GOLDEN GATE BRIDGE

Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco. suspension bridge spanning the Golden Gate, in California, U.S. From its completion in 1937 to the completion of the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge in New York City in 1964, it had the longest main span in the world, and it remains incomparable in the magnificence of its setting. Its construction, under the supervision of Joseph B. Strauss (q.v.), involved many difficulties: rapidly running tides, frequent storms and fogs (during one of which a cargo vessel collided with the access trestle, causing serious damage), and the problem of blasting rock under deep water to plant earthquake-proof foundations. The main span, 4,200 feet (1,280 m) long, is suspended from two cables hung from towers 746 feet (227 m) high; at midpoint the roadway is 265 feet (81 m) above mean high water.