Numerous
serious injuries and fatal accidents on the Golden Gate
Bridge, Highway & Transportation District, have become
a serious issue placing the Golden Gate Bridge District
(GGB, H&TD) under increasing pressure to implement a
safer traffic corridor between San Francisco and the Northbay.
Recent fatalities have fueled public anger, which resulted
in the immediate step to enforce the 45-mph speed limit
by levying heavy fines on speeders. A proposal, which was
first presented in the 1980s, to install a barrier is still
under consideration. Currently, GGB,H&TD is considering
a one-foot, concrete, steel-plated, Movable median barrier
proposed by Barrier Systems Inc. (BSI).
 GGB,H&TD,
requested crash test studies and traffic and accident reports
to assist in its evaluation of the barrier proposal. A modification
of the original proposal to install a 2-foot barrier on
the bridge. John Duckett, president of BSI, stated that
BSI is conducting studies on the feasibility of installing
a one-foot barrier on the Golden Gate Bridge. "The
District agreed to pay for crash testing and traffic studies,
so we went to work engineering it," said Duckett.
The BSI proposal
is not the first barrier proposal the Bridge District has
considered. Marin County resident Robert M. Guernsey, who
is a "Conceptualist in Design and Engineering,"
initiated the effort to install a barrier on the GGB, a
proposal GGB,H&TD rejected.
Mr. Guernsey formed the organization in 1996, called: "Citizens
for a Safe Golden Gate Bridge." Which is based in San
Anselmo, CA He and Frank Schweiger, Danna Kirkbride, both
director are victims of a head-on collisions, one on the
bridge, and the other in Doyle Drive. Citizens for a Safe
Golden Gate Bridge, is still very much involved with the
barrier issue today four years later.
They said they
"Won't stop being vocal about installing of any Movable
median barrier until one is in place on the Bridge"
One of the main reasons "Citizens for a Safe Golden
Gate Bridge" would like to see the barrier system installed
is the fact that there have been 34 fatalities on the Bridge
since 1970 and many injury accidents like one that left
Schweiger seriously injured in 1984. The one-foot median
barrier for the Golden Gate Bridge.
Mervin Giacomini, the Bridge District's Engineer, said.
"I think it's a critical issue, however, the Golden
Gate Bridge has a lower accident rate, including fatality
and injury accidents on Doyle Drive, than many divided freeways
with barriers. "'Giacomini said there-is a lot to consider
in planning to put a Movable median barrier on the Golden
Gate Bridge. "The District operates from toll revenues
and financing the barrier project is an important question."
Giacomini said. Issues that need to be addressed include
reduced sight distance. Emergency Service response time,
and reduced lane width.
E-Tech tested
BSI's barrier to ascertain whether it can withstand crashes
without causing greater hazards on the Bridge. A car the
size of a Ford Festiva and a 3/4 ton pickup truck were crashed
into the barrier at a 20-degree angle going 62 mph. In both
cases tests produced results confirming that the barrier
will withstand each crash without the vehicle penetrating
or going over it, and that the barrier will redirect the
vehicle back into the roadway. Northwestern University Traffic
Institute analyzed benefits of the barrier preventing crossover
accidents versus the risk of creating other accidents like
rear-endings and sideswipes. The traffic study also examined
emergency response time and reduced sight distance when
the barrier is in place, as well as potential for accidents
caused by reduced lane widths.
Currently the
two inner lanes on the Bridge are 10 feet wide and the outer
lanes arc I feet wide. When the barrier is in the center
of the six lanes, one or both of the two inner lanes will
be reduced to 9.5 feet wide, a total of 2.5 feet narrower
than normal 12 foot lanes. If the barrier median proposal
is accepted, it would take approximately 20 minutes to transfer
sections of the barrier.
Giacomini said,
about the same time it takes to transfer pylons under the
current lane change system. He also said that the traffic
would be able to flow over the Bridge while the transfer
happened, just as it does now. Preliminary estimates indicate
installation of the barrier system would cost $7- 8 million.
Evaluation and board consideration of the BSI median barrier
proposal will continue when the results of the crash test
and traffic study reports are made available to the District's
Building and Operating Committee. A hearing was scheduled
for the GGB,H&TD regular meeting on Friday, September
5, 1997. Nevertheless, no meeting have been scheduled yet
for this vital issue.
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