Fencing considered for Tarentum Bridge after New Kensington man jumped to his death

PennDOT officials said Friday they will assess the potential of installing fencing on the downriver side of the Tarentum Bridge following the death of a New Kensington man who apparently jumped to his death from the span Tuesday.

The victim was identified as Thomas Peter Link, 68, by the Allegheny County Medical Examiner’s Office.

PennDOT spokesman Steve Cowan said a fence spans the bridge’s opposite side, where traffic flows toward Tarentum, because there’s a sidewalk on that side of the bridge.

“We have a future deck replacement project on the Tarentum Bridge and, as part of that project, the department will assess whether fencing on the downstream side of the bridge is feasible,” Cowan said.

The project is expected to get underway in late 2026 or early 2027.

In the near-term, PennDOT crews will install suicide prevention signs on both ends of the bridge, Cowan said.

According to the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, barriers are the most effective tool to stop people on bridges at risk of jumping.

Chain link, plexiglass, steel mesh, steel balusters and netting can be deterrents, according to the group, which supports legislation to provide federal funding for such barriers.

Link, who jumped shortly before 11:30 a.m., died before he could be taken to a hospital, according to paramedics at the scene.

Link is at least the third person to die in the past 12 years after jumping from the bridge that connects Tarentum and New Kensington.

In June 2013, a Tarentum man jumped to his death after escaping from a mental health treatment facility in West Deer about an hour before.

That, police said, was actually the second time the man jumped from the bridge. Police said at the time they believed the victim had jumped from the span in May 2009, telling authorities he was a thrill-seeker.

In 2014, police said witnesses on the bridge reported seeing a man park his car on the New Kensington-bound lanes and jump off the unfenced, downriver side of the span.

That is much what witnesses said Link did, parking his car in one of the New Kensington-bound lanes and swinging his legs over the concrete traffic barrier to jump.