Golden Gate Bridge

Not gold, not a gate, but a bridge.

Golden Gate Bridge is a suspension bridge that is located over Golden Gate Strait between San Francisco Bay and the Pacific Ocean in California, United States, and is painted a colour known as ‘orange vermilion’ that has been nicknamed ‘International orange’, a colour that can be easily seen on foggy days.
Golden Gate Bridge was a replacement of the ferry that transported vehicles across the Golden Gate Strait for $1.
On average, more than 110,000 vehicles travel across the Golden Gate Bridge every day, and it has an electronic toll system that currently charges $5 to $42 depending on the vehicle.
The Golden Gate Bridge’s main designer was Joseph Strauss, an engineer who had designed other bridges at the time.
Golden Gate Bridge measures 2.7 km (1.7 miles) in length, has an above water height of 227.4 meters (746 feet), and 27.4 meters (90 feet) in width, has a clearance of 67.1 m (220 ft) for water traffic, and its main span length is 1,280 metres (4,200 feet) which was the longest span in the world for 27 years.

At the time, Golden Gate Bridge cost $35 million to build, financed in bonds, but to make the bridge now it would cost over$1.2 billion.
Construction of Golden Gate Bridge commenced on the 5 January, 1933 and the opening was on 27 May, 1937, with its first vehicles crossing on 28 May, 1937.
A net was mounted under the bridge during construction to prevent the death of workers, which it did fairly effectively, saving 19 men, out of 30, and the survivors were known as the “Halfway-to-Hell Club”.
Golden Gate Bridge is said to be the second most popular site in the world for suicides, with more than 1,200 people having jumped to their death, and a current average of one suicide every two weeks, although there has been no physical barrier installed to prevent suicides, even though it is been debated numerous times.
Golden Gate Bridge has been closed three times all in December and all due to high wind speeds of 111 to 121km/hour (69 to 75 miles/hour) in 1951, 1982 and 1983, although the bridge has been closed for short hours for maintenance and other purposes.