Life-Saving Nets Coming To the Sunshine Skyway
The Sunshine Skyway is getting steel netting fitted to the bridge to prevent suicides. The life-saving nets will prevent people from jumping off of the Skyway. Family members of people who have taken their life from jumping off the Skyway are happy that a preventive measure is happening. Rob Rivard, whose stepson jumped from the Skyway, said, “I just felt if I waited, I could tell him, ‘Something positive came out of your death.'” Rivard has called state officials to have them take action on preventing people from jumping off the Skyway.
Construction on the nets will begin in the summer and will take about 4 months to finish. The Florida Department of Transportation is securing the approval of the State Historic Preservation Office that keeps the iconic design of the bridge.
To contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline call 1-800-273-8255, calling the Crisis Center of Tampa Bay at 2-1-1 or this website
