The Perrine Bridge spanning the Snake River at Twin Falls is attracting more and more fans of bungee jumping, and that is disturbing some local law enforcement.
Leaping from the span nearly 500 feet over the river has become an increasingly popular weekend diversion this summer, with passersby watching and wondering what it would be like.Since May, there have been dozens of jumps by parachute or bungee cord - an elasticized length of reinforced nylon rope that allows the leaper to plunge near the water's surface and bounce back up.
The sport is attracting spectators and slows cross-bridge traffic.
No one has been seriously injured so far, and jumping off the bridge violates no law. But that may change.
"It's something that needs to be looked at," said Ike Maxson, Twin Falls County chief deputy sheriff. "It causes a traffic hazard."
One-half of the bridge is in Twin Falls County and the other half is in Jerome County.
Officers from the two counties may press for either a state or joint county ordinance to ban bridge-jumping, Twin Falls Sheriff Jim Munn said.
Jerome County commissioners are unlikely to pass such an ordinance, said Sheriff Larry Gold. But if traffic is snarled on the bridge, the county will pursue jumpers with existing nuisance laws.
That is what the Idaho State Police did in July when a bungee-jumper from New Zealand got hung up below the bridge for two hours after a rope used to pull him up snapped. Jumper James Johnston and his three companions were charged with creating a public nuisance.
But the charges didn't seem to discourage them. Johnston offered to take a jailer bungee-jumping after he was released on bail.
Munn is worried about the spectators who get too close to the canyon edge as well as distracted drivers.
"Until somebody gets hurt, it must not be too dangerous," said Kent Just, director of the Twin Falls Area Chamber of Commerce. Jumpers started making pilgrimages to the bridge - one of the 10 longest span bridges in the nations - about three years ago, he said.
Many of the jumpers come from Hill Air Force Base in Ogden. One man toted his 7-year-old daughter in a chest harness as he parachuted off the bridge.
The Hill group often jumps off the bridge with bungee cords and parachutes down to the river where a boat picks them up. Curious onlookers start gathering around the jumpers.
"It creates quite a little spectacle," Just said. Although the frequency of the jumps seems to be picking up, it is still a relatively inconsequential pastime, he said.