The Golden Gate Bridge Presented by: The Third Row Six Presenters: Brett Portner-Kuhlow Scott Tumm

Important Dates 1920: A feasibility Study recommends construction of the Golden Gate Bridge 1923: The State Legislature Passes the Golden Gate Bridge and Highway District Act of California into Law 1930: Joseph Strauss, Chief Engineer submits his final plans for the bridge January 5, 1933: Construction of the bridge begins

February 1933: Anchorages are completed June 1935: The towers are completed March 1936: The suspension cables are completed April 1937: The deck surface is completed

Official Pedestrian Day: May 27, 1937 Bridge opens for traffic: May 28, 1937

Spanning the Golden Gate The entrance to San Francisco Bay was named the ‘Golden Gate’ by early settlers One mile wide gap 60 Mph wind tunnel like gusts of wind for much of the year 2.5 Million cubic feet of water per second pass through the Golden Gate Currents Earthquakes

Project Management Before the Manhattan Project James Reed General Manager Joseph Strauss Chief Engineer

Joseph Strauss: Chief Engineer

Strauss the Man Rude Short-tempered Arrogant Labeled ‘brilliant bully’ by his peers -Strauss thought big. His graduate thesis proposed a 50 mile long bridge across the Bering Strait that would connect Siberia and Alaska.

Scope Build a bridge spanning the Golden Gate -Must be tall enough for ships to pass underneath

Time There was no real set timetable; managers ensured the project progressed as quickly as possible.

Cost $73,000,000

Financial Facts $35 million in bonds $38 million in interest Bridge completely paid off on June 30, 1971 Bridge completely paid for by tolls No state or federal money went into the bridge Bank of America extended a $5 million line of credit to the bridge project People put up their homes, farms and businesses as collateral for the bridge to generate the $35 million in bond issue Presently, bridge still operates only with money collected from tolls

To Build a Bridge Strauss spent three years researching his first design He assembled a team of engineers to create the final design Strauss expected that three dozen workers would die during the construction, about one for every one million dollars spent on the construction 11 deaths occurred

Black Wednesday: February 17, 1937 A scaffold slipped off the bridge and through the protective netting below, taking ten men to their deaths.

Safety Under Strauss 1st Mandatory use of hard hats Issuing of safety belts and tie off lines Dizzy riveters: respirators for burning paint fumes Riveters and ironworkers required to wear leather gloves Sun goggles, sun-block lotion Field hospital at south end staffed full time; treated 12,000 injuries by December, 1935. No deaths for the first 3 years and 8 months of project

The Net $120,000 Safety net suspended 60 feet below the road surface: nineteen men saved

The ‘Halfway to Hell’ Club Nineteen official members, some jumped for fun Named by tabloids looking for a story First official member hit the ground as well, broke four vertebrae

Unexpected Delays and Challenges Temporary trestle knocked over twice The ten day San Francisco Strike Fort Point

Fort Point Located directly under south end of bridge Historians and the community in general protested to preserve the fort

Records held by the Bridge (in 1937) Longest bridge Tallest free standing structure in the world (over 740 feet)

Golden Gate Fun Facts Riveting crew held unofficial speed contests; they sometimes threw red-hot rivets distances of 70 feet or more 80,000 miles of pencil diameter steel cable in bridge Steel for the bridge was made in Pennsylvania and ‘shipped’ to California via the Panama Canal $75,000 paid in tolls each day A gold rivet was hammered into place to celebrate the completion of the bridge ‘International Orange’ Blind woman and guide dog the first pedestrians ever to cross the bridge 1.25 billion cars have crossed bridge since ’37 Bridge ‘Firsts’ First person to cross on stilts First person to cross sticking tongue out all the way First wooden hat to cross the bridge Each anchorage weighs as much as 17,000 elephants

References Barter, James. The Golden Gate Bridge. San Diego: Lucent Books, 2001. The Golden Gate Bridge. Narr. Jack Perkins. Videocassette. A&E Home Video, 1994. Strauss, Joseph. The Golden Gate Bridge. San Francisco: Golden Gate Bridge and Highway District, 1938. Van Der Zee, John. The Gate: The True Story of the Design and Construction of the Golden Gate Bridge. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1986. www.inetours.com/Pages/SFNbrhds/Golden_Gate_Bridge.html www.goldengatebridge.org