BY ROSE ADAMS
New York transit authorities
will pay more than $32
million to build a suicide prevention
fence on the Verrazzano
Narrows Bridge, offi cials
announced on Wednesday.
The fencing, which will extend
28,000 feet across the upper
and lower roadway, will be
made of stainless steal mesh
that can withstand high winds,
Metropolitan Transportation
Authority offi cials said.
“This is an important
safety feature being added to
this high-volume facility,” said
Daniel DeCrescenzo Jr., president
of MTA Bridges and Tunnels.
“The critical project required
thorough analysis and
testing to meet the structural
and operational challenges of
this major suspension bridge,
which is a critical link in the
regional transportation network.”
The MTA board awarded
the building contract to El Sol
Contracting/Dewberry Engineering
COURIER L 10 IFE, MAR. 26-APR. 1, 2021
during a board meeting
on March 17, and said that
the company has committed to
fi nishing the fence’s construction
by the end of 2022.
The fence’s design and construction
will cost $32.8 million,
which transportation authorities
said was well below
the $40 million budgeted for the
project. A similar safety fence
on the George Washington
Bridge was projected to cost between
$37 and $50 million when
it was announced in 2015.
The new fence will replace
a temporary fence that the
transportation authority constructed
in 2019 after a string
of suicides. The prototype fence
extends 100 feet on parts of
the upper and lower roadway,
with sections that reach 50 feet
high. Offi cials have also previously
installed six phone lines
across the bridge that connect
directly to a suicide prevention
hotline.
The Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge. File photo by Steve Solomonson
The projects come as suicides
continue to plague the
roadway. In 2019, at least three
men died after jumping off the
bridge, and last year, at least
two people died — including
a college student from Sunset
Park, and a man who suffered
from schizophrenia who had
previously tried to climb over
the safety fence on the George
Washington Bridge before police
stopped him, the New York
Times reported.
Offi cials on both sides of
the bridge — and the aisle —
praised the new permanent
fencing, saying that it could
help save hundreds of lives.
“I am glad to learn that
the MTA Board has approved
plans to install safety fencing
on the Verrazzano-Narrows
Bridge,” said newly-elected
Republican Assemblymember
Michael Tannousis, who represents
Bay Ridge and the East
Shore of Staten Island. “This
project will improve the safety
and security conditions of one
of our most important pieces
of infrastructure and will prevent
future tragedies.”
While one local elected offi
cial acknowledged that the
fence won’t help resolve mental
health issues, he hopes that
it could at least buy time for
New Yorkers who travel to the
bridge in a fi t of desperation.
“While it is tragic this fencing
is needed at all, it will absolutely
save lives,” said Bay
Ridge Councilman Justin
Brannan, who has advocated
for such a measure since 2019.
“I am grateful to the MTA for
moving forward with this necessary
project. It will not solve
our city’s mental health crisis,
but it will be one less opportunity
for a person to make a
split-second decision that cannot
be reversed.”
At long last!
MTA to install new suicide
prevention fence on Verrazzano
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