Only rarely must the Golden Gate Bridge withstand earthquakes or strong wind, but everyday it must fight another threat: corrosion of the steel which creates a byproduct called rust.
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If a Richter magnitude 8.0 or greater earthquake centered near the Bridge, there would be a substantial risk of impending collapse of the San Francisco and Marin Approach Viaducts and the Fort Point Arch, and extensive damage to the remaining Bridge structures, including the Main Suspension Bridge.
As such, the Golden Gate Bridge became known as 'the bridge that couldn't be built'. This was due to the complex challenges presented by the strait: strong tides, wind, fog and the San Andreas Fault located just 7 miles offshore.
Despite the terrifying image of a 250-foot wave about to wash over the Golden Gate Bridge, tsunamis do not actually pose a considerable threat to the Bay Area. Bay Curious is a podcast that answers your questions about the Bay Area.
The deck of the bridge is about 245 feet (75 m) above the water. After a fall of four seconds, jumpers hit the water at around 75 mph (120 km/h). Most of the jumpers die due to impact trauma. About 5% of the jumpers survive the initial impact but generally drown or die of hypothermia in the cold water.
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.
The U.S. War Department, which owned the land on both shores of the Gate, was equally opposed to the bridge, fearing construction would interfere with military operations and that, once completed, the bridge might be blown up by enemies and obstruct the harbor.
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.
Officials closed the Golden Gate Bridge to automobile traffic for part of May 24th, 1987, allowing an estimated 300,000 people to surge onto the roadway for “Bridgewalk ''87.” The crowd was so dense — mammalian flesh packed tighter than albacore tuna in a tin can — that the Golden Gate Bridge actually flattened in the ...