Public Safety Committee Hears Update on Colorado Street Bridge Barriers

 

City staff turned to the City Council’s Public Safety Committee (PSC) for input on the Colorado Street Bridge on Monday.

As part of an informational item, the committee was presented with an update on suicide mitigation efforts on the bridge.

“I believe the community and city staff are moving in right direction in fashioning an appropriate solution to preserve the architecture of the Colorado Street Bridge and eliminate as much as possible the attraction for this of God’s children who are in distress and contemplating ending their life at this historic structure,” said PSC Chair John Kennedy.

Kennedy praised Steve Madison as a champion on the issue along with city staff.

Architects are proposing four designs—A2, Vertical Frame, flexible mesh, with and without a vertical post; A2, Open, with Vertical Frame and Rods; and B2, Open, with Intermediate Post and a rigid mesh.

Each of the concepts would feature open alcoves on the bridge with access by pedestrians. “A” concepts refer to designs that are vertical in nature, and “B” concepts refer to plans that have a curved top design.

The proposals have also been taken to the Historic Preservation Commission, the Design Commission. Although no recommendations were made, both commissions favored mesh over rods.

In September, Donald McDonald Architects gathered public input from local residents regarding barriers to prevent people from jumping off the bridge.

Local residents said they wanted open alcoves, barriers places on top of the existing balustrade, barriers on the bridge side of the lampposts and modification to the existing lamps to increase visibility on the historic bridge.

Nine people died after jumping from the bridge in 2017. In the midst of the increase in jumpers, city officials installed 10-foot-tall fencing at the alcoves of the bridge to prevent suicides, but failed to close off the ends of bridge. Days after the fencing was installed a man walked through an opening and leapt to his death.

Concerns have risen since the City Council approved a project that has allowed Habitat for Humanity to build nine homes and a playground just beneath the 105-year-old bridge.

According to a national study published in 2017 that compared the effectiveness of various structural suicide prevention methods on bridges, including netting and barriers, barriers led to an 82 percent reduction rate in suicides.

“Staff would like to gather additional pertinent feedback and requests the advisory review and input of the Public Safety Committee as to the concepts presented to the commissions so as to further refine the concepts,’ a staff report reads.

Mocks ups of the mesh projects will be presented in March.