Transport: Suicide Bridge

For Southern California it is bad enough that the northern part of the State has two great bridges, one across the Bay, the other across the Golden Gate, lately opened with two gigantic fiestas (TIME, Nov. 23 & June 7). For SouthernCalifornia it is worse that it contains a bridge which has made a lot of horrid news— Pasadena’s notorious “suicide bridge,” the long, aqueduct-like structure spanning 158½-ft.-deep Arroyo Seco in which squats the Rose Bowl. According to local legend, when this bridge was built in 1912, several workmen were buried alive in the concrete and their tortured spirits haunt the place. Certainly it has been a sorry spot: fortnight ago the 88th person jumped to death over its low parapet.

Last week when a 19-year-old girl made the 89th death leap, Pasadena’s Board of Directors finally yielded to newspaper demands for action. They voted to erect a 71-ft. steel fence crowned with barbed wire the entire length of the bridge. Estimated cost: $7,000.