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Golden Gate Bridge

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GOLDEN GATE BRIDGE, erected across the en-trance of the harbor at San Francisco, California, at a cost of approximately $35 million, by the Golden Gate Bridge and Highway District, created by the California legislature (1923, 1928). The bridge links San Francisco peninsula with counties along the Redwood Highway to the north. The central span is 4,200 feet long, supported by towers that rise 746 feet from the water's surface; and the total length, including approaching viaducts, is one-and-three-quarter miles. The bridge has six lanes for motor traffic and sidewalks for pedestrians. Construction began 5 January 1933, and the bridge was opened to traffic 28 May 1937.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Petroski, Henry. Engineers of Dreams: Great Bridge Builders and the Spanning of America. New York: Knopf, 1995.

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.

P. Orman Ray/A. R.

See also Bridges; California; New Deal; Reconstruction Finance Corporation; Roads; San Francisco.