San Francisco Travel Guide

One of the most well known bridges worldwide, the Golden Gate Bridge is the most recognizable symbol of the City of San Francisco. The Golden Gate Bridge was completed in the year 1937, after four years of construction and was made at the cost of about twenty seven million dollars. Today the bridge would have cost more than 1.2 billion dollars. The bridge spans over the Bay Peninsula to the Marion County and currently holds the second spot of being the longest suspension bridge in the USA, behind New York City’s Veranzo-Narrows bridge. During its long history, the bridge had been shut only 5 times, mostly due to the weather conditions. The bridge was opened to general traffic on 28th May, 1937. More than 100,000 vehicles pass through the bridge on an average everyday.

The Golden Gate Bridge is a 20th century engineering marvel which is a testament to the human will and spirit. The bridge is called as a bridge that couldn’t be built because of the consistent fog, strong ocean currents and the violent winds. The bridge was built to make traveling across the Golden Gate Strait easier and faster. Before it was made, ferry was the only other means to travel across the Golden Gate Strait and ferry congestion was becoming an ever increasing problem. The idea of Golden Gate Bridge was proposed by the Engineer Joseph Strauss.

The bridge contains 6 lanes and 2 walkways going towards north and south. During the week, the middle lanes change, allowing 4 lanes to pass in the mornings to southbound and then in the afternoon, to the northbound. Although the color of the Golden Gate Bridge appears to be red, but it is actually orange which is referred as the International Orange. This color was chosen in order to provide high visibility and also because it perfectly blend with the surrounding area. Thirty eight painters constantly work in order to maintain this color. Every day, many people visit this bridge just to take pictures of it. It is one of those landmarks which one can never miss to see, if on a vacation to California.

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• San Francisco City
• San Francisco Attractions
• Culture and Heritage
• San Francisco Shopping
• Hotels and Restaurants
• San Francisco Travel
• The Golden Gate Bridge
• San Francisco Transportation
• Important Travel Resources

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