Bay ”Golden Gate” Bridge – San Francisco, USA
The Bay Bridge is more commonly known around the world as
the Golden Gate Bridge. It has been a
major symbol of American engineering prowess and prestige since its completion
in the 1930’s. At the time, no one was
sure if such an ambitious project could be possible. The world was stunned upon its completion as the longest
suspension bridge in the world with the tallest towers.
Today, many other bridges have dwarfed it. Most notably, the Akashi-Kaikyo Bridge in
Japan is over 700 meters longer in the central span and is the longest
suspension bridge in the world since 1998.
History
The idea to connect the City of San Francisco to the
northern peninsula across the ’Golden Gate’ was fashioned by Joseph
Strauss. He was a civil engineer who
had designed and built hundreds of drawbridges in the area, though most were
inland and quite small. He spent a
decade gathering support for the project, including the prominent architect
Irving Morrow, engineer Charles Ellis, and designer Leon Moisseiff. While Ellis and Moisseiff helped Strauss
with the daunting task of working through the mathematics of what would be the
longest suspension bridge in the world, Morrow would ultimately distinguish the
bridge from all others for the rest of time.
He was the principal artist responsible for the Art Deco features of the
bridge, along with its unique color: International Orange. While many people mistake the color of the
bridge as unpainted or rusted, it is actually a paint chosen to help increase
visibility in the heavy fog that often rolls through San Francisco Bay without
warning.
By 1933, the bridge got the go-ahead by Franklin D.
Roosevelt’s Works Projects Administration program. It was a massive program that opened up federal funds to help
assuage the damage of the Great Depression.
Unprecedented even today, the bridge was completed in just four years. Work started in January 1933, while the
grand opening was in May 1937. To give
you a perspective, the Akashi-Kaikyo Bridge took over 10 years to complete,
though it is indeed much longer. One
notable development was the addition of a safety net hanging under the bridge
during its construction. Though 11
people died throughout the building process, the net saved 19 people. Survivors joined an infamous group known as
the ”Halfway to Hell Club”.
Description
The Golden Gate Bridge has a total span of 1280 meters and
sports six lanes of traffic and 2 lanes for pedestrians and bicyclists. During rush hour, four lanes are reserved
for the major direction of traffic. A
toll of $5 for southbound traffic remains in effect for commuters, while
northbound and pedestrian traffic is toll free.
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