What is the official color of the Golden Gate Bridge?

The Golden Gate Bridge has always been painted orange vermilion, deemed International Orange. Rejecting carbon black and steel gray, Consulting Architect Irving Morrow selected the distinctive orange color because it blends well with the span's natural setting as it is a warm color consistent with the warm colors of ...



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The Golden Gate Bridge is painted Golden Gate Bridge International Orange which was selected by Consulting Architect Irving F. Morrow.

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The reason why the Golden Gate bridge is red is because it was purposely painted red in the 1930s to increase safety and visibility of the structure. The name “golden” came from its yellowish-orange color when seen from a distance but this has faded over the years.

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The bridge's original design, produced by chief engineer Joseph Strauss in 1921, was a clunky hybrid of a cantilever and suspension bridge that according to one critic resembled “an upside-down rat trap.” It was functional, but far from elegant.

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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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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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For example, a project to paint the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco took four years to complete and involved a team of up to 40 painters at a time. The total labor cost for the project was approximately $60 million.

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Average Golden Gate Bridge Highway and Transportation District Painter hourly pay in the United States is approximately $49.00, which is 166% above the national average.

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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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High Paying Painter Jobs
  • Lead Painter. Salary range: $44,500-$54,500 per year. ...
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  • Paint Specialist. Salary range: $34,000-$45,000 per year. ...
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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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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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It's free to walk or bike across the Golden Gate Bridge. The pedestrian walkway is the east sidewalk that runs along the east (bay) side of the bridge. Bikes ride on either side, according to the daily schedule. Drivers pay a toll ($9.40) but only coming into San Francisco.

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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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With the earlier phases of the retrofit complete, the bridge can safely withstand an earthquake over 7.0 in magnitude, but it may experience damage that requires closure after a major seismic event.

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