Plans

"Clown Fish." Getty Images. Points of View. EBSCO. Web. 30 Jan. 2007.

Building the bridge

The construction of what was to become the world's largest suspension bridge was a colossal task. At the time many people did not believe it was technically possible to span the Golden Gate. 


But despite the disbelief, opposition and the Great Depression, Joseph Strauss was able to find sufficient support and financial backing to go ahead with the project.

It would take thousands of workers, four years and 35 million dollars to complete the structure. On May 27, 1937 the Golden Gate Bridge was inaugurated by 18.000 people who walked across the bridge. The next day the bridge officially opened to motorized traffic. Today more than 120,000 cars cross the bridge each day.


old construction

Karwatka, Dennis. “The Golden Gate Bridge.” Tech Directions 73.10(2014): 10-11. Academic Search Premier. Web. 30 Oct. 2014.


                                    The Suspension Bridge

tension and comp

Karwatka, Dennis. “The Golden Gate Bridge.” Tech Directions 73.10(2014): 10-11. Academic Search Premier. Web. 30 Oct. 2014.

  • The deck is suspended from the cables and the compression forces from the weight of the deck are transferred to the towers. Because the towers are firmly in the Earth, the force gets dissipated into the ground.
The support cables that are connected anchorages experience tension forces. These cables stretch due to the weight of the bridge as well as the load it carries.


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  • At the anchorage points, the main cable separates into smaller cables which dissipates the tension forces into the ground via the anchorage.



Interesting Facts Related To The Design and Structure

  • All the steel used in the construction of the bridge was manufactured by Bethlehem Steel on the east coast where it then was loaded onto rail cars, taken to Philadelphia and shipped through the Panama Canal to San Francisco. 
  • Adection fog forms when humid air from the Pacific Ocean swoops over the chilly California current flowing parallel to the coast. The fog hugs the ground and then the warm, moist air condenses as it moves across the bay or land. The bridge has an influence in directing the fog as it pushes up and pours down around the Bridge.
  • The bridge is painted International Orange so that its visible in the fog.
  • Total length of the bridge is 9,150 feet
  • Total weight of each anchorage is 60,000 tons
  • Total weight of Bridge, anchorages, and approaches (1937) is 894,500 tons
  • Total weight of bridge, anchorages, and approaches (1986) is 887,000 tons
  • At midspan, maximum downward deflection is 10.8 feet
  • Maximum transverse deflection is 27.7 feet
  • Live load capacity per lineal foot is 4,000 lbs
  •          All Facts are from (Vetter Julie)