Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff production of iHeart Radio. Hey brain Stuff,
Speaker 1: Lauren Volke bomb here. San Francisco's iconic Golden Gate Bridge
Speaker 1: had to start somewhere, and that start was in eighteen
Speaker 1: seventy two, when railroad entrepreneur Charles Crocker called for a
Speaker 1: bridge to span the Golden Gate straight, the three mile
Speaker 1: or five kilometer stretch of water that connects the San
Speaker 1: Francisco Bay to the Pacific Ocean. But it wasn't until
Speaker 1: nineteen sixteen that the project gained traction as the area's
Speaker 1: population grew and traffic congestion at the ferry docks was
Speaker 1: becoming a serious issue. That's when James H. Wilkins, a
Speaker 1: structural engineer and newspaper editor for the San Francisco Call Bulletin,
Speaker 1: connected with San Francisco city engineer Michael M. O'Shaughnessy and
Speaker 1: started talking about what would really take to make a
Speaker 1: bridge connecting the city to the Marin Headlands a reality.
Speaker 1: Three years later, San Francisco officials formally requested that O'Shaughnessy
Speaker 1: explore the possibility of building a straight spanning bridge, and
Speaker 1: the engineer began consulting with colleagues around the country. Sure,
Speaker 1: the idea of connecting San Francisco to the North Bay
Speaker 1: was nice, but was it financially feasible? Most industry insiders
Speaker 1: speculated that such an undertaking would cost over a hundred
Speaker 1: million dollars that's something like one and a half billion
Speaker 1: in today's money, and perhaps more importantly, maybe it just
Speaker 1: couldn't be built one. Joseph Barriman Strauss, however, begged to differ. Strauss,
Speaker 1: a Chicago based engineer, presented a plan that not only
Speaker 1: made a bridge seem possible, but downright affordable. Strauss's plan
Speaker 1: estimated that the construction could be done for thirty million.
Speaker 1: Strauss submitted his preliminary sketches to O'Shaughnessy and Edward Rainey,
Speaker 1: a secretary to James Rolfe, then mayor of San Francisco,
Speaker 1: in June of nine. While his original design, a seventeen
Speaker 1: million dollars symmetrical cantilever suspension hyb in span, needed some
Speaker 1: tweaking and didn't pan out. Shaughnessy made the design public
Speaker 1: in December of and although the press described it as ugly,
Speaker 1: there was surprisingly little public opposition to the ambitious endeavor.
Speaker 1: But while citizens seemed relatively open to approving the massive undertaking,
Speaker 1: there were more than a few snags along the way
Speaker 1: to construction. First, Shaughnessy and Strauss had to assemble a
Speaker 1: special district of the state of California to oversee the financing, design,
Speaker 1: and construction of the bridge as a way to give
Speaker 1: all counties involved a voice in the process, But ultimately
Speaker 1: the fate of the bridge was in the hands of
Speaker 1: the War Department, which legally ruled all harbor construction potentially
Speaker 1: affecting shipping, traffic or military logistics. When the War Department
Speaker 1: held a hearing in May of nineteen four to discuss
Speaker 1: the bridge's potential impact on navigation and financial burden, things
Speaker 1: got thorny. Plenty of people voiced their opposition, especially the
Speaker 1: local ferry companies, who started a serious anti bridge campaign
Speaker 1: in an effort to halt construction, and they succeeded for
Speaker 1: eight years. But after nearly a decade of jurisdiction and uncertainty,
Speaker 1: Strauss and os Shaughnessy were able to create the Golden
Speaker 1: Gate Bridge and Highway District, composed of the area's six
Speaker 1: member counties, incorporated by the California State Legislature in Night
Speaker 1: as a sole entity responsible for the final design, construction,
Speaker 1: and financing of the future bridge. Then Secretary of War
Speaker 1: Patrick Hurley issued the construction permit in August of nineteen
Speaker 1: thirty and the building process officially kicked off nearly three
Speaker 1: years later in January of nineteen thirty three. By this time,
Speaker 1: the vast majority of residents were stoked, and a groundbreaking
Speaker 1: ceremony at nearby Chrissy Field helped hype the locals for
Speaker 1: what was to be a somewhat lengthy but easier than
Speaker 1: expected process. We spoke the email with Paolo coosalp Swartz,
Speaker 1: whose name I hope I'm saying correctly and who is
Speaker 1: the public affairs manager for the Golden gate Bridge Highway
Speaker 1: and Transportation District. He said, an interesting fact about the
Speaker 1: Golden Gate Bridge is that it was completed ahead of
Speaker 1: schedule and under budget, a rarity in today's construction world.
Speaker 1: The bridge was completed in May of seven, six months
Speaker 1: ahead of schedule. It cost about thirty nine million dollars
Speaker 1: to build, which equals about five million into days dollars.
Speaker 1: Not only did the bridge make a name for itself
Speaker 1: as a relatively quick and painless project, as far as
Speaker 1: massive constructions go It also made a mark on history
Speaker 1: with its construction procedures and safety measures. Coustolic Shortz said
Speaker 1: the Golden gate Bridge was a pioneering project for protecting
Speaker 1: workers by requiring bridge builders to wear hard hats and
Speaker 1: installing the first safety net for bridge workers. I'm proud
Speaker 1: that the legacy of safety lives on at the Golden
Speaker 1: gate Bridge today. Although eleven men did die during construction,
Speaker 1: which was not unheard of in that risky era of building,
Speaker 1: a safety net suspended under the floor of the bridge
Speaker 1: during construction saved the lives of nineteen men who became
Speaker 1: known as the Halfway to Hell Club. But remember Strauss's
Speaker 1: original plans for a spetrical cantilever suspension hybrid bridge. While
Speaker 1: his staff, led by Charles A. Ellis, found the idea
Speaker 1: to be practical from an engineering standpoint, some experts started
Speaker 1: to raise questions. Ellis brought on professor George F. Swain
Speaker 1: of Harvard University and Leon Morzef, who designed New York's
Speaker 1: Manhattan Bridge, to serve on a board of consultants for
Speaker 1: the project, and more Zef was not sold on the design.
Speaker 1: In August of nineteen twenty nine, the board appointed Morzeff
Speaker 1: and a couple other engineers to serve alongside Strauss as
Speaker 1: the Advisory Board of Engineers. At some point in their discussions,
Speaker 1: the exact date being unknown, the board decided to shift
Speaker 1: from Strauss's original proposal to a simple suspension bridge design
Speaker 1: the Golden Gate Bridge. A report of the Chief Engineer,
Speaker 1: written by Strauss in sept Number of nine seven doesn't
Speaker 1: give details on the transition from his originally proposed design
Speaker 1: to the more zeph inspired suspension span, but simply states,
Speaker 1: in the interval which has elapsed, any advantages possessed by
Speaker 1: the cantilever suspension type bridge had practically disappeared. An on
Speaker 1: recommendation of the Chief Engineer, the cantilever suspension type was
Speaker 1: abandoned in favor of the simple suspension type. There was
Speaker 1: another mysterious drama during the design process as well. While
Speaker 1: Ellis was responsible for directing the thousands of calculations required,
Speaker 1: Strauss unceremoniously fired him in nineteen thirty one and handed
Speaker 1: his job over to his assistant. To this day, Ellis
Speaker 1: is rarely mentioned in discussions of the bridge, but back
Speaker 1: to that design, perhaps the most recognizable feature of the
Speaker 1: bridge is its eye popping hue, but please don't call
Speaker 1: it red. Kosslick Schwartz said, International orange is the signature
Speaker 1: color of the Golden gate Bridge. The color was chosen
Speaker 1: as the primary color of the bridge by consulting architect
Speaker 1: Irving Morrow, who noticed the red lead primer of the
Speaker 1: steel arriving from mills on the East coast. He thought
Speaker 1: the red primer would serve the dual purpose of making
Speaker 1: the bridge stand out for ships and plains in the
Speaker 1: dense fog while blending in with the natural beauty of
Speaker 1: the areas surrounding the bridge. After much study and debate,
Speaker 1: the color we so closely identify with the Golden gate
Speaker 1: Bridge today was selected for the project, and we can
Speaker 1: thank Irving Morrow for the Golden gate Bridges distinctive hue today.
Speaker 1: The Golden Gate Bridge is a critical transportation link between
Speaker 1: San Francisco and Marin County. The one point seven mile
Speaker 1: or two point seven kilometer main span carries about a
Speaker 1: hundred and twelve thousand vehicles every day, and not only
Speaker 1: can the number of roadway lanes dedicated to the southbound
Speaker 1: or northbound be modified throughout the day to accommodate shifting
Speaker 1: traffic patterns, but visitors are welcome to walk and bike
Speaker 1: the length of the landmark. Over two billion vehicles have
Speaker 1: crossed the Golden gate Bridge, going both north and south
Speaker 1: since opening to traffic one. Today's episode was written by
Speaker 1: Michelle Konstantinovski, who has a tattoo of the Golden gate Bridge,
Speaker 1: and produced by Tyler Clang. For more on this and
Speaker 1: lots of other curious topics, visit how stuff works dot com.
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