Golden Gate Bridge

Categories: Historic civil engineering landmarks | San Francisco landmarks | Suspension bridges | Toll bridges in California | Bridges completed in 1937 | Art Deco | Works Progress Administration

The Golden Gate Bridge (37° 49′ 12″ N, 122° 28′ 43″ W) is a suspension bridge spanning the Golden Gate, the opening into the San Francisco Bay from the Pacific Ocean. It connects the city of San Francisco on the northern tip of the San Francisco Peninsula and a portion of the south-facing Marin County headlands near the small bayside town of Sausalito, and is located at 37°49′ N 122°29′ W. The entire bridge including the approach spans is 1.7 miles (2,727 m) long, the distance between the towers ("main span") is 4200 feet (1280 m), and their height is 746 feet (230 m) above the water.

History

The bridge was the brainchild of Joseph Strauss, an engineer responsible for over 400 drawbridges, though they were far smaller than this project and mostly inland. Strauss spent over a decade drumming up support in Northern California. Strauss's initial proposal for this location was not at all pretty[2], comprising a massive cantilever on each side connected with a central suspension segment. Other key figures in the bridge's construction include architect Irving Morrow, responsible for the Art Deco touches and the choice of color, and engineer Charles Alton Ellis and bridge designer Leon Moisseiff, who collaborated on the complicated mathematics involved.

Construction began on January 5, 1933. Voters within the District funded the project through a special bond issue that put their homes, farms and business properties up as collateral. This bond issue raised the initial $35 million to finance the building of the Bridge. The last of the construction bonds were retired in 1971, with $35 million in principal and nearly $39 million in interest being financed entirely from tolls. Strauss, a graduate of the University of Cincinnati, placed a brick from his alma mater's demolished McMicken Hall in the south anchorage before the concrete was poured. The bridge was completed in April 1937 and opened to pedestrians on May 27 of that year. The next day, President Roosevelt pushed a button in Washington, DC signaling the start of vehicle traffic over the Bridge. A unique aspect of the bridge's construction was the safety net set up beneath it, significantly reducing the expected number of deaths for such a project. 11 men were killed from falls during construction, and approximately 19 men were saved by the safety net. 10 of the deaths occurred near completion, when the net itself failed under the stress of a scaffold fall. The 19 workers whose lives were saved by the safety nets became proud members of the (informal) Halfway to Hell Club.

The center span was the longest among suspension bridges until 1964 when the Verrazano Narrows Bridge was erected between the boroughs of Staten Island and Brooklyn in New York City. The Golden Gate Bridge also had the world's tallest suspension towers at the time of construction, and retained that record until more recently. In 1957, Michigan's Mackinac Bridge surpassed the Golden Gate Bridge's length between anchorages to become the world's longest suspension bridge in total length. The longest center suspension span in the world is currently the Akashi-Kaikyo Bridge in Japan.

As the only road to exit San Francisco to the north, the bridge is part of both United States Highway 101 and California State Route 1. The bridge has six total lanes of vehicle traffic, and walkways on both sides of the bridge. The median markers between the lanes are moved to conform to traffic patterns. On weekday mornings, traffic flows mostly southbound into the city, so four of the six lanes run southbound. Conversely, on weekday afternoons, three lanes run northbound. While there has been discussion concerning the installation of a movable barrier since the 1980s, the Bridge Board of Directors, in March 2005, committed to finding funding to complete the $2 million study required prior to the installation of a moveable median barrier. The eastern walkway is for pedestrians and bicycles during the weekdays and during daylight hours only, and the western walkway is open to bicycles on weekends.

On September 1, 2002, the toll for Southbound motor vehicles was raised from $3.00 to $5.00. Northbound motor vehicle traffic, cycling, and pedestrian traffic remain toll free.

Aesthetics

The color of the bridge is orange vermilion, deemed International Orange. The color was selected by consulting architect Irving Morrow because it blends well with the natural surroundings yet enhances the bridge's visibility in fog.

The bridge is widely considered one of the most beautiful examples of bridge engineering, both as a structural design challenge and for its aesthetic appeal. It was declared one of the modern Wonders of the World by the American Society of Civil Engineers. According to Frommer's travel guide, the Golden Gate Bridge is "possibly the most beautiful, certainly the most photographed, bridge in the world." [3] (although Frommers also bestows the "most photographed" honor on Tower Bridge [4])

Suicides

In each of the last five years, on average, there has been one suicide jump every two weeks, with a total of over 1,300 suicides. The official count ended in 1995 when the number approached 1,000. The 220-foot (67 m) fall takes four seconds and jumpers hit the water at 75 miles per hour (120 km/h). As of 2003, only 26 people have survived the jump. The survivors, many of whom report that they regretted the decision in mid-air, all struck the water feet first at a small angle and most suffered multiple internal injuries and broken bones. One young man who jumped off the bridge in the 1980s swam ashore and walked up on the beach. The doctor who examined him said that the man was in the best shape of anyone he had ever seen.

In January 2005, an excerpt from the script of Jenni Olson's film, The Joy of Life (2005), in part a history of suicide and the Golden Gate Bridge, appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle. The following week Phil Matier of the San Francisco Chronicle revealed that documentarian Eric Steel had misrepresented the intent of his film to the Golden Gate National Recreation Area when he filed his film permit application with them. He stated that he was making a film about the wonders and beauty of the Bridge as a famous landmark, but instead captured 19 suicides on tape. On January 27th, Bridge District staff re-introduced the topic of a suicide barrier to the Bridge’s Building and Operations committee, citing “the high profile of this issue in recent press and community conversations.” On March 11, 2005, the Board of Directors of the Golden Gate Bridge voted 15-1 to approve a two-year, $2 million plan to explore the feasibility of a barrier.

The Golden Gate Bridge in fiction and film

• The bridge is a prominent backdrop in Alfred Hitchcock's film Vertigo (1958) in a scene set just east (bayside) of Fort Point, with the bridge in the background.
• The bridge is seen prominently in the opening sequence of the soap opera Love is a Many Splendored Thing, which was set in San Francisco.
• The bridge plays a significant role in the climactic scene of the James Bond film A View to a Kill (1985).
• In The Core, deadly microwaves from the sun break through the magnetic field and melt the bridge before frying the rest of San Francisco.
• In Superman, Superman saves a school bus about to fall from the bridge.
• In the Japanese science fiction film Mothra, the bridge is destroyed by the collision of a large nuclear mutant monster.
• In Hulk, the Hulk jumps off the bridge to save a fighter jet.
• In George of the Jungle, George climbs and strolls on the Golden Gate Bridge as if it were his beloved jungle, and rescues a stranded worker.
• In 10.5 the Golden Gate Bridge collapses durring the earthquake.
• In Charmed, scenes of the Golden Gate Bridge can be seen.
• In Dirty Harry, "Scorpio" hijacks a school bus full of children and forces the driver to head North across the bridge.
• In The West Wing, a terrorist attempt to blow up the Golden Gate Bridge sparks a plot line involving the US assassination of the Qumari intelligence minister (who masterminded the plot to blow up the bridge).
• The bridge is seen in the opening credits of the television show Too Close for Comfort (1980-1985) and its spin-off The Ted Knight Show (1985-1986). It is also seen in the opening credits of Full House.
• In the video game Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (2004), an exact model of this bridge is featured in the city San Fierro, San Andreas. Although it is called Gant Bridge in the game, it could possibly be named that by combining the words "golden" and "gate."
• Jenni Olson's film, The Joy of Life (2005) offers a history of suicide and the Golden Gate Bridge and features gorgeously shot images of the Bridge as well as a personal reflection on the production history of Alfred Hitchcock's film Vertigo (1958).
• Alistair MacLean's novel The Golden Gate is a kidnapping story set almost exclusively on the Golden Gate Bridge.
• In the movie Bicentennial Man, which takes place in San Francisco, the bridge is seen several times across the future, including a view in which it has a double deck structure.
• In the Star Trek universe, in both the 23rd and 24th Centuries, Starfleet Headquarters and Starfleet Academy are located in San Francisco's Presidio, with a view of the Golden Gate Bridge. In Star Trek Enterprise, the original location of Starfleet Command is located NE of the bridge. Instead of a direct view of traffic lanes and whatever transportation technology is employed, there is an obscuring weatherproof glass arch cover. Perhaps everyone travels the bridge by walking and bicycle in this future time, since purposeful travel may be done quickly by the transporter technology common in starships. In Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, the Klingon bird-of-prey used by the crew of the Starship Enterprise flies under the Golden Gate Bridge on its way to crashing into the Bay. Later, in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, the Golden Gate Bridge is destroyed during the Dominion War in an attack by the Breen on San Francisco.

External links

• The Official website of the Golden Gate Bridge
• Structurae: Golden Gate Bridge
• The Museum of San Francisco's Story Behind the Construction of the Span
• PBS American Experience
• Golden Gate Bridge Virtual Tour
• The story of Golden Gate Bridge - by CBS Forum
• Photographs of the Golden Gate Bridge
• Photos of the Golden Gate Bridge
• 3D plug-in of the Golden Gate Bridge for Google Earth
• Maps and aerial photos
  • Street map from MapQuest or Google Local
  • Topographic map from TopoZone
  • Aerial image or topographic map from TerraServer-USA
  • Satellite image from Google Local
  • Close-up color aerial from TerraServer-USA or Google Local
  • Surrounding area map from the United States Census Bureau

References

• Tad Friend: Jumpers: The fatal grandeur of the Golden Gate Bridge, The New Yorker, Oct 13, 2003 v79 i30 page 48

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