The Bay Bridge was completed first. The Bay Bridge is longer. San Mateo Bridge is even longer. On a scale of 1-10 in popularity, Golden Gate is about 10 while the rest are 1 or so. Why?
2007-03-22 14:18:23 · 5 answers · asked by bungsteen 1 in Travel ➔ United States ➔ San Francisco
It is a much more scenic bridge than the others. In one direction you can see the Marin headlands, and in the other you can see the city. The other bridges are longer, but are mainly for commuters, and have so many traffic headaches that they hold no place in our hearts.
2007-03-23 20:55:27 · answer #1 · answered by jellybeanchick 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
The Golden Gate bridge holds a very special place in the soul of SF.
The Golden Gate is not very wide, that is part of the reason that it took so long to actually settle the area. The gate is almost invisible from just a mile off shore. This is the gate at the end of the new world and the sunsets behind the bridge play off the red paint making it appear to glow as if made of gold.
The bridge was the first suspension bridges of its type ever made. It is the only of the bridges in the bay area that is open to bicycle and pedestrian traffic so it is much more accessable. Not so massive in scale means people feel more comfortable relating to the bridge.
I lived in the city when the GG bridge turned 50. They decided to open the bridge to pedestrian only traffic as they had done the day the bridge opened. Over 800,000 people, nearly the entire population of San Francisco poured out on to the bridge. The bed of the bridge actually flattened out; suspension bridge beds bow up because they hang and there is a certain amount of give built into the bridge making it more likely to withstand the rolling of an earthquake, or the blasts of the wind off the Pacific ocean.
After the 50th anniversary party was over, the local engineers spent a good 14 hours figuring out just how much weight the bridge took that day and discussing if had really be designed to hold that much weight,
The bridge has a certain aesthetic quality that equals the grace of the Brooklyn bridge in NYC which is also dearly loved. This is architecture for the people that actually is built to human scale while accomodating large machines.
2007-03-23 02:09:38 · answer #2 · answered by ajtheactress 7 · 3⤊ 0⤋
You can walk of bike on the Golden Gate Bridge. You can't do that on the Bay Bridge. The setting for the Golden Gate Bridge is second to none, with the open ocean on one side, the bay with Alcatraz, the Marina, and the city on the other side.
The Golden Gate was the first bridge started. The Bay Bridge was started later and finished earlier because it was not as difficult to build. In fact, the suspension part of the Bay Bridge is really two bridges with both sides coming into the center anchorage. That makes the longest span on the Golden Gate bridge much longer and much more of an engineering feet.
2007-03-24 18:39:44 · answer #3 · answered by Dereky 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
The Golden Gate Bridge is higher and took longer to build. It's painted every year and once one side is finished, they have to begin painting the other side. It takes a full year to look as good as it looks.
2007-03-23 00:36:05 · answer #4 · answered by buttercup 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
cuz its just better thats why! just joking...idont kno
2007-03-23 00:47:09 · answer #5 · answered by @ |* ! @ n @ ♥ 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋