The Bridge That Couldn’t Be Built - The Golden Gate

The Golden Gate Bridge is one of the most beautiful sites a person could see; it was known as the Bridge that could not be built because it was constructed during the great depression, there was great opposition to the building of the bridge because some people were making good money out of the ferryboats that were used at the time.

When the Golden Gate was completed in 1937 it was the longest suspension bridge in the world, and it became the trademark of San Francisco, and a symbol of the United States of America.

The idea of the a bridge spanning the Golden Gate was something that had been in the minds of people for a long time, but it was an engineering student that finally got things moving; after his proposal of a bridge they began the hunt for an engineer that could make a bridge design that was practical but at the same time beautiful. In the end, they found more then one engineer to do the job and after closely working together, they came up with a design for the bridge that would make history.

Finding support for the bridge was not easy, just about everybody opposed the making of a bridge, they objected that it would interfere with shipping traffic and that it would cut the profits of the ferry business, and that it would cost too much money, but finally, with precious few allies, they got the necessary land and got down to business.

The Chief Engineer of the bridge was a man named Strauss, he had little training or experience with suspension bridges, but that did not stop him form trying to get all the glory he could out of the making of the bridge; It was the engineers that were under him that were ultimately responsible for the making and design of the Golden Gate bridge. It was not until much later that the other engineers got the recognition they deserved from the very beginning.

Strauss, the head engineer despite trying to get all the glory for himself out of the bridge, did design a safety net that hung under the bridge and saved the lives of nineteen men, so maybe he was not such a bad person after all.

Because the Golden Gate was built during the Great Depression there were problems with the funds, the Golden Gate Bridge and Highway District (the one authorized with the building and basically everything that had to do with the bridge) was unable to come up with the construction money necessary so they lobbied for a $35 million bond measure, they were then not able to sell them until 1932, when a bank bought them to help out the struggling economy.

When the Bridge was finally finished, the festivities lasted a week! The day before the bridge was opened to vehicle traffic, over two hundred thousand people crossed the Golden Gate bridge on foot and the President authorized the final opening of the bridge at noon that day…the party got out of hand and people started rioting so the police were forced to end the festivities. However, they had finally done it, the bridge was finally built. The Golden Gate Bridge claimed a big price apart from the money; it was the lives of eleven people…

The Golden Gate Bridge is considered one of the most beautiful bridges in the world even today, and some consider it the most photographed bridge that the word has.

The paint that was chosen for the Golden Gate was selected to enhance the bridge and make it blend into the environment around it while at the same time make it highly visible in the fog, repainting of the bridge is never finished, when painters start on one side on the bridge and slowly make it to the other side it is already time to start at the other end again because of the elements that make the bridge rust, talk about a never ending project.

The Golden Gate had not only seen some of the most beautiful sunsets in the world, it has also witnessed many suicides, up until the year 2006 there have only been 26 people that have survived jumping off the Golden Gate, there is even a report of one woman jumping off the bridge twice.

The Golden Gate Bridge, a place of tragedies and a place of wonders, the most beautiful bridge ever built.