One of the most famous monuments in the United States is, without a doubt, the Golden Gate Bridge, but do you know everything behind such a distinguished bridge?
This great bridge joins through its 1970 meters of hanging structure (2737 total) and 227 high, the counties of San Francisco and Marín, crossing the exact point where the San Francisco Bay opens towards the Pacific Ocean.
In today’s post, we will tell you who participated in the construction of the Golden Gate, the details of its design and construction and many other details and curiosities about one of the most important and recognized suspension bridges in the world.
The design and construction of the bridge required a large team of structural and traffic engineers, geologists, architects, construction managers among other construction, construction and building professionals.
The chief engineer and architect was Joseph B. Strauss, to whom we attribute the conception, design, and construction.
Charles A. Ellis, an engineering professor at the University of Illinois, participated in the construction due to his technical expertise in the analysis and formulation of solutions in the complex details of a long-range suspension bridge such as the Golden Gate. Despite this, due to disagreements with chief engineer Joseph B. Strauss he was fired.
Leon Moisseiff, a renowned bridge designer who acted as a consulting engineer for the project and, together with Charles A. Ellis, worked on wind analysis and bridge deviation.
Irving Morrov was the architect responsible for designing the streetlamps, bars and vertical striations of the towers and pillars of the bridge. He was also responsible for giving it the orange color that makes the Golden Gate Bridge a recognizable landmark for all the people in the world.
In November 1930, despite the continuing difficulties lurking the Great Depression, the issuance of $35 million bonds was approved to build the Golden Gate Bridge.
Even so, the construction of the bridge did not begin until 1933 (January 5) and would end in 1937 (April 19), with an expenditure 1.3 million below the initial budget of $35 million.
As we have already said, the Golden Gate cost about 35 million dollars, but also the lives of at least a dozen workers. After this, safety nets were installed to protect the lives of the operators from falling to 67 meters from the water level. Thanks to this, many deaths were avoided, and the level of worker safety increased.
Another curious fact to point out is that the Golden Gate Bridge has so many wires that form the cable that you could go around the earth 3 times with them. Exactly 27,572 wires are in each cable.
Today, more than three million vehicles cross the San Francisco’s Golden Gate each month, so traffic in this area is constant.
As a piece of advice, avoid the sidewalks of the bridge as they are usually filled with smoke from cars. However, there are countless places from which you can view this impressive suspension bridge such as the Hawk Hill Trail. You can also see the whales sailing these waters if you sail under the bridge at sunset.
Many visitors advise cycling, would you dare?
Without a doubt, the Golden Gate Bridge is a work of impressive architecture that involved a great job of construction making it today is a symbol and an icon recognized worldwide.
If you have any doubt, do not hesitate to leave it in the comments. We look forward to seeing you in the next post!
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