After a delay of more than a month, work finally begins tonight on the new suicide prevention fence across the Aurora Bridge. An equipment problem has been causing the holdup. This week, crews will close two northbound lanes and the northbound sidewalk across the bridge from 9 pm to 5 am on Monday and Thursday nights only (5/24 and 5/27). Earplugs are being offered to nearby residents in Wallingford, Fremont, and Queen Anne who may be impacted by the noise. You can call 206-440-4099.
The schedule should switch over to Sunday through Thursday nights for the remainder of the project, which could last until the end of this year. You can track the project on the WSDOT webpage.
If you run the numbers on this, it works out to about $370,000 per past jumper over the entire lifetime of the bridge. Probably we could spend $8.3 million rather more constructively. And there is no real guarantee that this will work. It’s balloon squeezing; block this bridge, and the really determined will find another.