As you know, the Department of Transportation is working on installing fences on the Aurora Bridge to deter suicide attempts. Construction has been slow and the WSDOT has some updates for us on how the project is coming along:

Q. Why is the first fence post at N. 34th Street in Fremont? Is that where the fence begins?

A. No, the fence will begin just north of N. 36th Street right above the Fremont Troll.

Q. But the posts don’t begin until N. 36th Street. Are you sure the fence goes all the way to the Troll?

A. Yes, the posts all look the same, but they differ in how they connect to the bridge. Six different ways, in fact, and there are five different types of posts. These post-to-bridge connections depend in part on whether the post is attached to the steel middle section or the concrete sections at the north and south ends. It turns out that the fence manufacturer completed the posts that connect to the steel sections first and so the contractor is installing them first. The posts in the concrete sections on the west side of the bridge will go up in the next week or two.

Q. Why are there gaps between some of the posts?

A. The gaps indicate locations where we must complete repairs before installing posts. As you may remember, crews discovered corrosion in 23 beams about three months ago. We determined the beams would need to be strengthened before we attached the fence posts at those locations and added this work to the construction contract. We completed part of the repair and are waiting for a manufacturer to build and deliver the steel braces that will reinforce the beams.

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Work to build a suicide prevention fence across the Aurora Bridge has been underway for months, but there’s still no sign of the fence itself. WSDOT tells us that will all change next week when crews start putting up the fence posts on the west side of the bridge.

So what’s taking so long? WSDOT says it has been dealing with small details they hope will make a big difference in the end. They drilled about 2600 holes for anchor bolts, used an x-ray device to make sure they didn’t hit rebar, and repaired the bridge’s steel that was damaged by corrosion.

The fence posts will go up first, followed by the fence panels. The fence should be finished by the end of the year. Image from WSDOT

After three consecutive Sundays of rivet busting and lane closures on the Aurora Bridge, crews will take this Sunday off to keep traffic moving smoothly over the Labor Day weekend. Rivet removal, along with the “rivet buster” equipment, will pick up again on September 12.

Crews continue to work Monday through Thursday nights drilling holes for the suicide prevention fence across the bridge.

Photos from WSDOT

WSDOT’s work on the Aurora Bridge continues and drivers who plan on crossing it this Sunday could face closures, this time going both ways.

This Sunday crews will continue work to remove and replace more than 1000 rivets and bolts for the construction of a safety fence to deter suicides. Drivers can expect additional closures for rivet removal in September. Crews are working Sundays because rivet busting is too noisy to do at night. Nearby residents can expect to hear construction noise from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m.

• From 6 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. on Sunday, Aug. 29, crews working for WSDOT will close two of three northbound lanes to remove and replace rivets on the east side of the bridge.
• From 1:30 p.m. to 1:45 p.m. all six lanes on the bridge and the southbound Fremont Way on-ramp will be closed while crews move construction equipment to the west side of the bridge. WSDOT scheduled this brief full closure at 1:30 p.m. to help southbound traffic heading to Sunday’s Mariners’ game.
• At 1:45 p.m. crews will reopen all northbound lanes and one southbound lane.
• Two southbound lanes and the southbound Fremont Way on-ramp will remain closed until midnight while crews work on the west side of the bridge.

If that’s not confusing enough, WSDOT has these suggestions on what to do to avoid closures and delays:

• Taking southbound SR 99 across the bridge before 1:30 p.m. Another option is using southbound SR 99 after 7:30 p.m., when delays caused by the closure will be very short.
• Taking northbound SR 99 across the bridge after 2:30 p.m. Drivers also should consider using northbound SR 99 in the morning before traffic volumes increase.
• Checking traffic conditions before hitting the roads. Check SR 99 traffic and I-5 traffic and tune into to radio traffic reports.

For the second Sunday in a row, the Washington State Department of Transportation crews will be closing lanes on the Aurora Bridge this weekend while crews work on the ‘rivet buster’ suicide fence. Commuters planning a trip downtown on Sunday should plan for delays or take an alternate route.

Photo from WSDOT’s Flickr page.

Crews will be working on the east side of the bridge, closing down two northbound lanes.

Access to northbound SR 99 from Halladay near Canlis will be open. Lane closures will be from 6 a.m. to midnight again, with the noisy work beginning as early as 7 p.m. and continuing until 11 p.m. Since they will be on the east side of the bridge, the sound will likely travel further into Lake Union this time.

WSDOT has been posting some pretty incredible photos of the work, which will continue through September 5, on its Flickr page. Check those out here.

Last night, Wednesday night — Josh Trujillo, a colleague I greatly admire and used to work with at the Seattle P-I (he still does on SeattlePi.com as a photographer) tweeted live about seeing a woman hop a rail on the Aurora Bridge, in an attempt to jump. He called 911.

Reading his tweets this morning, the story ends without tragedy at about 9:30 p.m.: “Good news. Young girl on Aurora Bridge is over the rail, back on the safe side. Police boats leaving from under bridge. Amen.”

His tweets about her began about 13 hours ago, about 7:30 p.m.: “No. A girl is on the Aurora Bridge about to jump. My heart is sinking. Police not here yet.”

I know Josh, so I know how sincere he is, so I don’t question how hard this must have been for him. This is a guy who was in the Army and deployed overseas before he was a photographer. He’s a consummate professional and he’s also a family man.

The irony is, the state is installing an anti-suicide fence on the bridge, have been for awhile.

Part of Josh’s reporting shocked: “Woman on Fremont Bridge who said she was waiting in traffic for an hour just said “jump already,” loudly. Crowd upset at her.”

He showed self-consciousness at what he was seeing, and reporting: “In the news media we rarely report suicides or attempts at suicide. I feel really uncomfortable tweeting this one. This is awful.”

But he also revealed, “FYI, I used to live under the I-5 Ship Canal Bridge. A jumper once landed in my yard. That was a terrible day. Hope today is better,” and conversed with our news partner’s executive editor, the Seattle Times’ David Boardman: “@dlboardman I have to agree that this is strange ground & I have been uncomfortable reporting it. But I also saw her hop rail & called 911.”

What do you think, readers?

After responding to complaints from neighbors about the late-night noise, Aurora Bridge construction crews have begun a new work schedule.

The first of four Sunday shifts, WSDOT crews resumed using the loud tool called the “Rivet Buster” today to build the suicide fence along the bridge. But unlike last time, workers will avoid the overnight hours.

Until midnight tonight (Sunday), two of three southbound lanes on the bridge and the southbound Fremont Way N. on-ramp are closed to traffic.

“WSDOT engineers looked at weekday and weekend traffic volumes and determined that four 16-hour Sunday closures would allow crews to get the work done with the lowest overall noise and traffic effects,” explains WSDOT in a press release. “Four straight Sunday closures are critical to completing the fence project by the end of the year.”

Drivers can expect additional Sunday closures on Aug. 22 (northbound), Aug. 29 (half day each northbound and southbound), and Sept. 5 (northbound).

Even Nyquil won’t help you get your Zzzz’s if you live near the Aurora Bridge and you’ve heard it. By “it,” we mean that “loud as a monster woodpecker banging on a metal tree” sound that might have interrupted a few good nights’ rest.

It’s the latest development in the Aurora Bridge Fence Project (the anti-suicide barrier) from WSDOT. We’ll let them tell it:

A couple of weeks ago our contractor began using a tool called the Rivet Buster to remove rivets and bolts on the historic bridge. In many ways the Rivet Buster was a great tool. It was fast, efficient, safe and environmentally sound. But it was really loud. Can’t get any sleep loud.  So loud that some of your neighbors got up in the middle of the night to write us or call our 24-hour noise hotline (206-440-4099). And we listened.

As of this posting the Rivet Buster is on hiatus while we look into quieter ways to remove the rivets and bolts that meet our safety and environmental standards, and keep us on schedule. If those don’t pan out, the Rivet Buster will be on a 10 p.m. curfew.

Counter-intuitively, WSDOT says the work can’t be done during the day.

It comes down to safety and traffic. Workers need to close two lanes of the bridge to create a safe work zone. When two out of three lanes are closed at night, traffic can scoot by without many slowdowns. But if we closed two out of three lanes during the day, that could cause some lengthy backups on Aurora Avenue and send the spillover traffic over to Fremont and Dexter avenues.

It’s a delicate balancing act where one person’s cost is another person’s benefit. The bus rider that gets on the 358 at N. 46 St. wants to get to work on time. The person living under the bridge wants a good night’s sleep. The taxpayer wants the project to stay on budget. And the construction worker wants to come home safe. And yes, we really do think about how our decisions affect each of them.

They expect to have the work done by the end of this year or early 2011.

KOMO news reports that as of tonight, May 24:

State transportation crews will resume work on the suicide prevention fence. It measures more than 8 feet tall, and will cost some $4 million.

As we’ve reported in the past, the project, which was supposed to start April 19, has been delayed by construction equipment problems.

The KOMO article noted that, “More than 230 people have jumped to their deaths on the Aurora Bridge since it was first built - making it the second-highest suicide rate for any bridge in the country, according to some figures.”

For those who commute or use Aurora/99 regularly, expect some delays. More specifically from WSDOT: Crews will close two northbound lanes and the northbound sidewalk across the bridge from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m. Monday and Thursday nights (May 24 and May 27).

If the noise gets too much for you, WSDOT is offering free earplugs, which are available between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. on weekdays at the Fremont Neighborhood Service Center located at 908 N. 34th Street. Or, call (206.440.4099) or e-mail phippsg@wsdot.wa.gov with the subject “SR 99 Aurora Bridge Fence earplug request” and WSDOT will send free earplugs to your mailbox. Please include your name, address and the number of earplug sets you need.

Track the project here.

Construction delays on the new suicide prevention fence across the Aurora Bridge continue to grow. It now appears that work won’t begin until mid-May. The project, which was supposed to start April 19, has been delayed by construction equipment problems. You can track the project here.

We’ve gotten word that construction of the suicide prevention fence across the Aurora Bridge won’t happen tonight or tomorrow night. An equipment problem has caused a delay in the project. WSDOT tells us there’s a chance work could start later this week.

WSDOT conducted a test last week to gauge the noise level of the drilling equipment (pictured above). Greg Phipps from WSDOT tells us those tests provided some good news - things may not be quite as noisy as first thought.

My first impression was that the drills (there is one for concrete and one for steel) were much smaller than I expected. My second impression is that the drilling was much quieter than I expected. The drilling will be noisy, but not extremely noisy as the stories on this blog have suggested. At about 60-75 feet away the drilling was not audible. The true test, of course, will be at night when there is less traffic noise, and when the work is over water where the sound carries more. The grain of salt is that this was my impression and not a scientific judgment, and I expect there will be some skepticism as this is coming from a WSDOT communications guy, so I encourage you to see and hear for yourself when construction starts.

Of course, nearby residents in Fremont, Wallingford, and Queen Anne will be the ultimate judges. The 24-hour noise hotline is 206-390-5697. Track the project here.

Fremont residents who live near the Aurora Bridge will have a few nights of relief from the month of expected nighttime noise surrounding the construction of a nine-foot safety fence over the bridge. WSDOT announced today that construction on the fence, which was scheduled to begin on Monday night, April 19, has been postponed due to an equipment problem. A new estimated start date for the work has not yet been announced.

From WSDOT:

When construction on the safety fence does begin, crews will work Sunday through Thursday nights and will work on one side of the bridge at a time. Construction will close two lanes and the adjacent sidewalk across the bridge from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m. nightly. WSDOT expects to finish installing the fence by the end of the year.

When construction does start up again, WSDOT says it will be extremely noisy. If you still haven’t received your free industrial strength earplugs, call 206-267-6019. Follow the fence project progress here. 

Updated: A man in his mid-30s jumped from the Aurora Bridge this morning (Monday) despite the best efforts of police and fire to talk him down. Officers arrived at 7:15 a.m., closing southbound lanes and creating long delays. The man jumped just before 9:30 a.m. Rescue crews attempted to resuscitate him, and he was rushed to the hospital. There’s no word if he survived.

As you know, a plan is in the works to install an 8-foot suicide fence along the bridge. WSDOT has held public meetings to work toward a mutually-agreeable design (that’s one of the early proposals above), and the state legislature is slated to consider $5.9 million in construction funding during the next session. If it stays on schedule, installation will begin in early 2010. More than 40 people have jumped to their death from the bridge in the last decade — the suicide place of choice in Western Washington.

Update: The Stranger has a photo of the person clinging to the side of the bridge moments before he jumped. (Don’t click if you don’t want to see it.) The Stranger says many people witnessed him fall.