The Golden Gate Bridge

The Golden Gate Bridge (San Francisco,California )

The Golden Gate Bridge is a suspension bridge spanning the Golden Gate, the opening of the San Francisco Bay into the Pacific Ocean. As part of both U.S. Route 101 and California State Route 1, the structure links the city of San Francisco, on the northern tip of the San Francisco Peninsula, to Marin County. It is one of the most internationally recognized symbols of San Francisco, California, and of the United States. It has been declared one of the modern Wonders of the World by the American Society of Civil Engineers. The Frommers travel guide considers the Golden Gate Bridge "possibly the most beautiful, certainly the most photographed, bridge in the world".

Specifications

On the south side of the bridge, a 36.5 inch (93 cm) wide cross-section of the cable, containing 27,572 separate wires, is on display.

Fog at the Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco
When completed in 1937, the Golden Gate Bridge had the longest suspension bridge main span in the world, at 4,200 feet (1,280.2 m). Since 1964, its main span length has been surpassed by eight other bridges. However, it still has the second longest main span in the United States, after the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge in New York City.

The total length of the Golden Gate Bridge, including approaches from abutment to abutment, is 8,981 feet (2,737 m).

At 692 feet (211m) (above water), the Golden Gate Bridge also had the world's tallest suspension towers when built. It held that status until 1998, with the completion of bridges in Denmark and Japan.

Structure

The weight of the roadway is hung from two cables that pass through the two main towers and are fixed in concrete at each end. Each cable is made of 27,572 strands of wire. There are 80,000 miles
(129,000 km) of wire in the main cables. The bridge has approximately 1,200,000 total rivets.