Travel and Holidays -> The Most Beautiful Bridges in the World -> The Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco

The “Golden Gate” Bridge is a cable Bridge going across the Golden Gate Strait. It connects the city of San Francisco in the north of the San Francisco Peninsula and southern Marin County, near the suburb of Sausalito. This bridge had been the largest cable bridge in the world since opening in 1937 until 1964. The length of the bridge is 1970 meters, the length of main span - 1280, the height of towers - 230 feet above the water. The height from the roadway to the water surface - 67 feet. “Golden Gate” Bridge is also well known as a place of suicide. On average, every two weeks someone is leaving this world. For more than seven decades of existence, according to unofficial data, more than 1,300 people committed suicide by jumping from it into the water. At the same time, there are 26 lucky survivors at 4-second fall. The construction of the bridge began on January 5th, 1933 , and lasted for over 4 years. The bridge was prepared by the engineer Joseph Strouss, a consultant architect, Irving Morrow used the design elements of the style of Art Deco . All mathematical calculations for the bridge were done by Charles Alton Ellis, but because of bad relations with Joseph  Strouss his name does not appear in the construction of the bridge and his name was not inscribed in the plate construction of the bridge on the south tower. The bridge was first painted with a primer based on red lead and the outer layer of lead-based and tinted as needed. In the mid-60's started a program to improve the corrosion protection, which included the removal of old paint and repainting the bridge with a primer based on zinc silicate and an outer layer on the basis of vinyl . In 1990, for some reasons related with the requirements for the air quality, an acrylic emulsion was used for the outer layer. The program was completed in 1995, and now the bridge is maintained by a team of 38 painters who embellish the places most affected by corrosion. Along the span of the bridge are special phones, which potential suicides may contact the center for crisis counseling. The inscriptions near the phones report: “There is hope. Make the call. The consequences of jumping from this bridge are fatal and tragic “.

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Maps of The Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco