When Was The Golden Gate Bridge Built and by whom?

Answer 1

across the Golden Gate from San Francisco to Marin Co., W Calif.; built 1933—37. Its overall length is 9,266 ft (2,824 m); its main span across the strait, 4,200 ft (1,280 m), is one of the longest bridges in the world. Joseph B. Strauss was the chief engineer.

Answer 2

The Golden Gate Bridge opened to vehicular traffic on May 28, 1937. It's construction cost was $35 million. It was designed by Joseph B. Strauss.

Answer 3

History
The crossing of the Golden Gate Strait was for many years accomplished by a ferry running between the Hyde Street Pier at the foot of Van Ness Avenue in San Francisco and Sausalito in Marin County. The idea of a bridge to span the Golden Gate Strait was brought up in an article by the engineer James Wilkins.[2] The bridge later earned its name, Golden Gate Bridge, after a mention of it in 1917, by San Francisco city engineer M. M. O’Shaughnessy.[3]

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.[1] Starting in 1921 with his first drawings that were far from approved,[2] Strauss spent over a decade drumming up support in Northern California. Strauss' initial design[4] comprised 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.

The project cost over $27 million.[5]

In May 1924, a hearing, through a petition, was heard by Colonel Herbert Deakyne for the Secretary of War in a request to use land for the construction of the Golden Gate Bridge. Col. Deakyne, in the Secretary of War's name, approved to give the land needed for the bridge structure and leading roads to the "Bridging the Golden Gate Association" and both the San Francisco and the Marin counties pending further bridge plans by Mr. Strauss.[6]


The bridge spans the Golden Gate.The Golden Gate Bridge and Highway District was incorporated in 1928 as the official entity to design, construct, and finance the Golden Gate Bridge. The District includes not only the City & County of San Francisco, and Marin County, in whose boundaries the bridge sits, but also Napa, Sonoma, Mendocino and Del Norte counties. Representatives from each of the six counties sit on the District's Board of Directors. Voters within the District approved funding for the project in 1930 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. Construction began on January 5, 1933.[7] The construction budget at the time of approval was $30.1 million. Actual construction costs turned out to be $36.7 million, resulting in a cost overrun of 22%. 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 official start of vehicle traffic over the Bridge at noon. 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.[citation needed]


A photograph of the bridge from a boat underneath.Since its completion, the bridge has closed due to windy conditions five times; 1951, 1982, 1983, 1996, and 2005.[8] The 1982 event in particular was severe enough to set the bridge in visible motion, undulating in a motion somewhat reminiscent of the catastrophic "Galloping Gertie" in Washington State.

To commemorate Joseph Strauss for his part taken in the construction of the bridge, a statue of him was relocated in 1955 near the structure to remind people how important his work was in the building of the Golden Gate Bridge.[2]

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 to become the world's longest two tower suspension bridge in total length between anchorages. The longest center suspension span in the world and the longest two tower suspension bridge between anchorages is currently the Akashi-Kaikyo Bridge in Japan.


A typical view of the bridge from the Presidio as the fog rolls in.
Advection fog at the Golden Gate Bridge, San FranciscoAs the only road to exit San Francisco to the north, the bridge is part of both U.S. Route 101 and California State Route 1 and on an average day there are 100,000 vehicles crossing the bridge.[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, four 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 bicyclists on weekday afternoons, weekends, and holidays. The speed limit on the Golden Gate Bridge was reduced from 55 mph (88 km/h) to 45 mph (72 km/h) on October 1, 1983.

On September 1, 2002, the toll for Southbound motor vehicles was raised from US$3.00 to $5.00. Northbound motor vehicle traffic, cycling, and pedestrian traffic remain toll free. The rate for two-axle vehicles and motorcycles with cash is $5 and $4 with FasTrak electronic RF payments. For vehicles with more than two axles, the toll rate is $2.50 per axle. [9] [10]

On November 10, 2006, the Board of Directors of the Golden Gate Bridge District of the California Department of Transportation recommended a corporate sponsorship program for the bridge, as it has been losing money for several years. The Public Information Committee has said that any sponsorship program will not include changing the name of the bridge, or placing advertising on the bridge itself, although it's not clear what such a deal would include. As of 2006, Phase I of the project, which involved investigating potential sponsors of the bridge and analyzing the fiscal benefits has been completed, and Phase II, actual implementation of the program, is awaiting a go-ahead from the Board. [3]. As of February 2007, the Board has made a $1 toll increase their most favored option to increase funding. [4]


[edit] Aesthetics

The Golden Gate Bridge by night, with part of downtown San Francisco visible in the background at far left.
The Golden Gate Bridge and historic Fort Point.The color of the bridge is an orange vermilion called 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."[11] (although Frommers also bestows the "most photographed" honor on Tower Bridge[12])

Aesthetics was the foremost reason why 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.[13]

The Golden Gate Bridge has a similar sister bridge in Lisbon, Portugal. The red-painted Ponte 25 de Abril (25th April Bridge) is 2,278 meters long and spans 1,013 m.

The aesthetics of the bridge are often cited as a prime reason not to erect a suicide barrier on the bridge.


[edit] Paintwork
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 off and repainting the bridge with zinc silicate primer and, originally, vinyl topcoats.[14][15] Acrylic topcoats have been used instead since 1990 for air quality reasons. The program was completed in 1995, and there is now maintenance by 38 painters[16] to touch up the paintwork where it becomes seriously eroded.


Golden Gate Bridge, with its approach arch over Fort Point at the San Francisco terminus (right). Behind the arch is Angel Island, and to the left of that, Tiburon, California, mostly obscuring the East Bay hills.

[edit] Suicides
The Golden Gate Bridge is a notorious site for suicide. The official suicide count ended in 1995 when the number approached 1,000. In the eight years preceding 2003, there was an average of one suicide jump every two weeks, which brought the unofficial total to over 1,300 suicides.[17] Until the official count was discontinued, suicide locations were officially documented according to which of the bridge's 128 lamp posts the jumper was nearest to when he or she jumped.

There were 34 confirmed bridge jump suicides in 2006, in addition to four jumpers whose bodies were never recovered and various unwitnessed deaths that appeared to be suicides but could not be confirmed. The California Highway Patrol removed seventy apparently suicidal people from the bridge that year. [18] Currently, it is said that a person jumps off the Golden Gate Bridge every 15 days.[5]

The 220 foot (67 m) fall from the bridge takes four seconds and jumpers hit the water at 75 miles per hour (120 km/h). As of 2006, only 26 people are known to have survived the jump.[19] Those who do survive always strike the water feet first and most suffer multiple internal injuries and broken bones. One young man, John Kevin Hines, survived a jump off the bridge in 2000, although the impact broke his back and shattered multiple vertebrae.[20]


As a suicide prevention initiative, this sign promotes a special telephone available on the bridge that connects to a crisis hotline.A young woman from Piedmont, California, Sarah Rutledge Birnbaum, may be the only person to have jumped from the bridge twice. She survived the first jump in early 1988, but died in her second attempt later that year.

Methods have been discussed to reduce the number of suicides. One idea introduced has been to close the bridge to pedestrians at night. Cyclists are still permitted across at night, but they have to be buzzed in and out through the remotely controlled security gates.[21] Attempts to introduce a suicide barrier have been thwarted by engineering difficulties, high costs, and public opposition. The estimated cost of a barrier is between $15 and $20 million.[22] On January 27, 2005, Bridge District staff re-introduced for the eighth time 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, $1.78 million plan to explore the feasibility of a barrier. Proponents of the barrier cite the example of the Empire State Building and the Eiffel Tower, where suicides dropped to zero after a barrier was put up. Those against the barrier argue that a barrier would be unsightly, too costly, and would simply move suicides elsewhere. One way of discouraging suicides, rather than directly preventing them, Jump for Life, was proposed in late 2005. The program seeks to make the bridge a less attractive place to take one's own life.

Suicide on the Golden Gate Bridge is a theme of Jenni Olson's experimental film, The Joy of Life (2005) and documentarian Eric Steel's controversial 2006 film The Bridge.

The Bureau of Inverse Technology have deployed a number of Suicide Boxes containing motion-detecting cameras to monitor suicides on the Golden Gate Bridge and correlate, in real-time, the number of jumpers with the Dow Jones Industrial Index to create their novel, and frighteningly real, Despondency Index.