SENATE MEMORIAL 103

53rd legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - second session, 2018

INTRODUCED BY

Carlos R. Cisneros

 

 

 

 

 

A MEMORIAL

REQUESTING THE DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION TO MOVE FORWARD WITH SAFETY MEASURES AT THE RIO GRANDE GORGE BRIDGE, TO PROVIDE SUICIDE BARRIERS ON THE BRIDGE AND TO CREATE SAFE ACCESSIBILITY TO THE BRIDGE FOR ALL VISITORS THAT IS COMPLIANT WITH THE FEDERAL AMERICANS WITH DISABILITIES ACT OF 1990.

 

     WHEREAS, the Rio Grande Gorge bridge was designed in 1963 and was completed in 1965; and

     WHEREAS, the Rio Grande Gorge bridge has pedestrian walkways with forty-seven-inch railings; and

     WHEREAS, the Rio Grande Gorge bridge has become an "attractive nuisance" that can tempt persons with suicidal thoughts to jump to their deaths; and

     WHEREAS, this was underscored in 2016 by the death of a fourteen-year-old boy who jumped from the bridge; and

     WHEREAS, fourteen people have committed suicide at the Rio Grande Gorge bridge since 2012, an average of two and one-half deaths from suicide a year; and

     WHEREAS, a total of forty-two deaths from suicide at the Rio Grande Gorge bridge have been recorded by the office of the state medical investigator; and

     WHEREAS, the suicide rate in Taos county is higher than the state average, and suicides at the Rio Grande Gorge bridge account for fifty percent of all suicides in the Taos county area; and

     WHEREAS, the number of suicides at the Rio Grande Gorge bridge detrimentally affects community morale; and

     WHEREAS, recovery efforts from the Rio Grande Gorge drain emergency and law enforcement resources, are physically dangerous and create emotional and mental stress for emergency responders; and

     WHEREAS, the Rio Grande Gorge bridge has historically been a tourist destination, and its international visibility was enhanced when it was included in the Rio Grande del Norte national monument created in 2013; and

     WHEREAS, the Rio Grande del Norte national monument attracts an average of three hundred thousand visitors yearly, most of whom visit the Rio Grande Gorge bridge, creating a level of traffic and pedestrian traffic possibly not contemplated in the original design; and

     WHEREAS, designed and built in the 1960s, the Rio Grande Gorge bridge is not easily accessible for people with disabilities and does not meet the standards for structures under the federal Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990; and

     WHEREAS, heightened barriers have proven to be successful suicide deterrents at bridges throughout the United States, including the Memorial bridge in Maine, the Vista bridge in Oregon and the Cold Spring Canyon bridge in California; and

     WHEREAS, the Taos county board of county commissioners adopted a resolution regarding safety at the Rio Grande Gorge bridge and supporting the efforts of both the United States department of transportation and the state department of transportation to allocate funding for the design and installation of protective safety measures at the bridge; and

     WHEREAS, the Taos county resolution states that: "Towards this end, Taos County desires to work collaboratively with the State of New Mexico, Federal agencies, Town of Taos, Taos Municipal School District and local non-profits such as the Gorge Bridge Safety Network, to fund improvements at the Bridge, in order to ensure greater safety and the prevention of suicide"; and

     WHEREAS, the department of transportation has previously produced a report titled "Structural Feasibility Analysis, Rio Grande Gorge Bridge Suicide Deterrent System, January 2015" that identified five alternatives regarding public safety at the bridge; and

     WHEREAS, on June 7, 2017, the department of transportation awarded a contract to the engineering firm HDR to create a structural analysis for three of the identified alternatives: "no build", replacement of the existing forty-seven-inch railing with an eight-foot railing and the installation of a horizontal net system;

     NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE SENATE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO that the department of transportation be requested to continue to work toward the installation of bridge barriers, safety-enhancing improvements and modifications to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 to the Rio Grande Gorge bridge on United States highway 64 in Taos county; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the department of transportation report the findings of the structural analysis by HDR to the appropriate legislative interim committee prior to that committee's final meeting in 2018; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this memorial be transmitted to the secretary of transportation and the secretary of public safety.

- 4 -