The Golden Gate Bridge

Sometimes heralded as the most spectacular bridge in the world, the Golden Gate Bridge seemed like an impossible task a century ago. Around San Francisco, any kind of infrastructure built would have to withstand the fierce winds, fog, and any earthquake. Bridges around the area would also have to withstand the tides. Yet, to Joseph Strauss, none of these destructive powers bothered his willingness to create such a triumphant bridge. Completed only 5 months after the promised date in 1937 and a total cost of $27 million, the Golden Gate Bridge benefitted society not only around the San Francisco area, but also around the world.

Originally conceived in August of 1919, San Francisco city officials requested to Engineer Michael O’Shaughnessy if he could build a bridge that crossed the Golden Gate Strait. He would then consult numerous engineers across the U.S. about building such a bridge. Many of these engineers speculated that the bridge would certainly cost over $100 million and it could not be built to withstand the destructive forces. However, Joseph Strauss said that he could not only build a bridge that would overcome the forces, but also be built for under $30 million.

In June of 1921, Strauss completed his initial sketches of the bridges design and submitted them to O’Shaughnessy and to the Mayor of San Francisco. The original design, pictured below, is a symmetrical cantilever-suspension hybrid span bridge and had an estimated cost of $17 million. A year and a half later, the design was released to the public; while the public expressed little opposition, the local presses described it as “ugly.”

Not too much later, Leon Moisseiff, a leading suspension bridge engineer, expressed concern over the unattractiveness of the initi...

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...dge, the Golden Gate spans the Strait that connects to the Pacific Ocean which has very strong tides. The Golden Gate is also higher and the main span is longer by about 2606 feet. Socially, the Golden Gate has served as a gateway for many commuters and the bridge is surrounded by the beautiful topography of San Francisco.

To this day the Golden Gate has been a magnificent symbol and heralded as a substantial accomplishment. It has withstood the length of time and the numerous concerns such as wind, fog, earthquakes, and deformation of the bridge. The bridge has served as a respectable example for engineering, because only a few problems had to be resolved such as traffic flow and reducing the weight once. It has assisted over 1,970,400,000 vehicles cross the Golden Gate Strait, and shown itself to the world in being a worthy social, scientific, and symbolic example.