Will the raised Bayonne Bridge also have these pedestrian safety fences? Sounds like a worthwhile consideration for that $1 Billion+ project.

Every 3.5 days someone makes their way to the pedestrian walkway of the George Washington Bridge to attempt suicide. The only barrier between them and the Hudson River 25 stories below is a waist-high metal handrail.

?There?s no fencing, there?s no netting, there?s no wall,? said Ron Shindel, the commanding officer of the Port Authority police unit on the bridge. ?The bridge was opened in 1931 and I don?t think they had this problem back then.?

Suicide attempts off the George Washington Bridge have doubled over the last year and have been on the rise since 2011, when there were three deaths.

Last year, police prevented 74 people from jumping. The 18 people who did jump last year all died.

?I don?t know anywhere where police officers patrol a mile-long post and have to watch for a person jumping on a bridge,? Shindel said. ?It?s difficult.?

The bridge is suspended 40 feet higher than the Golden Gate Bridge in California. The fall is lethal ? if you survive the injuries.

?There are conflicting and opposite and whirlpool currents under that bridge,? Shindel said. ?They?re not going to survive the water at that point, either.?

Last spring, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey approved up to $47 million for a project to add pedestrian safety fencing along the walkway. It will take eight years to complete.

http://www.wnyc.org/story/every-35-da ... george-washington-bridge/

By Noah Cohen | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
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on September 25, 2015 at 11:29 AM, updated September 25, 2015 at 11:35 AM

FORT LEE - An unidentified man found dead in the Hudson River earlier this month jumped from the George Washington Bridge, Port Authority police said.

State Police this week asked for the public's help in identifying the man, who was found in the river Sept. 15.

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