ConstructMyFuture.com | Students - Cool Stuff -- Top Ten Construction Projects: Golden Gate Bridge

Golden Gate Bridge
Crossing the Golden Gate Strait
San Francisco, California, United States of America

The Golden Gate Bridge catches the spirit of the American West. A mind-boggling 4,200-foot main span with a vertical clearance of 220 feet at mid-span, the bridge's total length including approaches is 1.7 miles, connecting the city of San Francisco and the great redwood empire to the north.

As early as 1872, railroad entrepreneur Charles Crocker envisioned a bridge across the Golden Gate Strait, then entrance to the San Francisco Bay from the Pacific Ocean. In the years following, ferry traffic across the bay increased, and as a growing metropolis sprouted in San Francisco, traffic waiting to cross by boat caused long delays. There were no public funds available to build the Golden Gate Bridge because limited federal and state dollars allocated for infrastructure were already being consumed by the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge.

However, the project increased in momentum in 1916, when San Francisco Call Bulletin Editor James Wilkins began an editorial campaign for a bridge. Wilkins' writings came to the attention of San Francisco City Engineer Michael M. O'Shaughnessy, who initiated a cost and feasibility study. Prevailing opinions in the engineering community were that the bridge could not be built, or that it would cost more than $100 million.

In 1921, bridge designer Joseph Baermann Strauss submitted preliminary sketches for the Golden Gate Bridge, a bridge estimated to cost only $27 million. Strauss claimed the bridge could be paid for without relying on public funds - tolls would pay for the bridge.

In 1923 The Association of the Bridging the Gate, a coalition of local and State officials was formed to lobby for the creation of the Golden Gate Bridge and Highway Act by the State of California. The act, passed that same year, allowed interested counties to form a bridge district, borrow money, issue bonds and collect a toll.

The pro-bridge interests than successfully won permission to commence construction from the War Department. This was no mean feat, as powerful interests including railroad and ferry companies lobbied against authorization.

Since its completion in 1937, 1.6 billion vehicles have crossed the beautiful bridge spanning entrance to San Francisco Bay.

Over the years, salt and moisture from fog and the ocean caused the roadway deck to begin to show signs of deterioration. In response, the greatest engineering project since the construction of the bridge was undertaken, with the replacement of the original concrete deck with lighter, stronger orthotropic steel deck and covering of epoxy asphalt. The project, which took place between 1982 and 1986, reduced the total bridge weight by 12,300 tons to a total weight of 894,500 tons. Also the bridge roadway was widened from its original width of 60 feet to 62 feet by reducing the width of the sidewalks.

With its tremendous towers rising 746 feet above the Golden Gate Strait, from two great main cables, all who see it must agree that the Golden Gate Bridge is a gift for the senses.