Golden Bridge: Know some interesting facts about the World’s Longest Suspension Bridge

Golden Gate Bridge, a 1.7mile-long bridge has endured earthquakes, lead paint, and record crowds since its historic construction in 1937. An icon of the San Francisco Bay region that connects the city of San Francisco to the Marine country of California.

The bridge is named after the golden gate strait, which is the entrance to San Francisco Bay from the Pacific Ocean. But how did the strait get this name?  In 1846 an American topographer felt that the strait reminded him of a Byzantium harbor known as “golden horn”, and thus the name was established.

Can you guess who they were?

The first was president Franklin D. Roosevelt (FDR) and the second was for French president Charles de Gaulle. Oh, and two black-tailed deer also shut down the bridge in 2014 to cross it during the busy evening commute!

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The famous orange that almost wasn’t

Ask anyone what color the Golden Gate Bridge is, and most can tell you the answer no, it’s not gold, but instead a deep and beautiful orange. The navy proposed this color scheme to help make the bridge easily visible for passing ships, especially in san Francisco’s famous fog.

The road to success is always construction!!!

 The initial design of the Golden gate bridge by engineer Joseph Strauss was rejected by the people. He brought in other engineers on the project and then eventually come up with the bridge’s final and elegant design.

It took over 4 years to build the Golden Gate Bridge from January 1933 until May 1937 in that a total of 11 men died throughout the construction. Around 19 other men were saved by an installed safety net and about 1.2 million steel rivets the bridge together.

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At last, the mighty task is done; Resplendent in the western sun, The bridge looms mountain high;

It only took 4 years to build the bridge. This is quite an engineering achievement considering the challenging terrain and the fact that it was financed and built during the great depression.

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Fun, wacky and cultural Golden Gate Bridge Facts

Yes, yes, it’s an engineering marvel, but wouldn’t you also like to learn some whacky facts about the Golden Gate Bridge?

The bridge is very accessible and you can spend a whole day exploring it from every angle. This article showcases 14 Golden Gate Bridge viewpoints which cover north, south, east, west, and also under the bridge.

The “Cowboys of the Sky”

McVeigh and his fellow ironworkers called the “cowboys of the sky”, have the responsibility of talking and stopping people who try to jump off the bridge. The system uses a safety net to stop people from jumping off the bridge.

If safety is a joke, then death is the punchline

The suspension cables at the center of the bridge were stretched as ‘tight as harp strings,’ while the lower cables near the tower seem to flap in the wind… I thought, ‘wow, this fear isn’t a good idea.

Charles Seim, a former supervising bridge engineer with the state’s transportation department, said that “ I knew we were exceeding design loads, but I wasn’t worried in the slightest. Even at the maximum design of loads 5700 pounds per foot, the stress in cables is only 40 percent of their yielding stress, that’s a large factor of safety.” 

I hope you that by reading this above content about the Golden Gate Bridge you will surely make a visit of it to enjoy the amazing factors of San Francisco.