
ALBANY – The State Senate has unanimously passed legislation introduced by Senator Pete Harckham (D, Mt. Kisco) requiring climb deterrent fencing be erected on all bridges over the Hudson River operated by the New York State Bridge Authority.
The lawmaker said those fences would prevent people from jumping to their deaths from those bridges.
“The bridge authority, to their credit, did a study. They said they were looking at it. It was too expensive to all, but we said start we one, and they had agreed to that, the Bear Mountain Bridge. The RFP was about to go out and there is no means restriction fencing in there,” he said.
Harckham said since records have been kept in 2007, over 100 people committed suicide from those bridges with close to 50 attempts deterred. He said in the last five years, there were 35 known fatalities and 23 attempts. In May of this year alone, the senator said there were four attempts on the same bridge in one weekend – two were successful and two bodies have not been recovered.
A bridge authority spokesman said the agency declines to comment on pending legislation.
As of Wednesday, the legislation remained in an Assembly committee. The state legislature’s 2024 session concludes tomorrow (Friday).
Mid-Hudson News
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