The Coronado Bridge has been a defining landmark since its creation in 1969, arching over San Diego Bay to connect Coronado with San Diego. Over the decades, however, it has also become part of a tragic statistic: more than 500 people have died after jumping from the bridge, a toll second only to San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge in the number of recorded suicides in California.

That grim history is widely known not only in Coronado but across the state and beyond. For longtime resident Wayne Strickland, it became a call to action. Strickland joined the Coronado Fire Department (CFD) in 1967, just before the bridge opened, and soon began responding to the deaths that followed.

“I had seen all these different suicides, and I wanted to do something about it,” Strickland recalled of his early days with the CFD. “When I was on the fire department, Harbor Police used to bring them over the boat ramp, and I used to do CPR on people when I was on duty when that happened. I didn’t save any of them.”

Now, after years of advocacy, a long-sought suicide prevention net on the Coronado Bridge is finally moving forward, with visible construction expected to begin in October, according to Strickland.

“Right now it’s supposed to be happening, the construction that you’ll be able to see, in October,” he said. “There’s been a lot of stuff being done that you can’t see, and Caltrans is also going to give an update to the Coronado Rotary in October about it.”

Strickland has pressed for safety upgrades on the bridge for years. His involvement stems not only from the suicides he witnessed as a firefighter but also from a crash that shook him deeply.

“When that pickup truck went over the side, I went and talked to Senator Ben Hueso myself,” he said. The Senator, he recalled, “went ahead and created Senate Bill 656, which mandated Caltrans to do something for suicide prevention on the bridge… At that time, Caltrans, they just weren’t doing anything about it.”

Hueso’s Coronado Bridge Suicide Prevention Initiative (Senate Bill 656) was signed into law on May 7, 2019. The urgency measure created a task force to oversee and fast-track the design and construction of a permanent barrier along the bridge. Even as the process moved forward, Strickland continued to raise awareness and keep the issue in public view.

That same year, four-inch metal spikes were installed along the bridge railing. They proved ineffective, however, and did not deter people from jumping.

During the planning phase, Strickland argued against a horizontal-style net similar to the one being built at the Golden Gate Bridge.

“The horizontal that they’re doing at the Golden Gate is not a very good option, because somebody still has to be rescued, and the bridge still has to be closed,” he said. “It would still back up all the traffic for the military base and all the people that have to get in and out of Coronado. It’s just not a good option.”

After studying several suicide-prevention alternatives, Caltrans determined that a vertical cantilevered net would be the best solution. The barrier will stand more than 10 feet high and be virtually unclimbable. While some Coronado residents have worried that any barrier would ruin the sweeping views from the bridge, the proposed net is designed to be transparent.

Strickland said the design will be “not climbable for 99.99% of people,” adding that “it will save lives.” Though the effort has taken years, the California Department of Transportation finally awarded a contract for the $140 million project earlier this year, moving the work into its next phase. The contract went to Myers and Traylor Joint Venture, a partnership between Myers & Sons Construction and heavy-civil contractor Traylor Bros. Inc.

Looking back, Strickland believes the bridge should have been made safer from the start. “We could have put a fence up in the beginning,” he said. “In the beginning, there was no center divider on the bridge. There were no lights on the bridge. So, you know, it was upgraded, and it’s just too bad that there’s been more than 500 deaths because they didn’t do this at the beginning.”

For Strickland, the project also underscores the power of citizen advocacy. “It always takes citizens to actually put forth the action to get these government agencies responsive, and get something done,” he said.

Officials, he added, have warned the community to expect a lengthy construction timeline. Caltrans wants “to put a site area off the bottom of the bridge so that they can do maintenance… They say it could take almost two years,” Strickland said.

Once work begins, most of the construction will take place at night, a schedule Strickland hopes will also help deter potential jumpers while the project is underway.

According to Strickland, the problem has been both persistent and largely invisible to the public. “Every year there’s between 12 and 18 people that jump off the bridge,” he said. “They (the public) don’t hear about it because nobody advertises that kind of stuff. We only know when the bridge is closed, and it used to be closed because people would think about it, sit on the edge. Now, it’s just an abandoned car; it gets towed away.”

For Strickland, the coming net is closely tied to the mission he carried throughout his firefighting career.

“It’s really going to happen, and it is really going to save lives. That’s what firefighters are all about — saving lives.”

VOL. 116, NO. 29 – July 22, 2026