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At a hearing in Hobbs Thursday (Sept. 25), New Mexico Department of Transportation Secretary Ricky Serna told Herrera and other members of the interim state Legislative Finance Committee that the estimated cost of improvements is between $12 million and $15 million. In 2018 the cost estimate was $3.2 million for higher railings and structural modifications to counteract increased wind drag the changes would create. 

At the bridge Friday afternoon (Sept. 26), community members gathered for the Raise the Rails Rally for Change staged by the Taos-based True Kids 1 Youth Council. The rally was held not just in response to increased suicides in recent weeks, but to take aim at what rally attendees said is decades of inaction.

“How many more people have to jump off this bridge for Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham to do something?” said Carlos Miller, a former True Kids 1 Youth Council president.

Since its construction in 1965, the Rio Grande Gorge Bridge has been the site of hundreds of suicides. The bridge — 4,200 tons of steel anchored into bedrock — is built to withstand 100 mile-per-hour winds.

In 2018, the New Mexico Department of Transportation commissioned a study that assessed the structural feasibility of installing different suicide deterrents at the bridge. But the deterrents, like curved guardrails or netting, continually fail to gain traction.

“It's more than just making this bridge a safer place, because the state is responsible for it — they need to take ownership of it,” Miller said. “This isn’t just Ricky Serna at the DOT, this is Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham. This is all the way at the top,” he said. “We need action. We need strong, concrete evidence that things are being done if this is going to be a place that holds people physically and emotionally.”

There have been six suicide deaths at the Rio Grande Gorge Bridge this year, two more than the annual average since record-keeping began in the 1990s. Half occurred in the last three weeks.

The most recent suicide occurred Sept. 20, when Taos County Sheriff’s deputies recovered the remains of Noah Salmons, 15, of Taos. Other body recovery missions at the bridge occurred Sept. 2 and Sept. 6. On Sept. 9, sheriff’s deputies intercepted a man in his car at the bridge after relatives called 911 to report he was en route and had expressed suicidal thoughts.

“It impacts everybody differently,”  Marvin Armijo, lieutenant for the Taos County Sheriff’s Office, said during the rally. “It impacts our office badly because we’re the ones that go down there. We have to see the aftermath and we have to go let the parents or their loved ones know what happened. It’s not easy for us, and it’s surely not easy for the individuals that lose their loved ones.

“On behalf of [Taos County] Sheriff Steve Miera, who couldn’t be here today, he wanted me to give this message to you guys: He will not stop fighting for you guys," Armijo said. "He is fighting to get something done with this bridge and he’s not going to stop.”

The recent string of suicides prompted Miera to contact Serna, and at Miera’s request, Serna closed the Gorge Bridge to pedestrians on Monday (Sept. 22) until viable suicide deterrents are found.

Earlier this week, Serna told the Taos News that raising the bridge’s railing height is the most feasible solution based on previous studies. The department is asking the same consultancy group hired in 2018 to reassess the railing modification option.

“That would still require some strengthening measures," Serna said. "They identified at least a dozen members on the bridge that would need to be strengthened. That would allow for the bridge to support any additional wind drag that may get picked up from a higher railing and, of course — the weight of the railing on the bridge itself.”

When asked about community skepticism of the closure's impact, Serna cited the department's plan to hire a third security guard for on-site 24/7 surveillance. The contracted guards will be stationed at each end of the bridge with a rover patrolling between them.

Some at the rally were skeptical.

“I lost my son, Alejandro Mariscal, on March, 14, 2023, to suicide,” Anna Gonzales said. “We didn’t know he was depressed. But it’s true we need to gather the community, go to the governor and get this bridge done. We need more lighting, more phone service to call our loved ones if they’re planning on taking their lives, and more security. The phones are working, but when my son’s death happened, the phones weren’t working. I was told there were cameras, which there weren’t.”

Earlier this year, members of True Kids 1, the Taos County Sheriff’s Office, the Town of Taos Council and Taos County Commission traveled to the Roundhouse in Santa Fe to meet with Governor’s staff. They were told that Lujan Grisham was interested in pursuing a solution, but no one heard anything in the months following.

"I'm at a loss for words," Miller said. “In January, there was a meeting between True Kids 1 and a couple of local officials with the state. And as far as I'm aware, there were no public updates that came after that.”

“Like individuals have said, ‘Where’s the updates? What’s going on, what’s happening?" Armijo said. "Enough is enough, that is too easy. Something needs to happen with that bridge. We need to lift those rails and I thank the youth for speaking up and everybody else that stands behind them.”

For more on this story pick up a copy of the Oct. 2 edition of The Taos News. 

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