San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge, completed in 1937 after more than four years of construction at a cost of $35 million, is the second-longest suspension bridge in the United States, (4,200 ft. long) second only to the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge in New York City (4,260 ft. long). However, despite its aesthetic grandeur, The Bridge is widely considered to be the world’s No. 1 suicide landmark, where an estimated 1,200 people have leapt to their deaths since it opened in May 1937. While no exact figure is available, because many of the suicides have no witnesses, the official count for 2005 showed an average of one suicide every two weeks. People have been known to make the journey to San Francisco specifically for the purpose of jumping off the bridge, and police have frequently found abandoned rental cars in parking lots nearby.

On October 11, 2008, Golden Gate Bridge directors voted 14-to-1 to install a stainless steel net system, to be placed 20 ft. below the deck, constructed to collapse around the body of a jumper, making it nearly impossible for anyone to jump to their death. Attempts to introduce a suicide barrier were long thwarted by engineering difficulties, high costs and public opposition. The net is expected to cost $40 million to $50 million to complete, and it is expected to take years to install the 3.4 miles of netting. Prior to its approval, nearly 3,500 people and organizations submitted approximately 5,900 comments on the barrier. Nearly 4,000 people voted in an online poll about whether a barrier should be erected, with an even split between people who were in support of the measure and those who wanted the bridge left alone. Now that this measure has been passed, the question of funding still looms large, with some suggesting a toll on pedestrians and bicyclists.

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