INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — A project decades in the making was completed as the San Francisco Golden State Bridge got an upgrade. A $224 million net will now jut from underneath the bridge in an effort to deter and prevent suicides along the bridge.

It is a physical suicide barrier, according to San Francisco station KGO-TV. It is also called a net. It projects from both sides of the bridge.

Last year, there were 14 suicides at the bridge. There are an average of 30 people that take their lives each year, as reported by KGO.

“It provides people a second chance,” said Paolo Cosulich-Schwartz of the Golden Gate Bridge Highway and Transportation District, talking with the station.

It’s a steel net, one that, if it had existed then, may have caught Kevin Hines when he jumped off the Golden Gate Bridge many years ago.

Hines told the station he attempted suicide by jumping off the bridge years ago. He said he “instantly regretted” his decision. Hines credited the Coast Guard, doctors, and a sea lion that he named Herbert for saving him.

He said he believes the steel net would have been a difference maker in his case.

“I would have hesitated; I believe with enough time for patrol officers to wonder why is that kid just standing there leaning over the rail crying his eyes out,” said Hines.

“I’m grateful of every moment and every day to walk this earth and I think all the people involved in raising the net are cheering internally right now and very grateful for this accomplishment,” said Hines.

But some have questioned the projects cost.

“I have not seen convincing evidence that we’re actually going to be saving that many lives or that the several hundred million invested this way was the best way of saving the most lives,” said Dr. John Kruse, according to the station.

Dr. Kruse wrote a column in Clinical Psychiatry News where he questioned the lack of data on regional suicide rates after these types of measures have been put into place, saying he is doubtful that those working so hard to get to a location like the Golden Gate Bridge just won’t go somewhere else.

“It does not seem on the face of it logical to me to say that someone that determined to die is only determined to die because the Golden Gate Bridge has such a magnetic draw,” said Dr. Kruse.

If you are experiencing suicidal, substance use, or other mental health crises, please call or text the new three-digit code at 988. You will reach a trained crisis counselor for free, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. You can also go to 988lifeline.org.