The Golden Gate Bridge is one of the world's famous bridges and a miracle of modern bridge engineering. The bridge stands over the 1,900-meter-long Golden Gate Strait in San Francisco, California, USA. It took 4 years to build, using more than 100,000 tons of steel and costing US$35.5 million. It was built by bridge engineer Joseph Strauss (1870) —1938) Design. Image source: Bettmann-Corbis/Visual China
1579 British explorer Francis Drake discovered a strait connecting the Pacific Ocean and San Francisco, which was later known as the Golden Gate. Although the name was used long before the Gold Rush of 1849, the Gold Rush made the Golden Gate (the entrance into northern California) an integral part of California's mysterious charm. Image source: Underwood Archives/Getty Images/Visual China
The idea of building a bridge across the Golden Gate Strait was discussed as early as 1872, but it was not until 1937 that a suspension bridge was built across the strait. Image source: George Rinhart/Getty Images/Visual China
The Golden Gate Bridge spans the north and south, connecting the city of San Francisco and Marin County. The bridge, which took more than four years to build, is one of the most beautiful structures in the world. Image source: Bettmann-Corbis/Visual China
It is no longer the longest suspension bridge in the world, but it is the most famous. The huge tower of the Golden Gate Bridge is 227 meters high. Each steel cable weighs 6,412 metric tons and is made of 27,000 steel wires. Construction began in January 1933 and was first completed and opened to traffic in May 1937. Image source: Bettmann-Corbis/Visual China
The construction of the bridge started on January 5, 1933, was completed in April 1937, and was opened to pedestrians on May 27 of the same year. Straus placed a brick taken from his alma mater, the University of Cincinnati, Ohio, before pouring concrete on the south pier. The next day, President Roosevelt pressed a button in Washington, D.C., and the bridge was officially opened to automobile use. Image source: Bettmann-Corbis/Visual China
