Facts to know about the Golden Gate Bridge

Golden Gate Bridge — Suspension bridge in San Francisco, California, USA

By Julius Choudhury

May 27 marks the 80th anniversary of the opening of the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, California, U.S. Here are some interesting facts about the iconic landmark.

Chief engineer Joseph Strauss’ first proposal for the bridge design in 1922 was called an upside rat cage by the press.

The 1.7-mile (2.7 km) long bridge was named one of the seven civil engineering wonders of the United States by the American Society of Civil Engineers in 1994.

Standing at 726 feet (221.2 meters), the bridge has featured in more than 20 Hollywood movies including “Dirty Harry” (1971), “Hulk” (2003) and “Rise of the Planet of the Apes” (2011).

The six-lane bridge was named after the Golden Gate Strait that served as the entrance into San Francisco Bay from the Pacific. The strait was named after the Golden Horn of the Bosporus, Istanbul, by American politician John C. Frémont.

The Golden Gate Bridge is painted in the color of international orange that complements the backdrop of sea, land and seasonal fog. The color is similar to the one used in the aerospace industry to set things apart from their surroundings.

A total of 80,000 miles (128,747.5 km) of wire has been used in the two main suspension cables. Connected end to end in a single strand, it would circle the planet three times at the Equator!

Until 1964, the Golden Gate Bridge was the longest suspension bridge in the world. Akashi Kaikyō Bridge in Japan now holds that rank while the San Francisco construction marvel has moved to ninth-longest.

Strauss dedicated a poem titled “A Mighty Task Is Done” on the opening day of the bridge, which took four years to build following 10 years of opposition.

Due to the metal expansion and contraction caused by the change in the temperature through the day, the Golden Gate Bridge roadway can move up and down up to 15 feet (4.5 meters) and 27 feet (8.2 meters).

To improve safety, the speed limit on the Golden Gate Bridge was reduced from 50 to 45 mph (80 to 72 km/h) on Oct. 1, 1989.

The roadway became much safer to drive after a movable median barrier (MMB) called zipper truck was installed in 2015, thereby reducing the chances of a head-on collision.

Eleven men lost their lives in accidents during the bridge's construction, out of which 10 died on the same day when a scaffold fell in February 1937. Another 19 workers were caught in a safety net below the bridge, and they are known as the members of the "Halfway to Hell Club."