Golden Gate Bridge

The Golden Gate Bridge is a suspension bridge that extends across the Golden Gate, the one-mile strait that separates San Francisco Bay and the Pacific Ocean. The bridge links the American city of San Francisco, California — the San Francisco Peninsula’s northern tip— to Marin County, bringing both of the U.S. Route 101 across the Strait, along California State Route 1. The bridge is one of San Francisco, California and the US’s most internationally recognized landmarks. It is also most popular photo object in the city.

Quick facts

• Name: Golden Gate Bridge
• Location: San Francisco, USA
• Opened: 1937
• Type of attraction: Architectural/Bridge
• Ticket price: Free

The bridge is one of the most internationally recognizable symbols of San Francisco and California. Originally, the structure was designed by engineer Joseph Strauss in 1917. One of the many World Wonders chosen by the American Society of Civil Engineers, it has been widely recognized as a noteworthy structure.

In the late 1800s, San Francisco Bay was considered to be the only practical route between San Francisco and Marin County, and so prior to the bridge being built, all travelers had to take to the water in order to travel between the two areas. San Francisco has had ferry service running at least since the year 1820. Regularly scheduled service commenced in the 1840s for the express purpose of transporting water to San Francisco.

Construction began on January 5, 1933, and the project cost more than $35 million (equivalent to $523 million in 2019 dollars), and was completed ahead of schedule and $1.3 million under budget (equivalent to $24.2 million today). The Golden Gate Bridge construction project was performed by the McClintic-Marshall Construction Company, a subsidiary of Bethlehem Steel Corporation that was founded by Howard H. McClintic and Charles D. Marshall, both of Lehigh University.

People love to walk or bike on the bridge, and the walkways on either side of the six-lane roadway are designed for pedestrians and bicyclists. At first, only a metal curb separated the pedestrian walkways from the traffic lanes, but in 2003 railings were added to supplement this precaution, and they are now in place primarily to keep bicyclists from falling into the roadway.

Interesting facts about Golden Gate Bridge

Here are some interesting facts about this amazing bridge:

• Adjusted for inflation, the cost of building the bridge would be around $1.2 billion dollars.
• The bridge is named after the Golden Gate Strait, the entrance from the Pacific to San Francisco..
• There are approximately 600,000 rivets in each of the bridge’s towers.

Read more: Interesting facts about Golden Gate Bridge