmarks like the Empire State Building and the Eiffel Tower.

Meanwhile, expressing a view that many others had raised, San Francisco resident Paul J. Miller wrote to the board last summer: “Attention should be given to mental health assistance- not paying tens of millions of dollars to contractors who are just trying to milk money from citizens.”
Board member Joanne Sanders proposed the board consider a pedestrian toll to cover the net system’s expense, rather than having commuters to pay higher tolls to cover the expense.