Golden Gate Bridge
Carries	6 lanes of U.S. Route 101/State Route 1, pedestrians and bicycles
Crosses	Golden Gate
Locale	San Francisco, California and Marin County, California
Maintained by	Golden Gate Bridge, Highway and Transportation District[1]
Design	Suspension, truss arch & truss causeways
Longest span	4,200 feet (1,280 m)[2]
Total length	8,981 feet (2,737 m)
Width	90 feet (27 m)
Height	746 feet (227 m)
Vertical clearance	14 feet (4. In the US state of California, US Route 101 (also known as Highway 101, The 101, or simply 101) is one of the last remaining and State Route 1, often called Highway 1, is a State highway that runs along much of the Pacific coast of the U The Golden Gate is the North American Strait connecting San Francisco Bay to the Pacific Ocean. The City and County of San Francisco is the fourth most populous city March 11, 1889 | The Golden Gate Bridge Highway and Transportation District is a quasi-governmental corporation that owns and operates three regional transportation assets in the San Francisco This article is concerned with a particular type of suspension bridge the suspended-deck type A truss arch Bridge combines the elements of the Truss bridge and the Arch bridge. A truss bridge is a Bridge composed of connected elements (typically straight which may be stressed from tension, compression, or sometimes both in response 3 m) at toll gates, higher truck loads possible
Clearance below	220 feet (67 m) at mean higher high water
AADT	100,000[2]
Opening date	27 May 1937
Toll	US$5. Annual average daily traffic, abbrevated AADT, is a measure used primarily in Transportation planning and transportation engineering. Events 927 - Simeon the Great, Tsar of Bulgaria, dies 1120 - Richard III of Capua is anointed Year 1937 ( MCMXXXVII) was a Common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. The United States dollar ( sign: $; code: USD) is the unit of Currency of the United States; it has also been 00 (southbound) (US$4. The United States dollar ( sign: $; code: USD) is the unit of Currency of the United States; it has also been 00 with FasTrak)
Connects: San Francisco Peninsula with Marin County Location 2 on map
Coordinates	37°49′11″N, 122°28′43″W

The Golden Gate Bridge is a suspension bridge spanning the Golden Gate, the opening of the San Francisco Bay onto the Pacific Ocean. FasTrak is the Electronic toll collection (ETC system used in the state of California in the United States. The San Francisco Peninsula in California separates the San Francisco Bay from the Pacific Ocean. March 11, 1889 | A geographic coordinate system enables every location on the Earth to be specified in three coordinates using mainly a spherical coordinate system. This article is concerned with a particular type of suspension bridge the suspended-deck type A bridge is a Structure built to span a Gorge, Valley, Road, railroad track, River, Body of water The Golden Gate is the North American Strait connecting San Francisco Bay to the Pacific Ocean. San Francisco Bay is a shallow productive Estuary through which water draining from approximately forty percent of California, flowing in the Sacramento The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth 's Oceanic divisions As part of both US Highway 101 and California Route 1, it connects the city of San Francisco on the northern tip of the San Francisco Peninsula to Marin County. State Route 1, often called Highway 1, is a State highway that runs along much of the Pacific coast of the U The City and County of San Francisco is the fourth most populous city The San Francisco Peninsula in California separates the San Francisco Bay from the Pacific Ocean. March 11, 1889 |

The Golden Gate Bridge had the longest suspension bridge span in the world when it was completed in 1937 and has become an internationally recognized symbol of San Francisco and California. Wikipedia_talkFeatured_lists#Proposed_change_to_all_featured_lists for an explanation of this and other inclusion tags below -->This list of suspension bridges California ( is a US state on the West Coast of the United States, along the Pacific Ocean. Since its completion, the span length has been surpassed by eight other bridges. It still has the second longest suspension bridge main span in the United States, after the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge in New York City. The Verrazano-Narrows Bridge is a double-decked Suspension bridge that connects the boroughs of Staten Island and Brooklyn in New The City of New York In 2007, it was ranked fifth on the List of America's Favorite Architecture by the American Institute of Architects. Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. In 2007 the American Institute of Architects asked Harris Interactive to survey 2000 people who were shown 247 photographs of buildings and other structures in different categories The American Institute of Architects (AIA is a professional organization for Architects in the United States.

Setting

The Golden Gate Bridge spans the Golden Gate, a narrow, 400-foot (120 m) deep strait that serves as the mouth of the San Francisco Bay, between San Francisco at the northernmost tip of the San Francisco Peninsula, and the Marin Headlands at the far southern end of Marin County. A strait is a narrow navigable Channel of water that connects two larger navigable bodies of water San Francisco Bay is a shallow productive Estuary through which water draining from approximately forty percent of California, flowing in the Sacramento The San Francisco Peninsula in California separates the San Francisco Bay from the Pacific Ocean. The Marin Headlands is a hilly area at the southernmost end of Marin County California, above the Golden Gate. Although close by proximity, the two sides of the strait are separated by significant natural obstacles. Crossing the strait directly by boat is dangerous because of strong currents and lack of suitable landings. Ocean tides drive an average of 528 billion gallons (2 billion cubic meters) of water every six hours, at peak currents exceeding 5. 6 miles per hour (2. 5 m/s). Circumnavigating the Bay, however, involves a trip of several hundred miles and crossing several major rivers. ^[3]

History

Ferry service

Before the bridge was built, the only practical short route from San Francisco to what is now Marin County was by boat, through the interior of the San Francisco Bay. March 11, 1889 | Ferry service began as early as 1820, with regularly scheduled service beginning in the 1840s for purposes of transporting water to San Francisco from what is now Marin County. March 11, 1889 | ^[4] The Sausalito Land and Ferry Company service launched in 1868, which eventually became the Golden Gate Ferry Company, a Southern Pacific Railroad subsidiary, the largest ferry operation in the world by the late 1920s. ^[4][5] Once for railroad passengers and customers only, Southern Pacific's automobile ferries became very profitable and important to the regional economy. ^[6] The ferry crossing between the Hyde Street Pier at the foot of Van Ness Avenue in San Francisco and Sausalito in Marin County took approximately 20 minutes and cost US$1. The Hyde Street Pier is a historic Ferry Pier located on the northern waterfront of San Francisco California, amidst the tourist zone of Fisherman's The City and County of San Francisco is the fourth most populous city Sausalito (from Spanish: sauzalito "small willow grove" from sauce "willow" + collective derivative -al meaning "place March 11, 1889 | The United States dollar ( sign: $; code: USD) is the unit of Currency of the United States; it has also been 00 per vehicle, a price later reduced to compete with the new bridge. ^[7] The trip from the Ferry Building took twenty-seven minutes. The Ferry Building is a terminal for ferries that travel across the San Francisco Bay and a Shopping center located on The Embarcadero

Air show over Golden Gate Bridge

Many wanted to build a bridge to connect San Francisco to Marin County. The Red Bull Air Race World Series, established in 2003 and created by Red Bull, is an international series of air races in which competitors have to navigate a challenging San Francisco was the largest American city still served primarily by ferry boats. Because it did not have a permanent link with communities around the bay, the city’s growth rate was below the national average. ^[8] Many experts said a bridge couldn’t be built across the 6,700 ft (2,042 m) strait. It had strong, swirling tides and currents, with water 335 ft (102 m) deep at the center of the channel, and almost constant winds of 60 mph (97 km/h). Experts said ferocious winds and blinding fogs would prevent construction and operation. ^[8]

Viewing from edge of Baker Beach.

Conception

Statue of Joseph Strauss

Although the idea of a bridge spanning the Golden Gate was not new, the proposal that eventually took root was made in a 1916 San Francisco Bulletin article by former engineering student James Wilkins. A statue is a Sculpture in the round representing a person or persons an animal or an event normally full-length as opposed to a bust, and at least close to life-size See also Joseph Straus Joseph Baermann Strauss ( January 9, 1870 &ndash May 16, 1938) was an The San Francisco Call was a Newspaper that served San Francisco California. ^[9] San Francisco's City Engineer estimated the cost at $100 million, impractical for the time, and fielded the question to bridge engineers of whether it could be built for less. ^[4] One who responded, Joseph Strauss, was an ambitious but dreamy engineer and poet who had for his graduate thesis designed a 55-mile (89 km) long railroad bridge across the Bering Strait. See also Joseph Straus Joseph Baermann Strauss ( January 9, 1870 &ndash May 16, 1938) was an A dissertation (also called thesis or disquisition) is a document that presents the author's Research and findings and is submitted in support of candidature The Bering Strait (Берингов пролив Beringov proliv) is a sea Strait between Cape Dezhnev, Russia, the easternmost point (169°43' ^[10] At the time, Strauss had completed some 400 drawbridges, but mostly inland and nothing on the scale of the new project. ^[2] Strauss' initial drawings^[9] were for a massive cantilever on each side of the strait, connected by a central suspension segment, which Strauss promised could be built for $17 million. A cantilever is a beam supported on only one end The beam carries the load to the support where it is resisted by moment and Shear stress. ^[4] Strauss' design was widely derided as ugly. ^[4]

Local authorities only agreed to proceed on the assurance that Strauss alter the design and accept input from several consulting project experts. A suspension bridge design was considered the most practical, due to recent advances in metallurgy. Metallurgy is a domain of Materials science that studies the physical and chemical behavior of metallic elements, their intermetallic compounds, and their ^[4]

Strauss spent over a decade drumming up support in Northern California. ^[11] The bridge faced opposition, including litigation, from many sources. The Department of War was concerned that the bridge would interfere with ship traffic. Unions demanded guarantees that local workers would be favored for construction jobs. Southern Pacific Railroad, one of the most powerful business interests in California, opposed the bridge as competition to its ferry fleet and filed a lawsuit against the project, leading to a mass boycott of the ferry service. ^[4] In May 1924 Colonel Herbert Deakyne held the second hearing on the Bridge on behalf of the Secretary of War in a request to use Federal land for construction. Deakyne, on behalf of the Secretary of War, approved the transfer of land needed for the bridge structure and leading roads to the "Bridging the Golden Gate Association", and both the San Francisco and the Marin counties, pending further bridge plans by Strauss. ^[12] Another ally was the fledging automobile industry, which supported the development of roads and bridges to increase demand for automobiles. The automotive industry is the industry involved in the design development manufacture marketing and sale of Motor vehicles In 2007 more than 73 million motor vehicles ^[7]

The bridge earned its name, Golden Gate Bridge, after a mention of it in 1927 by San Francisco city engineer Michael O'Shaughnessy. Michael M O'Shaughnessy (born on May 28 1864 Jointer Ireland. ^[13]

Design

South pillar seen from walkway

Strauss was Chief Engineer in charge of overall design and construction of the bridge project. ^[8] However, because he had little understanding or experience with cable suspension designs,^[14] responsibility for much of the engineering and architecture fell on other experts.

Irving Morrow, a relatively unknown residential architect, designed the overall shape of the bridge towers, the lighting scheme, and Art Deco elements such as the streetlights, railing, and walkways. Art Deco was a popular international design movement from 1925 until 1939 affecting the decorative arts such as Architecture, Interior design, and Industrial Morrow also chose the famous International Orange color. International orange is a color used to set things apart from their surroundings similar to Safety orange, but deeper and with a more reddish hue ^[15]

Senior engineer Charles Alton Ellis, collaborating remotely with famed bridge designer Leon Moisseiff, was the principal engineer of the project. Leon Moisseiff (1872 &ndash 1943 was a leading Suspension bridge Engineer in the United States of America in the 1920s and 1930s ^[16] Moisseiff produced the basic structural design, introducing his "deflection theory" by which a thin, flexible roadway would flex in the wind, greatly reducing stress by transmitting forces via suspension cables to the bridge towers. ^[16] Although the Golden Gate Bridge design has proved sound, a later Moisseiff design, the Tacoma Narrows Bridge, collapsed in a strong windstorm soon after it was completed, due to an unexpected resonance mode caused by a too-thin roadway and unexpected wind forces. The Tacoma Narrows Bridge is a pair of mile-long Suspension bridges in the U ^[16]

Ellis was a Greek scholar and mathematician who became a University of Illinois professor of engineering despite having no engineering degree. He became an expert in structural design, writing the standard textbook of the time. ^[17] Ellis did much of the technical and theoretical work that built the bridge but got none of the credit in his lifetime. In November, 1931, Strauss fired Ellis and replaced him with a former subordinate, Clifford Paine, ostensibly for wasting too much money sending telegrams back and forth to Moisseiff. ^[17] Ellis, obsessed with the project and unable to find work elsewhere during the Depression, continued working 70 hours per week on an unpaid basis, eventually turning in ten volumes of hand calculations. ^[17]

With an eye toward self-promotion and posterity, Strauss downplayed the contributions of his collaborators who, despite receiving little recognition or compensation,^[14] are largely responsible for the final form of the bridge. He succeeded in having himself credited as the person most responsible for the design and vision of the bridge. ^[17] Only much later were the contributions of the others on the design team properly appreciated. ^[17] In May 2007, the Golden Gate Bridge district issued a formal report on 70 years of stewardship of the famous bridge, and decided to right an old wrong by giving Ellis major credit for the design of the bridge.

Finance

The Golden Gate Bridge and Highway District, authorized by an act of the California Legislature, was incorporated in 1928 as the official entity to design, construct, and finance the Golden Gate Bridge. The Golden Gate Bridge Highway and Transportation District is a quasi-governmental corporation that owns and operates three regional transportation assets in the San Francisco The California State Legislature is the state legislature of the U ^[8] However, after the Wall Street Crash of 1929, the District was unable to raise the construction funds so it lobbied for a $35 million bond measure. The Wall Street Crash of 1929, also known as the ’29 Crash, the Crash of 1929, the Great Crash of 1929, the Great Crash of October 1929 A bond measure is an Initiative to sell bonds for the purpose of acquiring Funds for various Public works projects such as research transportation The bonds were approved in November, 1930,^[10] by votes in the counties affected by the bridge. ^[18] The construction budget at the time of approval was $30. 1 million. However, the District was unable to sell the bonds until 1932, when the founder of San Francisco-based Bank of America agreed on behalf of his bank to buy the entire issue in order to help the local economy. Banc of America Securities Bank of America () is the largest bank by asset and second largest commercial Bank by deposits and Market capitalization in United ^[4]

On the south side of the bridge, a 36. 5 inches (93 cm) wide cross section of the cable containing 27,572 separate wires is on display.

Construction

Construction began on January 5, 1933. Events 1477 - Battle of Nancy: Charles the Bold is killed and Burgundy becomes part of France. Year 1933 ( MCMXXXIII) was a Common year starting on Sunday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. ^[4] The project cost over $26 million. ^[19]

Strauss remained head of the project, overseeing day-to-day construction and making some groundbreaking contributions. A graduate of the University of Cincinnati, he had placed a brick from his alma mater's demolished McMicken Hall in the south anchorage before the concrete was poured. The University of Cincinnati is a Coeducational public Research university in Cincinnati, Ohio. Alma mater is Latin for "nourishing mother" It was used in Ancient Rome as a title for the mother Goddess, and in Medieval He innovated the use of movable safety netting beneath the construction site, which saved the lives of many otherwise unprotected steelworkers. Of eleven men killed from falls during construction, ten were killed (when the bridge was near completion) when the net failed under the stress of a scaffold that had fallen. Nineteen others who were saved by the net over the course of construction became proud members of the (informal) Halfway to Hell Club. ^[20]

The project was finished by April 1937, $1. 3 million under budget. ^[4]

Opening festivities

A photograph of the bridge from a boat underneath.

The bridge opening celebration began on 27 May 1937, and lasted for one week. Events 927 - Simeon the Great, Tsar of Bulgaria, dies 1120 - Richard III of Capua is anointed Year 1937 ( MCMXXXVII) was a Common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. The day before vehicle traffic was allowed, 200,000 people crossed by foot and roller skate. ^[4] On opening day, Mayor Angelo Rossi and other officials rode the ferry to Marin, then crossed the bridge in a motorcade past three ceremonial "barriers", the last a blockade of beauty queens who required Joseph Strauss to present the bridge to the Highway District before allowing him to pass. Angelo Joseph Rossi ( January 22, 1878 &ndash April 4, 1948) was a U A beauty contest or beauty pageant is a competition based mainly though not always entirely on the physical beauty of its contestants and often incorporating Personality An official song, "There's a Silver Moon on the Golden Gate", was chosen to commemorate the event. " There's a Silver Moon on the Golden Gate " is the official song commemorating the opening the Golden Gate Bridge in May 1937. Strauss wrote a poem now on the Golden Gate Bridge entitled "The Mighty Task is Done. " The next day, President Roosevelt pushed a button in Washington, DC signaling the official start of vehicle traffic over the Bridge at noon. Washington DC ( formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, the District, or simply D When the celebration got out of hand, the SFPD had a small riot in the uptown Polk Gulch area. The San Francisco Police Department, also known as the SFPD, is the police department of the City and County of San Francisco California. Polk Street is a street in San Francisco California that travels northward from Market Street to Jefferson Street in the Polk Gulch neighborhood and traverses through Weeks of civil and cultural activities called "the Fiesta" followed. A statue of Strauss was moved in 1955 to a site near the bridge. ^[9]

Description

Fog at the Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco

Specifications

The center span was the longest among suspension bridges until 1964 when the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge was erected between the boroughs of Staten Island and Brooklyn in New York City. Fog is a cloud that is in contact with the ground Stratus clouds are usually the only clouds that touch the ground Wikipedia_talkFeatured_lists#Proposed_change_to_all_featured_lists for an explanation of this and other inclusion tags below -->This list of suspension bridges The Verrazano-Narrows Bridge is a double-decked Suspension bridge that connects the boroughs of Staten Island and Brooklyn in New Staten Island (ˌstætənˈaɪlənd is a borough of New York City situated primarily on the island of the same name Brooklyn (named after the Dutch town Breukelen) is one of the five boroughs of New York City. The City of New York The Golden Gate Bridge also had the world's tallest suspension towers at the time of construction, and retained that record until more recently. In 1957, Michigan's Mackinac Bridge surpassed the Golden Gate Bridge's length to become the world's longest two tower suspension bridge in total length between anchorages. Michigan ( is a Midwestern state of the United States of America. The Mackinac Bridge (ˈmækɨnɔː with a silent "c" at the end of the word is a Suspension bridge spanning the Straits of Mackinac to connect the

Structure

The bridge has approximately 1,200,000 total rivets. A rivet is a mechanical Fastener. Before it is installed it consists of a smooth cylindrical shaft with a head on one end

Traffic

Traffic crossing the Bridge during a foggy morning

As the only road to exit San Francisco to the north, the bridge is part of both U.S. Route 101 and State Route 1 and on an average day 120,000 vehicles cross the bridge. In the US state of California, US Route 101 (also known as Highway 101, The 101, or simply 101) is one of the last remaining and State Route 1, often called Highway 1, is a State highway that runs along much of the Pacific coast of the U ^[2] The bridge has six total lanes of vehicle traffic, and walkways on both sides of the bridge. The median markers between the lanes are moved to conform to traffic patterns. On weekday mornings, traffic flows mostly southbound into the city, so four of the six lanes run southbound. Conversely, on weekday afternoons, four lanes run northbound. While there has been discussion concerning the installation of a movable barrier since the 1980s, the Bridge Board of Directors, in March 2005, committed to finding funding to complete the $2 million study required prior to the installation of a moveable median barrier. Barrier transfer machines, also known as Zipper Machines, are heavy vehicles used to transfer Jersey barriers or other concrete lane dividers used to relieve traffic The eastern walkway is for pedestrians and bicycles during the weekdays and during daylight hours only, and the western walkway is open to bicyclists on weekday afternoons, weekends, and holidays. The speed limit on the Golden Gate Bridge was reduced from 55 mph (89 km/h) to 45 mph (72 km/h) on 1 October 1983. For a discussion of the maximum speed possible in the universe see Speed of light and Special relativity. Events 331 BC - Alexander the Great defeats Darius III of Persia in the Battle of Gaugamela. Year 1983 ( MCMLXXXIII) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link displays the 1983 Gregorian calendar)

Aesthetics

The Golden Gate Bridge by night, with part of downtown San Francisco visible in the background at far left. The City and County of San Francisco is the fourth most populous city

Despite its red appearance, the color of the bridge is officially an orange vermilion called international orange. International orange is a color used to set things apart from their surroundings similar to Safety orange, but deeper and with a more reddish hue ^[21] The color was selected by consulting architect Irving Morrow because it blends well with the natural surroundings yet enhances the bridge's visibility in fog.

The bridge is widely considered one of the most beautiful examples of bridge engineering, both as a structural design challenge and for its aesthetic appeal. It was declared one of the modern Wonders of the World by the American Society of Civil Engineers. According to Frommer's travel guide, the Golden Gate Bridge is "possibly the most beautiful, certainly the most photographed, bridge in the world"^[22] (although Frommers also bestows the "most photographed" honor on Tower Bridge in London, England). Tower Bridge is a combined bascule and Suspension bridge in London, England over the River Thames. London ( ˈlʌndən is the capital and largest urban area in the United Kingdom. England is a Country which is part of the United Kingdom. Its inhabitants account for more than 83% of the total UK population whilst its mainland ^[23]

Aesthetics was the foremost reason why the first design of Joseph Strauss was rejected. Upon re-submission of his bridge construction plan he added details, such as lighting, to outline the bridge's cables and towers. ^[24]

The Golden Gate Bridge has a similar sister bridge in Lisbon, Portugal. Lisbon (Lisboa liʒˈboɐ is the Capital and largest city of Portugal. Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic (República Portuguesa is a country on the Iberian Peninsula. The red-painted Ponte 25 de Abril (25th April Bridge) is 2,278 m (7,470 ft) spans 1,013 m (3,320 ft). The 25 de Abril Bridge (translation 25th of April Bridge in Portuguese Ponte 25 de Abril, pron.

Paintwork

The bridge was originally painted with red lead primer and a lead-based topcoat, which was touched up as required. Red lead, also called minium, lead tetroxide or triplumbic tetroxide, is a bright red or orange Crystalline or Amorphous Pigment Characteristics Lead has a dull luster and is a dense, Ductile, very soft highly In the mid-1960s, a program was started to improve corrosion protection by stripping the original paint off and repainting the bridge with zinc silicate primer and, originally, vinyl topcoats. Hemimorphite, is a sorosilicate Mineral which has been mined from days of old from the upper parts of Zinc and Lead Ores chiefly A vinyl compound is any Organic compound that contains a vinyl group (also called ethenyl) &minus C[[Hydrogen H]] =CH sub>2 ^[25][26] Acrylic topcoats have been used instead since 1990 for air quality reasons. Acrylic paint is fast-drying Paint containing pigment suspended in an acrylic polymer Emulsion. The program was completed in 1995, and there is now maintenance by 38 painters to touch up the paintwork where it becomes seriously eroded. ^[27]

Golden Gate Bridge, with its approach arch over Fort Point at the San Francisco terminus (right). Fort Point may refer to Fort Point Boston, Massachusetts USA Fort Point Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada Fort Behind the arch is Angel Island, and to the left of that, Tiburon, California, mostly obscuring the East Bay hills. Angel Island is an island in San Francisco Bay that offers spectacular views of the San Francisco skyline the Marin County Headlands and Mount Tiburon is an affluent incorporated town in Marin County California. The East Bay is a subregion of the San Francisco Bay Area, California, United States and comprises Alameda and Contra Costa Counties

Current issues

Economics

The last of the construction bonds were retired in 1971, with $35 million in principal and nearly $39 million in interest raised entirely from bridge tolls. ^[28]

On September 1, 2002, the auto cash toll for Southbound motor vehicles was raised from $3 to $5, and the FasTrak toll was increased from $3 to $4. Events 462 - Possible start of first Byzantine indiction cycle. See also 2002 (disambiguation Year 2002 ( MMII) was a Common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. A motor Vehicle is a Machine which incorporates a motor (sometimes known as an Engine) and which is used for Transportation Northbound motor vehicle, bicycle, and pedestrian traffic remains toll free. The rate for two-axle vehicles and motorcycles is $5 cash, or $4 with FasTrak electronic RF payments. FasTrak is the Electronic toll collection (ETC system used in the state of California in the United States. For vehicles with more than two axles, the toll rate is $2. 50 per axle. ^[29][30]

In November 2006, the Golden Gate Bridge, Highway and Transportation District recommended a corporate sponsorship program for the bridge to address its operating deficit, projected at $80 million over five years. The District promised that the proposal, which it called a "partnership program", would not include changing the name of the bridge or placing advertising on the bridge itself. Advertising is a form of Communication that typically attempts to persuade potential Customers to Purchase or to consume more of a particular Brand In October 2007, the Board unanimously voted to discontinue the proposal and seek additional revenue through other means, most likely a toll increase. ^[31][32]

San Francisco and the Golden Gate Bridge as viewed from the Marin Headlands

Suicides

The Golden Gate Bridge is a frequent site for suicide. The Marin Headlands is a hilly area at the southernmost end of Marin County California, above the Golden Gate. The deck is approximately 260 feet (79 m) above the water. After a fall of approximately four seconds jumpers hit the water at some 88 miles per hour (142 km/h), which is nearly always fatal. Most of those who survive the impact die in the frigid water.

The first suicide occurred only days after the Bridge opened. There is no accurate figure on the number of suicides since 1937, because many were not witnessed. People have been known to travel to San Francisco specifically to jump off the bridge, and may take a bus or cab to the site; police sometimes find abandoned rental cars in the parking lot. Currents beneath the bridge are very strong, and some jumpers have undoubtedly been washed out to sea without ever being seen. The water may be as cold as 47 °F (8 °C), and great white sharks, which tend to congregate around the Farallon Islands, are sometimes seen under the bridge. The great white shark, Carcharodon carcharias, also known as white pointer, white shark, or white death, is an exceptionally large lamniform The Farallon Islands, or Farallones, are a group of Islands and rocks found in the Gulf of the Farallones, off the coast of San Francisco,

An official suicide count was kept, sorted according to which of the bridge's 128 lamp posts the jumper was nearest when he or she jumped. The count exceeded 1,200 when the count ended in 2005, and new suicides were averaging one every two weeks. ^[33] There were 34 bridge jump suicides in 2006 whose bodies were recovered, in addition to four jumps which were witnessed but whose bodies were never recovered, and several bodies recovered suspected to be from bridge jumps. The California Highway Patrol removed seventy apparently suicidal people from the bridge that year. ^[34] Currently, it is said that a person jumps off the Golden Gate Bridge every 15 days. An additional 200 may be added to the suicide count on the bridge, due to fog, night time jumpers and other jumps which couldn't be counted.

As of 2006, only 26 people are known to have survived the jump. ^[33] Those who do survive strike the water feet-first, usually suffering broken bones and internal injuries. Even when a jumper is promptly rescued from the water and rushed to the hospital, most die of internal bleeding from ruptured spleens. Only one person has ever been recorded as having made the jump without serious injury: in 1985 a 16-year-old wrestler landed on his buttocks and swam ashore; his first words reportedly were, " I can't do anything right. " Another young man survived a jump in 2000, although the impact broke his back and shattered multiple vertebrae. A vertebra (plural vertebrae) is an individual Irregular bone in the spinal or Vertebral column ( aka ischis a flexuous and flexible column ^[35]

Engineering professor Natalie Jeremijenko, as part of her Bureau of Inverse Technology art collective, created a "Despondency Index" by correlating the Dow Jones Industrial Average with the number of jumpers detected by "Suicide Boxes" containing motion-detecting cameras, which she claimed to have set up under the bridge. Natalie Jeremijenko, artist and engineer is an Associate Professor at NYU in the Visual Art Dept The Dow Jones Industrial Average ( also called the DJIA, Dow 30, INDP, or informally the Dow Jones or The Dow) is one of several ^[36] The boxes purportedly recorded 17 jumps in three months, far greater than the official count. The Whitney Museum, though questioning whether Jeremijenko's suicide detection technology actually existed, nevertheless included her project in its prestigious Whitney Biennial. The Whitney Museum of American Art, often referred to simply as "the Whitney" harbors one of the most important collections of 20th century American art The Whitney Biennial is a biennial exhibition of contemporary American art typically by young and lesser known artists on display at the Whitney Museum of American ^[37]

Suicide on the Golden Gate Bridge is a theme of Jenni Olson's experimental film, The Joy of Life (2005). Jenni Olson (b October 6 1962 was born and raised in Falcon Heights Minnesota. The Joy of Life (2005 is an experimental landscape documentary film about the history of suicide and the Golden Gate Bridge, and the adventures of a butch lesbian Eric Steel's 2006 documentary The Bridge recorded 23 of the 24 known suicides during 2004. Eric Steel is a Filmmaker and producer, most notable for his role in the production of Shaft, Angela's Ashes, and the The Bridge is a 2006 Documentary film by Eric Steel that tells the stories of a handful of individuals who committed Suicide at the Golden

As a suicide prevention initiative, this sign promotes a special telephone available on the bridge that connects to a crisis hotline

Various methods have been proposed and implemented to reduce the number of suicides. Suicide prevention is an umbrella term for the collective efforts of mental health practitioners and related professionals to reduce the incidence of Suicide through proactive A crisis hotline is a phone number people can call to get immediate over-the-phone emergency Counseling, usually by trained Volunteers Such hotlines The bridge is fitted with suicide hotline telephones, and staff patrol the bridge in carts, looking for people who appear to be planning to jump. A crisis hotline is a phone number people can call to get immediate over-the-phone emergency Counseling, usually by trained Volunteers Such hotlines The bridge is now closed to pedestrians at night. Cyclists are still permitted across at night, but must be buzzed in and out through the remotely controlled security gates. ^[38] Attempts to introduce a suicide barrier have been thwarted by engineering difficulties, high costs, and public opposition. The estimated cost of a barrier is between $15 and $20 million. ^[39] One recurring proposal is to build a barrier to replace or augment the low railing, a component of the bridge's original architectural design. New barriers have eliminated suicides at other landmarks around the world, but were opposed for the Golden Gate Bridge for reasons of cost, aesthetics, and safety (the load from a poorly-designed barrier could significantly affect the bridge's structural integrity during a strong windstorm).

Wind

Since its completion, the Golden Gate Bridge has been closed due to weather conditions only three times:^[40] on December 1, 1951, due to gusts of 69 mph (111 km/h); on December 23, 1982, due to winds of 70 mph (110 km/h); and on December 3, 1983, due to wind gusts of 75 mph (121 km/h). Events 800 - Charlemagne judges the accusations against Pope Leo III in the Vatican Year 1951 ( MCMLI) was a Common year starting on Monday. Events of 1951 January Events 962 - Byzantine-Arab Wars: Under the future Emperor Nicephorus Phocas, Byzantine troops stormed the city Year 1982 ( MCMLXXXII) was a Common year starting on Friday (link displays the 1982 Gregorian calendar) Events 1800 - War of the Second Coalition: Battle of Hohenlinden, French Year 1983 ( MCMLXXXIII) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link displays the 1983 Gregorian calendar)

Notes

References

• Tad Friend: Jumpers: The fatal grandeur of the Golden Gate Bridge, The New Yorker, October 13, 2003 v79 i30 page 48
• "Golden Gate Bridge Natural Frequencies", Vibrationdata. The New Yorker is an American Magazine that publishes reportage commentary criticism essays fiction satire cartoons and poetry Events 54 - Nero ascends to the Roman throne 409 - Vandals and Alans crossed the Pyrenees Year 2003 ( MMIII) was a Common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. com, April 5, 2006

External links

• Golden Gate Bridge official site
• Golden Gate Bridge at the Open Directory Project

Coordinates: 37°49′7.59″N 122°28′42.29″W / 37.818775, -122.4784139