Building the Golden Gate Bridge

Golden Gate Bridge Under Construction - 1937

Amazing engineering and construction for its time the Golden Gate Bridge was the largest span ever attempted (the center span is 4,200 ft. long). The bridge designer and chief engineer Joesph Strauss was an American Structural Engineer that not only conceived, but also oversaw the construction feat.


Construction Workers on the Golden Gate Bridge

As soon as the magnificent bridge was complete it became an instant draw for suicide jumpers from far away places. Sadly it is now also know as a destination of death.

Sign on the Golden Gate Bridge a last hope for the problematic cases of suicide.

Suicide statistics documented on the Golden Gate Bride by year.

Also another interesting engineering fact is that the human live load versus car live load is much larger. The human live load is figured on the average weight of 150 lbs for a person to occupy 2.5 square feet. When you put enough people side by side on the golden gate bridge the weight becomes much more massive than if the bridge was full of cars and trucks. In 1987 the bridge was open to pedestrian to walk across the 1.7 mile span. When a critical mass of 300,000 people were on the bridge city officials immediately closed the bridge because the weight capacity of the bridge became dangerously close to failure (engineers estimated a 5,400 lbs/ft live load to the 5,700 lbs/ft capacity).

Critical Mass on the Golden Gate Bridge, May 24, 1987 (Doug Atkins / AP)


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