Golden Gate Bridge History

The Golden Gate Bridge history incorporates the visions of entrepreneurs and engineers with the visions of citizens in six counties, to create a transportation link that would meet the needs of a growing population.

Building the Bridge Across San Francisco Strait.

The original idea of a bridge across the Golden Gate Strait was proposed in 1872 by Charles Crocker, a railroad entrepreneur who was looking for ways to increase the movement of people and goods around San Francisco Bay. The idea didn’t start to take form, however, until 1916 when San Francisco City Engineer Michael M. O'Shaughnessy started to investigate the feasibility of a bridge.

Most engineers said the bridge would be too costly – possibly over $100 million. They called it the "bridge that couldn't be built" due to the foggy weather, 60 mile per hour winds and strong ocean currents. Joseph Baerman Strauss, a designer of over 400 spans, was convinced that the bridge could be constructed for about $30 million. He submitted his sketches to O'Shaughnessy in 1921 and simultaneously started his own campaign to convince city leaders of the feasibility of building the bridge.

The only link between San Francisco and Marin County was a much overburdened ferry system. Ferries shuttled cars, trucks and pedestrians back and forth from the foot of Hyde Street to Sausalito. Each ferry only held about 70 vehicles, causing long waits on the northern side as cars waited to board the ferry and come south to San Francisco.

The cost to increase the number and frequency of the ferries was determined to be immense and was projected to grow even higher based on the growing Bay Area population.

The San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge had received whatever government funding was available, leaving no federal or state funding available to build a bridge across the Golden Gate Strait.

In 1923 the Golden Gate Bridge and Highway District Act was approved by the California State Legislature, giving counties the right to organize as a bridge district to plan, fund, build and manage a bridge. In 1928 the Golden Gate Bridge and Highway District was formed including representation from six counties:

• San Francisco
• Marin
• Sonoma
• Del Norte
• Mendocino
• Napa

Research showed that a suspension bridge was the best way to increase traffic between San Francisco and the northern counties. Research also predicted that the Golden Gate Bridge, combined with the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge which was also under construction, would increase traffic for all counties around San Francisco Bay.

In 1924 the War Department, which owned the land on both ends of the Golden Gate Strait, authorized the construction of the bridge, agreeing that the bridge would not hinder military activities or shipping traffic.

By November 4, 1930, the district was ready to go to the citizens with a plan to build the bridge. The financing plan was carefully developed to appeal to voters who had little money to spare to finance a bridge in the middle of the Great Depression.

Details of the bridge plan included:

• Replacing the current ferry system with a suspension bridge
• The citizens were asked to approve the issuance of 40-year bonds paying five percent - a total bond issue of $35 million. This method of financing was the standard practice for bridge financing because it reduced the burden on the taxpayers – a real selling point during these depression years.
• Total projected earnings from tolls for the bridge over the first 40 years was about $111 million. This included cost for the building and maintenance of the bridge, the interest owed to the bridge bond holders as well as a projected profit of about $17 million.
• The original bridge tolls were set based on the type of vehicle:
  • Automobiles and trucks with up to four passengers - $.50 plus $.05 for each additional passenger
  • Commuters in automobiles with up to four passengers - $11 for thirty one-way trips in any sixty-day period
  • Trailers drawn by automobiles - $.50 plus $.05 for each additional passenger riding in the trailer
  • Motorcycles with driver and one passenger - $.25 plus $.05 for each additional passenger
  • Pedestrians and bicyclists - $.05 each way
• Tolls were projected to decrease over the life of the bridge, dropping to $.25 per car by 1960, with free transit projected by 1970

The citizens approved the bridge bond issue exceeding the required two-thirds required majority with a vote of 145,697 in favor and 47,005 voting against.

The district hired Joseph Baerman Strauss as the Chief Engineer to design the bridge. He was a pioneer in building safety requiring that workers have daily sobriety tests, wear specially-designed headgear – the precursor to today's hard hat – as well as glare-free goggles and wind protection hand cream. Strauss mandated the use of a safety net. Only 11 men lost their lives during the building of the Golden Gate Bridge as compared to the 24 which lost their lives during the building of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge which was constructed at the same time.

Golden Gate Bridge history highlights of the construction includes:

• Construction started on January 5, 1933.
• Fort Point at the south end of the bridge was used as a base of operations while the bridge was under construction.
• The bridge was opened ahead of schedule on May 27, 1937. Over 200,000 people walked the bridge span to commemorate its completion. The following day the bridge was dedicated and a ceremonial banner was cut opening the bridge to vehicular traffic at noon.
• The final cost to build the bridge was $35 million which was under budget.
• The 4,200 foot long main suspension held the record for the longest suspension for 27 years.

The $35 million bridge bond was retired in 1971 with the $39 million in interest being financed by bridge tolls. The dream of free tolls was never realized. By 2008 the tolls rose to $6 per car traveling northbound with southbound traffic traveling for free. The Golden Gate Bridge is the first major bridge in the world to implement one-way toll collection.

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