In this 7-minute documentary, Marist College students Erin Holton, Facundo Martinez and Sofia Milojevic tell the story of Lorraine Lein, who lost her 17-year-old son, Jake, when he jumped in 2023 from the Bear Mountain Bridge.
Lein has since become an activist pushing the New York State Bridge Authority to add barriers to its five bridges, including Bear Mountain and Newburgh-Beacon. The film was created in association with The Highlands Current. For more information, see our June 2024 story, Pleas Grow for Bridge Fencing.
Every time I cross the Bear Mountain, Newburgh-Beacon or Mid-Hudson bridges, I always wonder why there aren’t barriers or netting. [via Instagram]
The cost of adding suicide deterrents to bridges in the Hudson Valley cited at the end of the documentary posted is incorrect. It states that the estimated cost quoted by a consultant for the New York State Bridge Authority in 2022 was at least $10.5 million per bridge. In fact, that was the estimated cost to outfit all five bridges with chain-link fencing.
The Bridge Authority received a $12 million grant for suicide prevention but will not disclose what it has done with that money. People continue to die in the face of this callous disregard for human life. Call your state senator and state Assembly person to pass the Barriers on Bridges bill and protect our community.
In a story posted Jan. 14, The Peekskill Herald reported that the engineering consultant, Modjeski and Masters, has updated its 2022 figures. This past summer, it estimated that adding climb-deterrent fencing to all five of NYSBA’s bridges would cost from $21.5 million (for chain-link fencing) to $122.2 million (for picket fencing), plus ongoing maintenance costs.