THE WORLD'S LONGEST BRIDGE SPAN > 



By Clifford E. Paine 



[With 4 plates] 



The traveler approaching San Francisco by sea finds his ship head- 

 ing for a mile-wide gap in the mountainous shore Une. Passing 

 through this natural gateway, which is known the world over as the 

 Golden Gate, he sees before him a great expanse of water that extends 

 40-miles to the southward and 30 miles to the northward. On his 

 right Ues the city of San Francisco. On his left is marvelous Marin 

 County with its delightful suburban communities— the gateway to 

 scenic wonders of the Redwood Empire. Before him, straight across 

 the bay on the far distant shore, he the cities of Alameda, Oakland, 

 and Berkeley. Directly above hmi is the Golden Gate Bridge, man's 

 most recent victory in his conquest of nature's barriers to progress. 



For many years the ferry boats have constituted the only means of 

 transportation between these rapidly expanding communities. 

 Improvement in highways and increased use of automobiles, coupled 

 with the growth of the bay cities, brought forth the demand for a 

 corresponding improvement in transportation facihties. In 1918 

 investigations were made and the feasibihty of building a suspension 

 bridge across the Golden Gate was estabhshed by Joseph B. Strauss. 

 As a result of the movement then started, the city and county of San 

 Francisco joined with five counties to the north in forming the Golden 

 Gate Bridge and Highway District to build and operate the Golden 

 Gate Bridge. Mr. Strauss was made chief engineer of the District, 

 and a bond issue of $35,000,000 was voted in November 1930. Plans 

 for the bridge were made by Strauss & Paine, Inc., and construction 

 was started in January 1933. The bond issue was based on a con- 

 struction cost of $27,165,000. The bridge has been completed with a 

 construction cost about one-half of 1 percent under that estimate. 



Traffic studies have indicated that during the first year of operation 

 2,000,000 cars will pass over the bridge and that the volume of traffic 

 will possibly increase at the rate of about 5 percent per year during the 

 first 10 years of service. The bridge has a capacity of 5,000 cars per 



» Reprinted by permission, with slight revisions by the author, from Armour Engineer and Alumnus, 

 vol. 2, No. 3, March 1937. 



565 



