Golden Gate Bridge suicide barrier delays add $23 million to cost

Support struts that will eventually hold suicide prevention netting extend from

Support struts that will eventually hold suicide prevention netting extend from the Golden Gate Bridge on Aug. 27, 2020. (Sherry LaVars/Marin Independent Journal)

SAUSALITO, CA - APRIL 8: Construction on the Golden Gate Bridge suicide barrier is seen amid the shelter in place is seen from Sausalito, Calif. on Wednesday, April 9, 2020. The iconic span is 87-years-old. (Sherry LaVars/Marin Independent Journal)

SAUSALITO, CA - APRIL 8: The San Francisco skyline is seen through the fog as construction on the Golden Gate Bridge suicide barrier continues in Sausalito, Calif. on Wednesday, April 9, 2020. The iconic span is 87-years-old. (Sherry LaVars/Marin Independent Journal)

SAUSALITO, CA - APRIL 8: Platforms are seen under the Golden Gate Bridge as construction of a suicide barrier continues in Sausalito, Calif. on Wednesday, April 9, 2020. (Sherry LaVars/Marin Independent Journal)

SAUSALITO, CA - APRIL 8: Construction on the Golden Gate Bridge suicide barrier is seen from Sausalito, Calif. on Wednesday, April 9, 2020. (Sherry LaVars/Marin Independent Journal)

SAUSALITO, CA - APRIL 8: An iron worker is seen working on the Golden Gate Bridge suicide barrier in Sausalito, Calif. on Wednesday, April 9, 2020. The iconic span is 87-years-old. (Sherry LaVars/Marin Independent Journal)

SAUSALITO, CA - APRIL 8: Iron workers are seen working on the Golden Gate Bridge suicide barrier in Sausalito, Calif. on Wednesday, April 9, 2020. The iconic span is 87-years-old. (Sherry LaVars/Marin Independent Journal)

SAUSALITO, CA - APRIL 8: A construction worker is seen in the under belly of the Golden Gate Bridge during in Sausalito, Calif. on Wednesday, April 9, 2020. Construction of a suicide barrier in ongoing. (Sherry LaVars/Marin Independent Journal)

SAUSALITO, CA - APRIL 8: Iron workers are barely visible in a maze of metal as construction on the Golden Gate Bridge suicide barrier is seen in Sausalito, Calif. on Wednesday, April 9, 2020. (Sherry LaVars/Marin Independent Journal)

SAUSALITO, CA - APRIL 8: Iron workers are barely visible in a maze of metal as construction on the Golden Gate Bridge suicide barrier is seen from Sausalito, Calif. on Wednesday, April 9, 2020. (Sherry LaVars/Marin Independent Journal)

A steel net is supported by struts on the prototype of the Golden Gate Bridge suicide barrier at the barrier contractor's construction yard in Richmond in May. (Alan Dep/Marin Independent Journal)

The span of the Golden Gate Bridge disappears into the fog on June 27, 2014 in San Francisco, California. The Golden Gate Bridge district's board of directors voted unanimously to approve a $76 million funding package to build a net suicide barrier on the iconic span. Over 1,500 people committed suicide by jumping from the iconic bridge since it opened in 1937. 46 people jumped to their death in 2013. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

Sue Story of Rocklin, left, gets her first look at the prototype suicide barrier for the Golden Gate Bridge in Richmond, Calif. on Thursday, May 16, 2019. Story lost her son Jacob, whose photo she holds, to suicide in 2010. (Alan Dep/Marin Independent Journal)

Golden Gate Bridge district general manager Denis Mulligan, left, and district board president Sabrina Hernandez walk under the prototype of the Golden Gate Bridge's new suicide barrier before a press event at the barrier contractor's construction yard in Richmond, Calif. on Thursday, May 16, 2019. (Alan Dep/Marin Independent Journal)

A sample of the steel net used in the Golden Gate Bridge suicide barrier is seen at the barrier contractor's construction yard in Richmond, Calif. on Thursday, May 16, 2019. (Alan Dep/Marin Independent Journal)

The Golden Gate Bridge suicide barrier, as depicted in a design illustration, will be a steel net extending about 20 feet from the bridge. (Provided by Golden Gate Bridge district)

Library users sit next to the scaffolding installed around the atrium area as seen on the third-floor at the Martin Luther King Jr. library at San Jose State University in San Jose, California, on Thursday, July 13, 2017. The city of San Jose and the library are spending $2.6 million to build a glass suicide barrier around the atrium. (Gary Reyes/ Bay Area News Group)

Scaffolding has been installed around the atrium area as seen from the fourth floor at the Martin Luther King Jr. library at San Jose State University in San Jose, California, on Thursday, July 13, 2017. The city of San Jose and the library are spending $2.6 million to build a glass suicide barrier around the atrium. (Gary Reyes/ Bay Area News Group)

Scaffolding has been installed around the atrium area to build a suicide barrier at the Martin Luther King Jr. library at San Jose State University in San Jose, California, on Thursday, July 13, 2017. The city of San Jose and the library are spending $2.6 million to build a glass suicide barrier around the atrium. (Gary Reyes/ Bay Area News Group)

The yearslong delay to the Golden Gate Bridge suicide barrier project is expected to increase project costs by $23 million.

The board of the Golden Gate Bridge, Highway and Transportation District is set to decide on Friday whether to approve a $2 million allocation of reserve funding to cover staffing and administrative costs caused by the delay through the end of the year.

"The contractor building the suicide deterrent net is behind schedule, so we are incurring additional costs for staff time," said Ewa Bauer-Furbush, bridge district chief engineer, on Thursday. "We’re incredibly disappointed that the project has been delayed and are doing everything we can to move construction forward."

Originally set for completion in January, the $211 million bridge suicide barrier is now set to be completed on Jan. 12, 2023, because of delays announced in late 2019. The district estimates that the delays through the end of the project will add $23.2 million in administrative and consulting costs.

The suicide barrier also requires the replacement of the bridge's maintenance traveler systems that run along the sides and underside of the bridge for inspections and repairs. That portion of the project is expected to be completed in April 2024, more than three years after the original January 2021 date, according to the district.

The delay to the traveler replacement portion of the project is not expected to affect the maintenance of the bridge, according to the district. However, inspections will need to be performed through different access points.

The district awarded a $142 million construction contract in 2017 to Shimmick Construction in a joint venture with the San Francisco-based Danny's Construction Co. A few months after the contract was awarded, Shimmick Construction was acquired by the multi-national engineering firm AECOM.

Bridge district officials said the AECOM acquisition and other factors led to unexpected delays and misleading assurances of project completion.

The contractors contend the district asked them to do work outside of the project scope and that it has not properly administered the contract. The contractors say the district directed them to apply standards that are inconsistent with state law that increased costs and delayed the project.

"The Shimmick-Danny's Joint Venture is committed to working with our client to ensure the successful delivery of this important project," spokesman John Gallagher wrote in a statement. "It was prepared to accelerate the construction of the suicide deterrent and prevention barriers, but the District formally declined to do so.

"The District has directed the Shimmick-Danny's Joint Venture to perform work outside the requirements of the original contract that has caused delays and increased costs that are currently the subject of a contract dispute."

Bauer-Furbush told two bridge district committees on Thursday that the contractors’ claims have "no merit."

"The construction delays were caused through no fault of the district, and we are looking at options for recovering some of the additional cost," she said after the meeting.

Paul Muller, president of the suicide prevention nonprofit the Bridge Rail Foundation, said advocates of the barrier including families who have lost loved ones to suicide are disheartened by the delay.

"Each month of delay costs lives," he said. "That's the horrible truth of all of this."

Resources: Marin's suicide prevention and crisis hotline is 415-499-1100. Grief counseling is available at 415-499-1195.

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