Golden Gate Bridge: the story on HearLore

Golden Gate Bridge

The Golden Gate Bridge is a suspension bridge spanning the Golden Gate, the strait connecting San Francisco Bay and the Pacific Ocean in California, United States. Before this structure existed, the only practical short route between San Francisco and what is now Marin County was by boat across a section of San Francisco Bay. A ferry service began as early as 1820, with a regularly scheduled service beginning in the 1840s for the purpose of transporting water to San Francisco. In 1867, the Sausalito Land and Ferry Company opened. In 1920, the service was taken over by the Golden Gate Ferry Company, which merged in 1929 with the ferry system of the Southern Pacific Railroad, becoming the Southern Pacific-Golden Gate Ferries, Ltd., the largest ferry operation in the world. Once for railroad passengers and customers only, Southern Pacific's automobile ferries became very profitable and important to the regional economy. The ferry crossing between the Hyde Street Pier in San Francisco and Sausalito Ferry Terminal in Marin County took approximately 20 minutes and cost $1.00 per vehicle prior to 1937, when the price was reduced to compete with the new bridge. The trip from the San Francisco Ferry Building took 27 minutes. Many wanted to build a bridge to connect San Francisco to Marin County. San Francisco was the largest American city still served primarily by ferry boats. Because it did not have a permanent link with communities around the bay, the city's growth rate was below the national average. Many experts said that a bridge could not be built across the strait, which had strong, swirling tides and currents, with water deep at the center of the channel, and frequent strong winds. Experts said that ferocious winds and blinding fogs would prevent construction and operation.

The Poet Who Dreamed A Bridge

Although the idea of a bridge spanning the Golden Gate was not new, the proposal that eventually took hold was made in a 1916 San Francisco Bulletin article by former engineering student James Wilkins. San Francisco's City Engineer estimated the cost at $100 million, and impractical for the time. He asked bridge engineers whether it could be built for less. One who responded, Joseph Strauss, was an ambitious engineer and poet who had, for his graduate thesis, designed a railroad bridge across the Bering Strait. At the time, Strauss had completed some 400 drawbridges, most of which were inland, and nothing on the scale of the new project. Strauss's initial drawings were for a massive cantilever on each side of the strait, connected by a central suspension segment, which Strauss promised could be built for $17 million. Strauss spent more than a decade drumming up support in Northern California. The bridge faced opposition, including litigation, from many sources. The Department of War was concerned that the bridge would interfere with ship traffic. The US Navy feared that a ship collision or sabotage to the bridge could block the entrance to one of its main harbors. Unions demanded guarantees that local workers would be favored for construction jobs. Southern Pacific Railroad, one of the most powerful business interests in California, opposed the bridge as competition to its ferry fleet and filed a lawsuit against the project, leading to a mass boycott of the ferry service. In May 1924, Colonel Herbert Deakyne held the second hearing on the Bridge on behalf of the Secretary of War in a request to use federal land for construction. Deakyne, on behalf of the Secretary of War, approved the transfer of land needed for the bridge structure and leading roads to the Bridging the Golden Gate Association and both San Francisco County and Marin County, pending further bridge plans by Strauss. Another ally was the fledgling automobile industry, which supported the development of roads and bridges to increase demand for automobiles. The bridge's name was first used when the project was initially discussed in 1917 by M.M. O'Shaughnessy, city engineer of San Francisco, and Strauss. The name became official with the passage of the Golden Gate Bridge and Highway District Act by the state legislature in 1923, creating a special district to design, build and finance the bridge. San Francisco and most of the counties along the North Coast of California joined the Golden Gate Bridge District, with the exception being Humboldt County, whose residents opposed the bridge's construction and the traffic it would generate.

Common questions

Who designed the Golden Gate Bridge and what was the initial cost estimate?

Joseph Strauss served as the chief engineer and proposed an initial cost of $17 million, though the final project cost exceeded $35 million. The final suspension design was actually conceived by Leon Moisseiff, and the architectural details were designed by Irving Morrow.

When did construction on the Golden Gate Bridge begin and when was it completed?

Construction on the Golden Gate Bridge began on the 5th of January 1933 and was completed ahead of schedule in 1937. The bridge officially opened to traffic in 1937 after the project was carried out by the McClintic-Marshall Construction Co.

Why is the Golden Gate Bridge painted international orange and who selected the color?

Consulting architect Irving Morrow selected the international orange color because it complements the natural surroundings and enhances the bridge's visibility in fog. The bridge was originally painted with red lead primer and a lead-based topcoat before being repainted with zinc silicate primer and vinyl topcoats in the mid-1960s.

How many people died during the construction of the Golden Gate Bridge and what safety measure saved others?

Eleven men were killed during the construction of the Golden Gate Bridge, with ten deaths occurring on the 17th of February 1937 when a scaffold fell through the safety net. Joseph Strauss innovated the use of movable safety netting beneath the workers, which saved nineteen men and formed the Half Way to Hell Club.

When were suicide prevention nets installed on the Golden Gate Bridge and what was the result?

Installation of suicide prevention nets on the Golden Gate Bridge was not completed until January 2024, exceeding the initial budget by $17 million. As of the 21st of November 2024, the number of deaths by suicide had dropped to eight, down from an annual average of 33.5.

What is the current toll rate for passenger cars using FasTrak on the Golden Gate Bridge?

The toll rate for passenger cars with FasTrak is $9.75, while drivers using the license plate tolling program pay $10.00. During peak traffic hours, carpool vehicles with three or more people or motorcycles may pay a discounted toll of $7.75 if they have FasTrak and use the designated carpool lane.

The Invisible Architects

Strauss was the chief engineer in charge of the overall design and construction of the bridge project. However, because he had little understanding or experience with cable-suspension designs, responsibility for much of the engineering and architecture fell on other experts. Strauss's initial design proposal, two double cantilever spans linked by a central suspension segment, was unacceptable from a visual standpoint. The final suspension design was conceived and championed by Leon Moisseiff, the engineer of the Manhattan Bridge in New York City. Irving Morrow, a relatively unknown residential architect, designed the overall shape of the bridge towers, the lighting scheme, and Art Deco elements, such as the tower decorations, streetlights, railing, and walkways. The famous International Orange color was Morrow's personal selection, winning out over other possibilities, including the US Navy's suggestion that it be painted with black and yellow stripes to ensure visibility by passing ships. Senior engineer Charles Alton Ellis, collaborating remotely with Moisseiff, was the principal engineer of the project. Moisseiff produced the basic structural design, introducing his deflection theory by which a thin, flexible roadway would flex in the wind, greatly reducing stress by transmitting forces via suspension cables to the bridge towers. Although the Golden Gate Bridge design has proved sound, a later Moisseiff design, the original Tacoma Narrows Bridge, collapsed in a strong windstorm soon after it was completed, because of an unexpected aeroelastic flutter. Ellis was also tasked with designing a bridge within a bridge in the southern abutment, to avoid the need to demolish Fort Point, a pre-Civil War masonry fortification viewed, even then, as worthy of historic preservation. He penned a graceful steel arch spanning the fort and carrying the roadway to the bridge's southern anchorage. Ellis was a Greek scholar and mathematician who at one time was a University of Illinois professor of engineering despite having no engineering degree. He eventually earned a degree in civil engineering from the University of Illinois prior to designing the Golden Gate Bridge and spent the last twelve years of his career as a professor at Purdue University. He became an expert in structural design, writing the standard textbook of the time. Ellis did much of the technical and theoretical work that built the bridge, but he received none of the credit in his lifetime. In November 1931, Strauss fired Ellis and replaced him with a former subordinate, Clifford Paine, ostensibly for wasting too much money sending telegrams back and forth to Moisseiff. Ellis, obsessed with the project and unable to find work elsewhere during the Depression, continued working 70 hours per week on an unpaid basis, eventually turning in ten volumes of hand calculations. With an eye toward self-promotion and posterity, Strauss downplayed the contributions of his collaborators who, despite receiving little recognition or compensation, are largely responsible for the final form of the bridge. He succeeded in having himself credited as the person most responsible for the design and vision of the bridge. Only much later were the contributions of the others on the design team properly appreciated. In May 2007, the Golden Gate Bridge District issued a formal report on 70 years of stewardship of the famous bridge and decided to give Ellis major credit for the design of the bridge.

The Color Of The Sea And Sky

Aesthetics was the foremost reason that the first design of Joseph Strauss was rejected. Upon re-submission of his bridge construction plan, he added details, such as lighting, to outline the bridge's cables and towers. In 1999, it was ranked fifth on the List of America's Favorite Architecture by the American Institute of Architects. The color of the bridge is officially an orange vermilion called international orange. The color was selected by consulting architect Irving Morrow because it complements the natural surroundings and enhances the bridge's visibility in fog. The bridge was originally painted with red lead primer and a lead-based topcoat, which was touched up as required. In the mid-1960s, a program was started to improve corrosion protection by stripping the original paint and repainting the bridge with zinc silicate primer and vinyl topcoats. Since 1990, acrylic topcoats have been used instead for air-quality reasons. The program was completed in 1995 and it is now maintained by 38 painters who touch up the paintwork where it becomes seriously corroded. The ongoing maintenance task of painting the bridge is continuous. The bridge carries about 112,000 vehicles per day according to the Golden Gate Bridge Highway and Transportation District. The bridge is popular with pedestrians and bicyclists, and was built with walkways on either side of the six vehicle traffic lanes. Initially, they were separated from the traffic lanes by only a metal curb, but railings between the walkways and the traffic lanes were added in 2003, primarily as a measure to prevent bicyclists from falling into the roadway. The bridge was designated as part of U.S. Bicycle Route 95 in 2021. The main walkway is on the eastern side, and is open for use by both pedestrians and bicycles in the morning to mid-afternoon during weekdays, and to pedestrians only for the remaining daylight hours. The eastern walkway is reserved for pedestrians on weekends, and is open exclusively to bicyclists in the evening and overnight, when it is closed to pedestrians. The western walkway is open only for bicyclists and only during the hours when they are not allowed on the eastern walkway. Bus service across the bridge is provided by one public transportation agency, Golden Gate Transit, which runs numerous bus lines throughout the week. The southern end of the bridge, near the toll plaza and parking lot, is also accessible daily from 5:30 a.m. to midnight by San Francisco Muni line 28. A visitor center and gift shop, originally called the Bridge Pavilion, since renamed the Golden Gate Bridge Welcome Center, is located on the San Francisco side of the bridge, adjacent to the southeast parking lot. It opened in 2012, in time for the bridge's 75th-anniversary celebration. A cafe, outdoor exhibits, and restroom facilities are located nearby. On the Marin side of the bridge, only accessible from the northbound lanes, is the H. Dana Bower Rest Area and Vista Point, named after the first landscape architect for the California Division of Highways. Lands and waters under and around the bridge are homes to varieties of wildlife such as bobcats, harbor seals, and sea lions. Three species of cetaceans, whales, that had been absent in the area for many years have shown recoveries and recolonizations in the vicinity of the bridge.

The Toll Of Progress And Tragedy

Tolls are only collected from southbound traffic after they cross from Marin County at the toll plaza on the San Francisco side of the bridge. All-electronic tolling has been in effect since 2013, and drivers may either pay using the FasTrak electronic toll collection device or using the license plate tolling program. It remains not truly an open road tolling system until the remaining unused toll booths are removed, forcing drivers to slow substantially from freeway speeds while passing through. Effective, the toll rate for passenger cars with license plate accounts is $10.00, while FasTrak users pay a discounted toll of $9.75. During peak traffic hours on weekdays between 5:00 a.m. and 9:00 a.m., and between 4:00 p.m. and 6:00 p.m., carpool vehicles carrying three or more people, or motorcycles may pay a discounted toll of $7.75 if they have FasTrak and use the designated carpool lane. Drivers without FasTrak or a license plate account must open a short term account within 48 hours after crossing the bridge or they will be sent a toll invoice of $10.75. No additional toll violation penalty will be assessed if the invoice is paid within 21 days. When the Golden Gate Bridge opened in 1937, the toll was 50 cents per car, collected in each direction. In 1950 it was reduced to 40 cents each way, then lowered to 25 cents in 1955. In 1968, the bridge was converted to only collect tolls from southbound traffic, with the toll amount reset back to 50 cents. From May 1937 until December 1970, pedestrians were charged a toll of 10 cents for bridge access via turnstiles on the sidewalks. The last of the construction bonds were retired in 1971, with $35 million in principal and nearly $39 million in interest raised entirely from bridge tolls. Tolls continued to be collected and subsequently incrementally raised. In 1991, the toll was raised a dollar to $3.00. The bridge began accepting tolls via the FasTrak electronic toll collection system in 2002, with $4 tolls for FasTrak users and $5 for those paying cash. In November 2006, the Golden Gate Bridge, Highway and Transportation District recommended a corporate sponsorship program for the bridge to address its operating deficit, projected at $80 million over five years. The District promised that the proposal, which it called a partnership program, would not include changing the name of the bridge or placing advertising on the bridge itself. In October 2007, the Board unanimously voted to discontinue the proposal and seek additional revenue through other means, most likely a toll increase. The District later increased the toll amounts in 2008 to $5 for FasTrak users and $6 to those paying cash. In an effort to save $19.2 million over the following 10 years, the Golden Gate District voted in January 2011 to eliminate all toll takers by 2012 and use only open road tolling. Subsequently, this was delayed and toll taker elimination occurred in March 2013. The cost savings have been revised to $19 million over an eight-year period. In addition to FasTrak, the Golden Gate Transportation District implemented the use of license plate tolling, branded as Pay-by-Plate, and also a one-time payment system for drivers to pay before or after their trip on the bridge. Twenty-eight positions were eliminated as part of this plan. On the 7th of April 2014, the toll for users of FasTrak was increased from $5 to $6, while the toll for drivers using either the license plate tolling or the one time payment system was raised from $6 to $7. For vehicles with more than two axles, the toll rate was $7 per axle for those using license plate tolling or the one time payment system, and $6 per axle for FasTrak users. During peak traffic hours, carpool vehicles carrying two or more people and motorcycles paid a discounted toll of $4. The Golden Gate Transportation District then increased the tolls by 25 cents in July 2015, and then by another 25 cents each of the next three years. In March 2019, the Golden Gate Transportation District approved a plan to implement 35-cent annual toll increases through 2023, except for the toll-by-plate program which will increase by 20 cents per year. The district then approved another plan in March 2024 to implement 50-cent annual toll increases through 2028. In March 2008, the Golden Gate Bridge District board approved a resolution to start congestion pricing at the Golden Gate Bridge, charging higher tolls during the peak hours, but rising and falling depending on traffic levels. This decision allowed the Bay Area to meet the federal requirement to receive $158 million in federal transportation funds from USDOT Urban Partnership grant. As a condition of the grant, the congestion toll was to be in place by September 2009. In August 2008, transportation officials ended the congestion pricing program in favor of varying rates for metered parking along the route to the bridge including on Lombard Street and Van Ness Avenue.

The Sound Of The Wind And The Fall

The Golden Gate Bridge's first aircraft warning lights used rotating aerobeacons at the top of the towers that flashed red. In the 1980s, the present-day 750-watt red lamps were put into service, along with 16 red outline lanterns on the cables to enhance the structure's visibility at night. For maritime movement, the bridge has white and green navigation lights on both sides at the midspan and red safety lights marking the south tower's fender. Commonly, particularly during the summer months, fog on the strait becomes so dense that it can fully obscure the whole bridge, creating an even greater hazard for mariners. A system of five foghorns was thus set up on the bridge in 1937 and remains operational to this day. The fog signals are air-powered and are manually switched on and off. Coast Guard regulates the pattern and pitch by which the horns must sound. Two foghorns are mounted at the base of the south tower above water level at high tide. They each point in the opposite direction, west and east, and have an identical profile: long and a diameter bell. Both horns sound in tandem, producing a 2-second blast every 18 seconds in a distinctively low tone. On the 18th of October 2013, at around 2:00 a.m., one foghorn emitted a perpetually-sustained sound for nearly an hour due to a malfunctioning relay. It was disconnected by 3:00 a.m. and repaired later that morning. The other three foghorns are mounted at the midspan of the bridge, just beneath the deck. Two westward-facing horns are each long with a diameter bell and emit a higher tone than the horns on the south tower. The third horn facing east is smaller, with a length of and a bell diameter of, thus emitting an even higher note. Altogether, the three horns produce two 1-second blasts every 36 seconds with a dual-toned timbre; they are synchronized to sound after every two blasts of the south tower horns. Ships heading in either direction generally stay to the right of the midspan by following the sound of these horns. Dating back to 1985, the midspan foghorns replaced the original horns that had partly failed in the late 1970s, causing them to sound with only a single tone. The foghorns blared wildly as Queen Mary 2 passed under the bridge for her 2007 visit in San Francisco. Since the late 1970s, the Golden Gate Bridge has seen a share of protest rallies throughout its history. In some cases, participants staged public stunts to draw heightened attention to their political messages by haphazardly scaling the bridge. On the 24th of November 1996, actor Woody Harrelson joined a group of local environmentalists who draped a large banner above the roadway deck protesting CEO Charles Hurwitz over his aggressive logging advances. The incident snarled traffic and caused delays lasting the entire day. As an effort to deter any more disruptive stunts, a legislation authored by State Senator Quentin Kopp and signed into law by Governor Pete Wilson in 1997, stiffened penalties for trespassing on the bridge. Nonetheless, demonstrations have continued to take place on the Golden Gate Bridge over the years, often resulting in the complete shutdown of the bridge. Notably, on the 6th of June 2020, protestors occupied the bridge as part of a nationwide denunciation to police brutality in the wake of the George Floyd's murder, and in November 2021 two California Highway Patrol officers and three bridge employees were injured in a vehicular chain-reaction crash during a protest against government-mandated COVID-19 vaccinations. In February 2024 and again in April, pro-Palestinian protestors gathered on the deck to decry the Gaza war and the turmoil afflicting Palestinians in Gaza. The Golden Gate Bridge was the most used suicide site in the world prior to the installation of suicide prevention nets. Jumpers would fall for four seconds, then hit the water at around. Most would die from impact trauma. About 5% would survive the initial impact but generally drown or die of hypothermia in the cold water. After years of debate and an estimated more 2,000 deaths, implementation of suicide prevention barriers began in April 2017. The so-called nets are taut, designed to be painful to land on. They extend out from the walkway and, because of their design, cause serious but not fatal injury to people who jump from the bridge. They are made of marine-grade stainless-steel wire rope, akin to a horizontal fence four millimeters thick, which does not give, and is located below the walkway. Construction was first estimated to take approximately four years at a cost of over $200 million; however, installation of the nets was not completed until January 2024, and exceeded the budget by $17 million. The nets have widely been considered successful, even convincing former skeptics. As of the 21st of November 2024, the Golden Gate Bridge Highway and Transportation District reported that the number of deaths by suicide year to date had been eight, down from an average 33.5. Through the end of October 2024, thwarted attempts were down from an annual average of 200 to 106. The Golden Gate Bridge was designed to safely withstand winds of up to. Until 2008, the bridge was closed because of weather conditions only three times: on the 1st of December 1951, because of gusts of; on the 23rd of December 1982, because of winds of; and on the 3rd of December 1983, because of wind gusts of. An anemometer placed midway between the two towers on the west side of the bridge has been used to measure wind speeds and direction. Another anemometer was placed on one of the towers. In June 2020 residents across San Francisco and Marin Counties began to notice a humming noise. The noise has been described as eerie, a shrill screeching sound, and for some evokes a feeling that something bad is about to happen. The Golden Gate Bridge Highway and Transportation District determined that the unsettling whistle is produced by new railing slats when a strong zephyr blows. The new slats were installed starting in 2019 on the west side of the bridge; they are more flexible than their predecessors and were selected to improve the bridge's aerodynamic tolerance of high wind to. The sound had been predicted from wind tunnel tests, but not included in the environmental impact report. The Bridge District determined that, in fact, there are two sounds that the bridge produces. When the wind passing through the slats reaches, a low-pitched, low-frequency tone between 280 and 700 hertz is produced. When the wind passes through the slats at an angle and reaches, the slats produce higher pitch and frequency 1.1 kHz. On the 16th of December 2021, the Bridge District approved a fix for the noise; 12,000 U-shaped clips with rubber dampers are to be installed between the slats at a cost of $450,000. Testing suggests that this fix will reduce the noise by 75%; however, even with the fix, the bridge is expected to emit the high frequency tone an average of 70 hours per year; the low frequency tone is expected 18 hours per year. The Bridge District expects installation to be completed in 2025. An independent engineering analysis of a 2020 sound recording of the tones concludes that the singing noise comprises a variety of Aeolian tones, the sound produced by air flowing past a sharp edge, arising in this case from the ambient wind blowing across metal slats of the newly installed sidewalk railings. The tones observed were frequencies of 354, 398, 439 and 481 Hz, corresponding to the musical notes F4, G4, A4, and B4; these notes form an F Lydian Tetrachord. Modern knowledge of the effect of earthquakes on structures led to a program to retrofit the Golden Gate to better resist seismic events. The proximity of the bridge to the San Andreas Fault places it at risk for a significant earthquake. Once thought to have been able to withstand any magnitude of foreseeable earthquake, the bridge was actually vulnerable to complete structural failure, i.e., collapse, triggered by the failure of supports on the arch over Fort Point. A $392 million program was initiated to improve the structure's ability to withstand such an event with only minimal repairable damage. A custom-built electro-hydraulic synchronous lift system for construction of temporary support towers and a series of intricate lifts, transferring the loads from the existing bridge onto the temporary supports, were completed with engineers from Balfour Beatty and Enerpac, without disrupting day-to-day commuter traffic. Although the retrofit was initially planned to be completed in 2012, it was expected to take several more years. The former elevated approach to the Golden Gate Bridge through the San Francisco Presidio, known as Doyle Drive, dated to 1933 and was named after Frank Pierce Doyle, a director of the California State Automobile Association. The highway carried about 91,000 vehicles each weekday between downtown San Francisco and the North Bay and points north. The road was deemed vulnerable to earthquake damage, had a problematic 4-lane design, and lacked shoulders; a San Francisco County Transportation Authority study recommended that it be replaced. Construction on the $1 billion replacement, temporarily known as the Presidio Parkway, began in December 2009. The elevated Doyle Drive was demolished on the weekend of April 27-30, 2012, and traffic used a part of the partially completed Presidio Parkway, until it was switched onto the finished Presidio Parkway on the weekend of July 9-12, 2015. An official at Caltrans said there is no plan to permanently rename the portion known as Doyle Drive.