TAOS — The New Mexico Department of Transportation closed the Rio Grande Gorge Bridge to pedestrians Monday in response to recent suicides at the structure, including the death of a Taos teen Saturday afternoon.

Cabinet Secretary Rick Serna’s closure order will remain in effect “until a viable resolution can be found” to prevent suicides, Taos County Sheriff Steve Miera said in a news release Sunday.

Miera has long called for the state to act to reduce suicides on the 600-foot-high bridge about 10 miles northwest of Taos. He asked Serna for the closure order after the third suicide at the site in three weeks occurred Saturday. On Sunday, deputies recovered the remains of Noah Salmon, a 15-year-old boy from Taos.

Miera said Salmon’s recovery marks the “sixth incident of this nature” at t

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