Taking the Next Step Toward Suicide Prevention

By Lauren Curtis

The Coronado Bridge has been a local landmark since it was first built in 1969. The bridge that crosses over the San Diego Bay connecting Coronado to greater San Diego is also, unfortunately, part of a tragic statistic. More than 400 people have died jumping from the Coronado Bridge since its creation. This number is second only to San Fransisco’s Golden Gate Bridge in number of recorded suicides in the state of California.

This statistic is widely known throughout not only Coronado but the entire state and even country, and a longtime local decided it was time to take action. Wayne Strickland started working as a fire fighter with the Coronado Fire Department (CFD) in 1967, where he witnessed the building of the bridge and the subsequent loss of life that followed. “I had seen all these different suicides and I wanted to do something about it,” Strickland told me of his early days with the CFD. “When I was on the fire department, Harbor Police used to bring them over the boat ramp, and I used to do CPR on people when I was on duty when that happened. I didn’t save any of them.”

Before Strickland attempted to climb the mountain that is suicide prevention, he created awareness for many other local safety concerns. Strickland believed that directly from its creation, the bridge wasn’t properly built. “There were no lights on the bridge when they built it in 69… It didn’t have a center divider, I went to a lot of head on collisions while I was on the fire department.” Though Strickland was just one man, he went to the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) as a “Political Action Committee” to get a center divider added to the bridge to prevent these kind of collisions. After realizing he could really make a change, he used the same channels to get a center divider put onto the Silver Strand Highway. Caltrans is in charge of designing, building, and maintaining the state’s highways, including State Route 75 (The Coronado Bridge).

After his success with Caltrans, and the tragedies he had seen in his time with the CFD, he decided to shift his focus. Over eight years ago Strickland started a Facebook Group titled San Diego-Coronado Bridge Suicide Prevention. “I started that to bring more awareness… Thanks to Facebook we got a lot of attention and persistence pays off… we’re making progress.” One main challenge was finding a way to get Caltrans involved. “Caltrans works on a number of deaths and accidents… they don’t really work on suicide from bridges, in particular they want to move the traffic.” Before the “bird spikes” were installed along the bridge, if someone was on the top of the bridge it would completely stop traffic and the entire island would know about it. The bird spikes were installed in March of 2019 as a “deterrent.” Unfortunately, the addition of bird spikes did not lower the number of suicides from the bridge, 15 people jumped from the bridge in 2019… all but three did so after the spikes were installed. “It just makes it faster and people can’t be rescued,” explained Strickland. Because the sharp steel spikes seemed to make those who jump do so in a quicker manner, there is less traffic, and therefore less community awareness, and less reason for Caltrans to get involved. At this time, Strickland spoke with Senator Ben Hueso in an attempt to get more involvement and hopefully funding for a suicide prevention project from Caltrans. “I said ‘two thirds of the bridge is San Diego, everybody that jumps from the highest part of the bridge, that’s San Diego not Coronado.’ So he realized that it was in his District, and so he passed Senate Bill 656 that requires Caltrans to actually do something to prevent these suicides.” Ben Hueso’s Coronado Bridge Suicide Prevention Initiative (Senate Bill 656) was signed into law on May 7, 2019. The “urgency bill” assigned a task force to oversee and effectively fast track the construction of a permanent barrier along the bridge. During this time Strickland, along with the Suicide Prevention Group, continued to spread awareness and keep people talking about the serious issue at hand. After a study done by Caltrans detailing several suicide prevention options, it found a Vertical Cantilevered Net to be the best choice.

The projected net will be over ten feet tall, and thus virtually unclimbable. Many people in Coronado worry about any sort of barrier blocking the famous view from the bridge, but this proposed net is transparent, allowing the view to remain unobstructed. “We have a beautiful bridge and you will be able to see through it… and it will save lives,” explained Strickland.

In February of 2022, Caltrans and SANDAG (San Diego Association of Governments) approved the steel cantilevered net’s construct, inching Strickland’s mission closer to success. The next step is to find an appropriate source for funding.

“Caltrans is more interested in that (traffic), because that’s their job to make traffic go faster and more smoothly… but they also do have a heart and they do care about the suicides, but they don’t normally make funding for that.”

Unfortunately there is still a long way to go before this net can be installed, and suicides will inevitably continue in that time. The projected $140 million total cost is undoubtedly the largest bump in the road. The aforementioned leader in bridge suicides, The Golden Gate Bridge, began construction of a net in 2018. In the early stages of construction it was realized that the net could potentially cost $400 million to complete, which is double the original estimate, and could halt construction altogether. There is always concern that something similar could take place here as well, but Strickland is confident that we are heading in the right direction, and keeping the conversation going. “By bringing it out in the open a little bit, it really does make prevention happen,” he started. “Please support it, it wont mess up your view at all and it will save lives… and please tell people that their life matters, reach out to people and tell them that you care for them. Let people know they are loved.”

If you or someone you know is thinking about suicide, there are many ways to get help. As of July, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline has been changed to a simple three digit number - 988 - that is available 24/7 for calls or texts. For more information on how to support the efforts of Strickland’s Suicide Prevention Group, visit facebook.com and search San DiegoCoronado Bridge Suicide Prevention.