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Bridges
The Golden Gate Bridge
San Francisco City Engineer Michael M. O'Shaughnessy began a national inquiry among engineers regarding the feasibility and cost of building The Golden Gate bridge. The majority of engineers said a bridge could not be built. Some speculated it would cost over $100 million. A man named Joseph B. Strauss submitted his preliminary sketches to O'Shaughnessy with a cost estimate of $27 million on June 28, 1921. Strauss then dedicated himself to convincing civic leaders that the span was feasible and could pay for itself with tolls alone.
Population centers were growing, and traffic congestion at the ferry docks was becoming intolerable. There was no federal or state funding to build the Golden Gate Bridge because the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge, which was being promoted during the same time period, had already received the limited funds available.
Joseph B. Strauss was selected on August 15, 1929 as
Chief Engineer. Leon S. Moisseiff, O.H. Amman and Charles
Derleth, Jr. were named Consulting Engineers. On August
11, 1930, the War Department issued its final permit for
the construction of a 4200-foot main span with a vertical
clearance of 220 feet at mid-span. On August 27, 1930,
Strauss submitted final plans to the Golden Gate Bridge
District Board. And they began construction.
The Golden Gate Bridge under construction
in 1931.
Edward W. Bullard, a local manufacturer of safety equipment designed protective devices that were not commonly used at the time:
-Protective headgear that Strauss insisted be worn on
the job. This was a prototype of the hard hat, worn for
the first time ever along with glare-free goggles.
-Special hand and face cream protected against the wind,
while special diets helped fight dizziness.
-An intriguing device was the safety net, suspended under
the floor of the Bridge from end to end. During
construction, the net saved the lives of nineteen men who
became known as the "Half-Way-to-Hell Club."
Until February 17, 1937, there had been only one
fatality, setting a new all-time record in a field where
one man killed for every million dollars spent had been
the norm. On February 17, ten men lost their lives when a
section of scaffold carrying twelve men fell through the
safety net.
The Bridge was completed and opened to pedestrian traffic on May 27, 1937. The following day it was opened to vehicular traffic. The last of the construction bonds were retired in 1971, with $35 million in principal and nearly $39 million in interest being financed entirely from Bridge tolls.
The Golden Gate Bridge Today
Seven Mile Bridge
The Seven-Mile Bridge crosses the great span of water
between Marathon and Little Duck Key.
The old Seven Mile Bridge
Henry Flagler was self made man. He had a good business sense, this was obvious by the time he decided to span a bridge connecting the extension of the Florida East Coast Railway to Key West. Flagler knew that this would be a good move. He realized that the announced construction of the Panama Canal would bring in Cuban Latin-American trade, since Key West was the closest deep-water port. Four thousand people were employed to construct the bridge. And it took seven years to complete, despite the efforts of five hurricanes to stop the construction. The persistence of Flagler paid off. The bridge was completed in 1912. Henry Flagler was the first person to ride the train to the end. He died a year later.
A tour bus on the old Seven Mile Bridge
Since then a new bridge was constructed and completed in 1985. This time an individual did not pay for it and it cost the tax payers $45 million dollars to construct. T he original bridge was transformed into the worlds largest fishing peer. Some of it is still open to bicycle traffic and pedestrians, but no longer transportation. The previous and new bridges are classified as beam bridges.
The two bridges side by side.
(original left, new right)
The Golden Gate Bridge.The Golden Gate Bridge Furniture Company.Retrieved October 15, 1998 from the World Wide Web:http://www.ggbridge.com/goldengate.html
History,Facts and Figures.The Golden Gate Bridge, Highway and Transportation District.(1996-1998)Retrieved October 15, 1998 from the World Wide Web:http://www.goldengate.org/History/Page1.html
Welcome to Seven Mile Bridge.A Virtual Tour of the Florida KeysRetrieved October 21, 1998 from the World Wide Web:http://www.travelflkeys.com/KeyTour7a.htm
Entering the Florida Keys.(1998)CAD's Corner.Retrieved October 22, 1998 from the World Wide Web:http://www.floridaisland.com/aboutmarathon.html