PORT ANGELES — Installation of suicide-prevention fences on the Eighth Street bridges would cost the city between $800,000 and $850,000, according to Craig Fulton, city public works and utilities director.
Fulton plans to present the estimate at a City Council work session scheduled from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday in council chambers at City Hall, 321 E. Fifth St.
City Council members scheduled the topic after the 4-foot, 6-inch barrier on the bridge over the Valley Creek gorge proved no impediment to 21-year-old Stephanie Diane Caldwell of Port Angeles when she fell to her death Oct. 11.
In 2009, the two bridges were opened as replacements for spans with higher fences.
Between January 2009 and mid-October, police have prevented 19 people from jumping, roughly three a year, Police Chief Terry Gallagher has said.
During that period, an additional three people have committed suicide, including Caldwell, he said.
The number does not include calls made to the department about people who have threatened to jump and did not get on bridges.
The barrier that will be discussed Tuesday would be a 6-foot, 7-inch chain-link fence curved inward that would replace the existing barrier, Fulton said.
“It’s highly unlikely the state would compensate or help fund this fence,” Fulton said.
“It would probably be 100 percent out of the general fund,” Fulton said.
The work session on potential design modifications will include the participation of representatives from emergency services and Peninsula Behavioral Health.
Fulton said council members are likely to also discuss installing signs with a suicide prevention hotline phone number.
The two bridges span the Valley Creek and Tumwater gorges 98 feet above the ground at their highest point.
The original bridges, built in 1936, did not have suicide barriers.
There were 7-foot, 8-inch fences added in 1959 to the spans’ central areas.
The new bridges were opened Feb. 24, 2009 and cost $24.6 million.
Suicide barriers on bridges save lives, according to the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention and the state Department of Transportation.
A University of California study of 500 people who were stopped from jumping off the Golden Gate Bridge showed that 6 percent of those people committed suicide in some other way.
In Clallam County, 24-hour telephone crisis services are available for those who are considering suicide, or who know someone they are concerned may be in need of help.
The phone number is 360-452-4500 for eastern Clallam County Crisis Line and 360-374-6177 for West End Outreach Services.
In Jefferson County, the phone numbers for Mental Health Services are 360-385-0321 and 800-659-0321.
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Senior Staff Writer Paul Gottlieb can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5060, or at pgottlieb@peninsuladailynews.com.