ST. PAUL — Transportation officials would have to consider ways to incorporate suicide prevention barriers when they build or repair bridges in Minnesota under a bill being debated by state lawmakers.
Sen. Scott Dibble, DFL-Minneapolis, proposed the bill after Kayla Gaebel, 29, died by suicide in 2023 on the Washington Avenue Bridge that connects the east and west banks of the Mississippi River on the University of Minnesota campus.
Since then, Kayla’s mother MJ Weiss Blair — vice president of the nonprofit Suicide Awareness Voices of Education or SAVE — has been working to pass legislation to incorporate suicide prevention barriers on some bridges.
Dibble, whose bill is called “Kayla’s HOPE Act,” said the proposal creates a statewide framework to evaluate whether suicide prevention measures are necessary when new bridges are planned and built and when existing bridges are repaired.
“This legislation does not mandate barriers on every bridge,” Dibble said in a committee meeting on March 16. “Instead, it establishes a smart, coordinated framework grounded in data, public health expertise and engineering judgment.”
Prevention measures would be physical barriers such as nets and heightened railings. Locations of the barriers would be determined by collaboration between suicide prevention nonprofits and the commissioner of Minnesota Department of Transportation.
Erich Mische, CEO of SAVE, said a collaboration between SAVE and legislators was successful in the construction of suicide barriers on the Washington Avenue Bridge.
“One of the painful truths that we see over and over again is that suicide occurs at a known location. It rarely only happens once,” Mische said. “Bridges that become associated with suicide tragically become repeat locations, not because people want to die on those locations, but because those locations become known.”
The language in the bill was written in cooperation with the transportation department, Mische said.
Weiss Blair said the bill is important because it transforms pain into action.
“When a bridge becomes a site of tragedy, the impact doesn’t end with a statistic. It ripples outward through families, friends, first responders and entire communities,” she said. “These losses are not abstract. They are deeply human, deeply painful and deeply permanent.”
Dibble said there is no language in the bill aimed at how the legislation would affect historical bridges, but said a resolution was worked out when railings were raised on the Mendota Bridge to protect bicyclists and maintain the bridge’s historical character.
The bill includes $750,000 to fund the suicide prevention measures.
The committee delayed a vote and agreed to consider the bill for possible inclusion in a larger measure later in the session.
If you or someone you know is in crisis or experiencing emotional distress, free and confidential help is available 24/7 in Minnesota by calling or texting the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline at 988.
Report for Minnesota is a project of the University of Minnesota’s Hubbard School of Journalism and Mass Communication to support local news across the state.
