The cost to build the suicide barrier on the Golden Gate Bridge is expected to increase by nearly $2.3 million because of additional construction delays and contract changes, according to bridge district officials.
Under construction since 2018, the massive project aims to deter and prevent people from jumping off the bridge by building a 20-foot-wide metal mesh net below the railings on each side the span. Originally estimated to cost $76 million when it went out to bid in 2015, the project’s cost has increased to about $206 million as of Friday and could increase to nearly $215 million by the time it is completed, according to the Golden Gate Bridge, Highway and Transportation District.
The barrier was first set to be completed in January 2021, but is now expected to be finished in November 2023 because of construction delays. The addition of the barrier also requires major modifications to the maintenance platforms. The platforms are used by bridge workers to make repairs to the harder-to-reach sides and underbelly of the 1.7-mile span. These changes are expected to be completed in December 2025, about two years later than the original estimate.
The bridge district attributes the delays and much of the cost increases in recent years to the contractor, Shimmick Construction Co. The district says Shimmick’s acquisition by the multi-national engineering firm AECOM shortly after the construction was awarded in 2017, and misleading assurances of project completion, were factors in the delays. AECOM sold Shimmick in 2020.
The contractors say the district asked them to do work outside of the project scope and that it has not properly administered the contract.
Bridge district spokesman Paolo Cosulich-Schwartz said discussions with the company are ongoing. Shimmick communications director Tonya Sandman declined to comment on Friday.
“We are not able to provide any information on the project per our contract and company policy,” Sandman said.
While the bridge district has been criticized for the project’s high price tag, Paul Muller — president of the Bridge Rail Foundation, a suicide prevention nonprofit — said there is much more to the project than the metal net.
“The bottom line is, this is a life-and-death matter,” Muller said Friday. “We’ve lost almost 2,000 people off the bridge since it was opened. It’s long, long past time to get this thing resolved.”
The bulk of the recent $2.3 million price hike for the project is the result of the contractor having to switch the location of where the maintenance traveler systems are fabricated. The contractor originally planned for them to be built in its fabrication shops in Alabama and Georgia, but it since had to enter into a contract to have them built in Oregon and Washington, according to the district.
In 2019, the bridge district entered into a $704,000 contract with Bureau Veritas North America, Inc. to perform inspections of the fabricated platforms, but the contractor states it does not have the resources to perform the work at the new locations, according to the district.
On Friday, the district board voted unanimously to enter into a contract of up to $2.9 million with the San Francisco-based Smith-Emery firm to perform the inspections. Ewa Bauer-Furbush, the district engineer, attributed the cost difference between the two contracts to several factors, including higher pay rates in Washington and Oregon than in Alabama and Georgia. The $704,000 contract will be refunded.
The board also approved another $134,000 to extend a contract with David Engineering through March 2023 to inspect the newly fabricated metal netting. The contract was set to expire in April. The district states it has already had to approve more than $217,000 to extend this contract because of past construction delays.
Manuel and Kymberlyrenee Gamboa have attended all but two of the bridge district board meetings since their 18-year-old son Kyle jumped off the bridge in September 2013. Speaking to the board on Friday, Manuel Gamboa thanked the bridge patrol and contractors who have worked to prevent other people from jumping off the bridge since his son’s death.
“And of course hopefully the finishing of the suicide deterrent that will prevent all,” Gamboa told the board.
Resources: Marin’s suicide prevention and crisis hotline is 415-499-1100. Grief counseling is available at 415-499-1195.
Correction: March 26, 2022 An earlier version of this article and its headline incorrectly reported the costs to build a suicide barrier had increased by $23 million. The correct figure is $2.3 million.
