The California Coastal Commission has given final approval for the installation of an 8-foot-tall vertical steel mesh barrier on both sides of the San Diego-Coronado Bridge, marking a significant step in long-standing efforts to prevent suicides at the span. The decision came during a June 10 commission meeting in which commissioners acknowledged the difficult but necessary nature of the project.
The barriers, made of brushed stainless steel wire with openings about one inch wide, will be 87 percent transparent, allowing drivers to retain most of their views of San Diego Bay and the downtown skyline. The mesh will be mounted atop the existing 34-inch concrete railings, secured with metal plates and support posts, and held in place by tension cables.
A row of wire spikes every four inches will run along the top edge. The mesh will be set eight inches inward from the outer face of the railing, eliminating any foothold from below or handhold from above.
“It’s difficult to see topics like this on an agenda, but at the same time we want to highlight it and appreciate the investments being made to protect our friends and neighbors,” said California Coastal Commissioner Christopher Lopez during the meeting.
The project still requires funding approval from the California Transportation Commission, which could come as early as this month. The total cost is estimated at $140 million, according to Aaron Hunter, external affairs manager for Caltrans District 11.
Design work is underway, with construction expected to begin in late 2026 and finish by late 2028. Most construction will take place at night to minimize traffic disruptions.
“Mental health and self-harm are not topics we frequently discuss in the Coastal Commission, and they are especially difficult topics,” said Commissioner and San Diego Councilwoman Vivian Moreno, whose district includes neighborhoods directly beneath the bridge. “Since 1996, approximately 400 people have died by suicide on the Coronado Bay Bridge.
These numbers show the urgency behind the effort to install necessary metal mesh deterrent barriers as an intervention to prevent injury and possible harm.”
As part of the permit, the commission also required new murals on four bridge columns near Chicano Park, replacement of chain-link fencing and barbed wire along the Coronado Bayshore bike path below the bridge with a fence no taller than four feet, and protection of a pair of peregrine falcons and their nests, as well as other migratory birds that live or visit the San Diego side of the bridge.
The bridge has the second-highest number of suicides in the state, after the Golden Gate Bridge, Moreno said. The project follows years of advocacy by local groups, including former first responders like retired Coronado firefighter Wayne Strickland, who has been an active advocate for suicide prevention measures at the bridge for decades.
Strickland, 80, said he was a firefighter before construction of the bridge began in the late 1960s, and that seeing so many lives lost has had a deep emotional impact on families, friends, and witnesses driving over the bridge when people attempt to jump.
“We used to take people who jumped off the bridge to the boat ramp and give them CPR,” Strickland said. “We never saved any of them.”
Caltrans estimates that between 500 and 550 people have jumped to their deaths since the bridge opened in 1969. Officials have not shared how often the bridge is closed due to suicide attempts or how long those closures last, but the advocacy group Stop Coronado Bridge Suicides reported in 2023 that the bridge averages 35 traffic closures each year due to suicide attempts.
Approximately 83,000 drivers use the bridge’s five lanes each day, according to Caltrans. The bridge rises at a 4.67 percent grade to its highest point, 246 feet above the water, with a vertical clearance of about 200 feet for ships passing underneath.
In the main navigation channel—the deepest and busiest section—vertical clearance varies between 175 and 195 feet.
Similar deterrents were installed on the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco in January 2024. Studies found they contributed to a 73 percent reduction in suicides.
Unlike the Golden Gate Bridge, which has a dedicated and accessible pedestrian walkway, the San Diego-Coronado Bay Bridge has no pedestrian path or shoulders. Walking across the Coronado Bridge is not allowed except during special permitted events, such as the annual Navy Bay Bridge Run/Walk.