Is the Golden Gate Bridge Real Gold?

Some visitors wonder why the bridge isn't gold, like made from actual gold (or at least gold painted). Others, like me, have long mistaken it for red. The color is actually called 'international orange' - a variation on the color used now for many astronaut jumpsuits. It was a beautiful accident.



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Taking all factors into consideration, the assessed value of the Golden Gate Bridge is around $10 billion.

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The Golden Gate Bridge, Highway and Transportation District is a special-purpose district that owns and operates three regional transportation assets in the San Francisco Bay Area: the iconic Golden Gate Bridge, the Golden Gate Ferry system and the Golden Gate Transit system.

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There are a couple of misconceptions about how often the Bridge is painted. Some say once every seven years, others say from end to end each year. The truth is that the Bridge is painted continuously. Painting the Bridge is an ongoing task and a primary maintenance job.

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Your toll dollars go a long way for bridge, highway and transit projects all around the Bay Area. The regular $7 toll is distributed several ways: First Dollar: bridge operations and maintenance, Regional Measure 1 projects, transit capital and transit operations. Second Dollar: toll bridge seismic retrofit work.

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Do you know why the Golden Gate Bridge has its iconic name? The answer might surprise you. Rather than being named for the area's association with the Gold Rush, it's actually named for the water that runs beneath it—The Golden Gate Strait.

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Want to swim over the deepest part of the bay? Maybe you've already done it and had no idea - you'll find the deepest water in our Golden Gate Bridge race just under the bridge at over 370 feet.

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5 Fun Facts About the Golden Gate Bridge
  • The bridge is actually not golden at all! It's a bright red-orange.
  • It was named one of the Seven Wonders of the Modern World.
  • It took four years to build.
  • There are approximately 600,000 rivets in each of the bridge's towers.
  • It's the most photographed bridge in the world.


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It is reported that the recent annual budget for paint, including the sand used to blast off the old coat, has been about $300,000 per year. In 2021, the Golden Gate Bridge Highway and Transportation District used 720,000 pounds of sand and 2,590 gallons of paint.

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According to the book The World Without Us by Alan Weisman, suspension and truss bridges would collapse after two or three centuries without maintenance. The cause would be rust eventually filling the expansion joints, causing damage during hot weather.

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There are four easy ways to pay a Golden Gate Bridge toll - a FasTrak Account, License Plate Account, One-Time Payment, and Toll Invoice. Tolls may be paid using credit card, cash, check or money order, and can be paid online, by phone, or in person.

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The Golden Gate Bridge is closely monitored to make sure it does not exceed its stress limits due to traffic, wind and seismic loads. We can look forward to at least another 80 years of this engineering masterpiece. (Top image: Courtesy Getty Images.)

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