Golden Gate, A Blend of Art and Engineering

Bridge in the Fog

One of the landmarks of San Francisco is the Golden Gate Bridge which is certainly the most photographed bridge in the world.  It was the longest suspension bridge when it was built and remained so from 1937 to 1964 and still ranks 11th in the world.  Its location and striking international orange color make it pop and make it visible in the fog which often rolls into the bay. Its been seen in many movies and t.v. shows which has also increased its popularity.  Sadly, one of the other things its famous for is suicides, its the second most popular spot in the world for suicides.

Suspension bridges are used to span long distances and over time those distances keep getting longer and longer. The first wire suspension bridge was built in Philadelphia in 1816 over the Schuylkill River and the Wire Bridge in Fairmount built in 1842 was the first wire cable suspension bridge in the US.  Today the Spring Garden Street bridge is on that spot.  In 1926, when the Benjamin Franklin Bridge was built in Philadelphia it was the longest span of its type, now it ranks 71st in length. The cables that hold the roadway are suspended from huge towers and the load of the bridge gets transferred by those cables to the anchorage systems. The technology is pretty amazing. The engineer who designed the Golden Gate also designed the original Tacoma Narrows Bridge which failed almost immediately upon its construction in 1940.  Great video of that bridge here.  All of these bridges are designed to move, but the trick is to control that movement and they did not make that deck stiff enough.

 The Golden Gate Bridge was debated for many years before construction actually began. The high tides, wind, fog and potential for earthquakes posed unique engineering challenges. The actual construction took four years with the steel being shipped all the way from Bethlehem Steel's plants on the East Coast. More than 600,000 rivets are located in each of its 746 ft. towers.  The construction featured the second time in history that hard hats were required on a construction site,  but eleven men died during construction (10 in one incident) and another 19 were saved by safety nets joining the Halfway to Hell Club.    As of May 30, 2012 1,970,331,117 vehicles have crossed the Golden Gate Bridge (includes northbound and southbound) since opening to traffic on May 28, 1937.

The bridge has been retrofitted to make it more earthquake resistant and undergoes constant maintenance with 13 ironworkers,  3 pusher ironworkers, and 34 painters battling the wind, sea air and fog to repair corroding steel.  Ironworkers replace corroding steel and rivets with high-strength steel bolts, make small fabrications for use on the Bridge, and assist painters with their rigging.  In the movies the bridge has been destroyed many times over. Google, Golden Gate Bridge who destroyed it best for a cool video of these collapses. (Couldn't get it to link). If the bridge were  reconstructed today it is estimated that it would cost over $1billion. 

One of the surprising things I learned about the bridge is that they use all electronic tolls.  Tourists like us need to prepay before crossing the bridge.  There are no toll takers and they gouge you if you cross without paying in advance.  A little too much technology if you ask me.

The Golden Gate Bridge

Written upon completion of the Bridge sometime in 1937

I am the thing that men denied,
The right to be, the urge to live;
And I am that which men defied,
Yet I ask naught for what I give.

My arms are flung across the deep,
Into the clouds my towers soar,
And where the waters never sleep,
I guard the California shore.

Pedestrians Jam the Bridge on its 50th Anniversary

Above the fogs of scorn and doubt,
Triumphant gleams my web of steel;
Still shall I ride the wild storms out,
And still the thrill of conquest feel.

The passing world may never know
The epic of my grim travail;
It matters not, nor friend or foe –
My place to serve and none to fail.

My being cradled in despair,
Now grown so wondrous fair and strong,
And glorified beyond compare,
Rebukes the error and the wrong.

Vast shafts of steel, wave-battered pier,
And all the splendor meant to be;
Wind-swept and free, these, year on year,
Shall chant my hymm of Victory!