In October 2009 the bridge was reopened by Mayor John Banks. The footpaths are covered with curved transparent screens installed in 2002, to prevent people from falling or jumping off and providing weather cover (the bridge had suicide prevention barriers from as early as 1936, replaced with mesh screens in 1957 that were removed in 1997. After the removal, suicides increased fivefold, leading to a quiet re-installation in 2002). There have been no suicides from the bridge since then until 2015, and the feature has been called an example of best practice of preventing such acts.