Editing Golden Gate Bridge (section)

==History==

===Ferry service===
{{Further|Ferries of San Francisco Bay}}
Before the bridge was built, the only practical short route between San Francisco and what is now Marin County was by boat across a section of San Francisco Bay. A ferry service began as early as 1820, with a regularly scheduled service beginning in the 1840s for the purpose of transporting water to San Francisco.<ref name="two">{{cite web |title=Two Bay Area Bridges |access-date=March 9, 2009 |publisher=US Department of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration |url=https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/infrastructure/2bridges.cfm}}</ref>

In 1867, the Sausalito Land and Ferry Company opened. In 1920, the service was taken over by the [[Golden Gate Ferry Company]], which merged in 1929 with the ferry system of the [[Southern Pacific Transportation Company|Southern Pacific Railroad]], becoming the Southern Pacific-Golden Gate Ferries, Ltd., the largest ferry operation in the world.<ref name="two"/><ref name="scrap">{{cite news |url=https://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/04/28/BAG8BCGI3I1.DTL&hw=ferry&sn=310&sc=862 |work=San Francisco Chronicle |title=Ferry tale&nbsp;– the dream dies hard: 2 historic boats that plied the bay seek buyer&nbsp;– anybody |author=Fimrite, Peter |access-date=October 31, 2007 |date=April 28, 2005}}</ref> Once for railroad passengers and customers only, Southern Pacific's automobile ferries became very profitable and important to the regional economy.<ref>{{cite book |title=San Francisco Bay Ferryboats |author=Harlan, George H. |publisher=Howell-North Books |year=1967 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IPBAAAAAIAAJ}}</ref> The ferry crossing between the [[Hyde Street Pier]] in San Francisco and [[Sausalito Ferry Terminal]] in Marin County took approximately 20 minutes and cost $1.00 per vehicle prior to 1937, when the price was reduced to compete with the new bridge.<ref name="bc">{{cite news |url=https://www.baycrossings.com/archives/2002/04_May/so_where_are_they_now.htm |publisher=Bay Crossings |title=So Where Are They Now? The Story of San Francisco's Steel Electric Empire |author=Span, Guy |date=May 4, 2002 |access-date=October 31, 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071023072202/https://www.baycrossings.com/Archives/2002/4_May/so_where_are_they_now.htm |archive-date=October 23, 2007 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=September 25, 2019 |title=Golden Gate Bridge War on Ferries |url=https://www.sausalitohistoricalsociety.com/2019-columns/2019/9/25/golden-gate-bridge-war-on-ferries |access-date=August 9, 2023 |website=The Sausalito Historical Society |language=en-US}}</ref> The trip from the [[San Francisco Ferry Building]] took 27 minutes.

Many wanted to build a bridge to connect San Francisco to Marin County. San Francisco was the largest American city still served primarily by ferry boats. Because it did not have a permanent link with communities around the bay, the city's growth rate was below the national average.<ref name="Sigmund">{{cite web |last=Sigmund |first=Pete |year=2006 |url=https://www.cegltd.com/story.asp?story=7045&headline=The%20Golden%20Gate:%20%EBThe%20Bridge%20That%20Couldn%EDt%20Be%20Built%ED |title=The Golden Gate: 'The Bridge That Couldn't Be Built' |publisher=Construction Equipment Guide |access-date=May 31, 2007 |archive-date=December 16, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191216110116/https://www.cegltd.com/story.asp?story=7045&headline=The%20Golden%20Gate:%20%EBThe%20Bridge%20That%20Couldn%EDt%20Be%20Built%ED }}</ref> Many experts said that a bridge could not be built across the {{convert|6700|ft|m|abbr=off|adj=on}} strait, which had strong, swirling tides and currents, with water {{convert|372|ft|m|abbr=on}} deep<ref>{{cite journal |author=P. L. Barnard |author2=D. M. Hanes |author3=D. M. Rubin |author4=R. G. Kvitek |title=Giant Sand Waves at the Mouth of San Francisco Bay |journal=Eos |date=July 18, 2006 |volume=87 |issue=29 |page=285 |url=https://seafloor.csumb.edu/publications/Barnard_etal_EOSJuly2006.pdf |access-date=April 22, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180618102436/https://seafloor.csumb.edu/publications/Barnard_etal_EOSJuly2006.pdf |archive-date=June 18, 2018 |doi=10.1029/2006EO290003 |bibcode=2006EOSTr..87..285B  |issn = 0096-3941}}</ref> at the center of the channel, and frequent strong winds. Experts said that ferocious winds and blinding fogs would prevent construction and operation.<ref name="Sigmund"/>

==== Conception ====
[[File:Golden gate circa 1891.png|thumb|left|Golden Gate with [[Fort Point, San Francisco|Fort Point]] in foreground, {{circa|1891}}]]
Although the idea of a bridge spanning the Golden Gate was not new, the proposal that eventually took hold was made in a 1916 ''[[San Francisco Bulletin]]'' article by former engineering student James Wilkins.<ref name="Owens">{{cite book |author=Owens, T.O. |year=2001 |title=The Golden Gate Bridge |publisher=The Rosen Publishing Group |isbn=0-8239-5016-6 |url=https://archive.org/details/goldengatebridge00owen }}</ref> San Francisco's City Engineer estimated the cost at $100 million (equivalent to ${{inflation|US|.100|1916|r=1|fmt=c}} billion in {{inflation year|US}}), and impractical for the time. He asked bridge engineers whether it could be built for less.<ref name="two"/> One who responded, Joseph Strauss, was an ambitious engineer and poet who had, for his [[thesis|graduate thesis]], designed a {{convert|55|mi|km|adj=mid|-long}} [[Bering Strait crossing|railroad bridge across]] the [[Bering Strait]].<ref name="experience">{{cite web |publisher=Public Broadcasting Service |access-date=November 7, 2007 |title=The American Experience:People & Events: Joseph Strauss (1870–1938) |url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/goldengate/peopleevents/p_strauss.html |archive-date=November 17, 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071117114217/http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/goldengate/peopleevents/p_strauss.html }}</ref> At the time, Strauss had completed some 400 [[moveable bridge|drawbridges]]—most of which were inland—and nothing on the scale of the new project.<ref name="Denton">Denton, Harry ''et al.'' (2004) "Lonely Planet San Francisco" ''Lonely Planet'', United States, {{ISBN|1-74104-154-6}}</ref> Strauss's initial drawings<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |date=June 9, 2023 |title=Engineering the Design - The History of the Design and Construction {{!}} Golden Gate |url=https://www.goldengate.org/exhibits/engineering-the-design/ |access-date=September 25, 2023 |archive-date=June 9, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230609180719/https://www.goldengate.org/exhibits/engineering-the-design/ |url-status=bot: unknown }}</ref> were for a massive [[Cantilever bridge|cantilever]] on each side of the strait, connected by a central suspension segment, which Strauss promised could be built for $17&nbsp;million (equivalent to ${{inflation|US|17|1916|r=0|fmt=c}} million in {{inflation year|US}}).<ref name="two"/>

A suspension-bridge design was chosen, using recent advances in bridge design and [[metallurgy]].<ref name="two"/>

Strauss spent more than a decade drumming up support in Northern California.<ref>{{cite web |year=1999 |url=https://www.lib.berkeley.edu/news_events/exhibits/bridge/up028.html |title=Bridging the Bay: Bridges That Never Were |publisher=UC Berkeley Library |access-date=April 13, 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060718052702/https://www.lib.berkeley.edu/news_events/exhibits/bridge/up028.html |archive-date=July 18, 2006 }}</ref> The bridge faced opposition, including litigation, from many sources. The [[United States Department of War|Department of War]] was concerned that the bridge would interfere with ship traffic. The [[United States Navy|US Navy]] feared that a ship collision or sabotage to the bridge could block the entrance to one of its main harbors. Unions demanded guarantees that local workers would be favored for construction jobs. [[Southern Pacific Railroad]], one of the most powerful business interests in California, opposed the bridge as competition to its ferry fleet and filed a lawsuit against the project, leading to a mass boycott of the ferry service.<ref name="two"/>

In May 1924, Colonel [[Herbert Deakyne]] held the second hearing on the Bridge on behalf of the [[United States Secretary of War|Secretary of War]] in a request to use federal land for construction. Deakyne, on behalf of the Secretary of War, approved the transfer of land needed for the bridge structure and leading roads to the "Bridging the Golden Gate Association" and both San Francisco County and Marin County, pending further bridge plans by Strauss.<ref>Miller, John B. (2002) "Case Studies in Infrastructure Delivery" ''Springer'', {{ISBN|0-7923-7652-8}}.</ref> Another ally was the fledgling [[automobile industry]], which supported the development of roads and bridges to increase demand for automobiles.<ref name="bc"/>

The bridge's name was first used when the project was initially discussed in 1917 by [[Michael O'Shaughnessy|M.M. O'Shaughnessy]], city engineer of San Francisco, and Strauss. The name became official with the passage of the [[Golden Gate Bridge, Highway and Transportation District|Golden Gate Bridge and Highway District]] Act by the [[California State Legislature|state legislature]] in 1923, creating a [[Special-purpose district|special district]] to design, build and finance the bridge.<ref>{{cite book |last=Gudde |first=Erwin G. |title=California Place Names |publisher=[[University of California Press]] |year=1949 |location=Berkeley, California |page=130 |oclc=37647557}}</ref> San Francisco and most of the counties along the [[North Coast (California)|North Coast of California]] joined the Golden Gate Bridge District, with the exception being [[Humboldt County, California|Humboldt County]], whose residents opposed the bridge's construction and the traffic it would generate.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://goldengatebridge.org/research/ConstructionBldgGGB.php |title=Special District Formed&nbsp;– Golden Gate Bridge and Highway District |access-date=January 17, 2015 |archive-date=January 27, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150127015653/http://goldengatebridge.org/research/ConstructionBldgGGB.php |url-status=dead }}</ref>

===Design===
[[File:Golden Gate bridge pillar.jpg|left|upright|thumb|South tower seen from walkway, with [[Art Deco]] elements]]
Strauss was the chief engineer in charge of the overall design and construction of the bridge project.<ref name="Sigmund"/> However, because he had little understanding or experience with cable-suspension designs,<ref name="PBS">{{cite web |url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/goldengate/peopleevents/p_strauss.html |publisher=Public Broadcasting Service |access-date=December 12, 2007 |title=People and Events: Joseph Strauss (1870–1938) |archive-date=November 17, 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071117114217/https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/goldengate/peopleevents/p_strauss.html }}</ref> responsibility for much of the engineering and architecture fell on other experts. Strauss's initial design proposal (two double cantilever spans linked by a central suspension segment) was unacceptable from a visual standpoint.<ref name=":0" /> The final suspension design was conceived and championed by [[Leon Moisseiff]], the engineer of the [[Manhattan Bridge]] in New York City.<ref>{{cite web|title=Golden Gate Bridge Design|url=https://www.goldengatebridge.org/research/Design.php|website=goldengatebridge.org|publisher=Golden Gate Bridge, Highway and Transportation District|access-date=November 27, 2017|language=en|archive-date=December 10, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171210054905/https://goldengatebridge.org/research/Design.php}}</ref>

Irving Morrow, a relatively unknown residential architect, designed the overall shape of the bridge towers, the lighting scheme, and Art Deco elements, such as the tower decorations, streetlights, railing, and walkways. The famous [[International Orange]] color was Morrow's personal selection, winning out over other possibilities, including the US Navy's suggestion that it be painted with black and yellow stripes to ensure visibility by passing ships.<ref name="Sigmund" /><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/goldengate-morrow/|title=Irving Morrow {{!}} American Experience {{!}} PBS|website=www.pbs.org|language=en|access-date=October 5, 2019}}</ref>

Senior engineer Charles Alton Ellis, collaborating remotely with Moisseiff, was the principal engineer of the project.<ref name="Moisseiff">{{cite web |url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/goldengate/peopleevents/p_moisseiff.html |publisher=Public Broadcasting Service |title=American Experience:Leon Moisseiff (1872–1943) |access-date=November 7, 2007 |archive-date=November 17, 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071117104634/https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/goldengate/peopleevents/p_moisseiff.html }}</ref> Moisseiff produced the basic structural design, introducing his "deflection theory" by which a thin, flexible roadway would flex in the wind, greatly reducing stress by transmitting forces via suspension cables to the bridge towers.<ref name="Moisseiff"/> Although the Golden Gate Bridge design has proved sound, a later Moisseiff design, the [[Tacoma Narrows Bridge (1940)|original Tacoma Narrows Bridge]], collapsed in a strong windstorm soon after it was completed, because of an unexpected [[aeroelastic flutter]].<ref>{{cite journal |doi=10.1119/1.16590 |url=https://www.ketchum.org/billah/Billah-Scanlan.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20000919163924/https://www.ketchum.org/billah/Billah-Scanlan.pdf |archive-date=September 19, 2000 |url-status=live |author1 =Billah, K. |author2=Scanlan, R. |year=1991 |title=Resonance, Tacoma Narrows Bridge Failure |series =Undergraduate Physics Textbooks |journal=[[American Journal of Physics]] |volume=59 |issue=2 |pages=118–124}}</ref> Ellis was also tasked with designing a "bridge within a bridge" in the southern abutment, to avoid the need to demolish Fort Point, a pre–Civil War masonry fortification viewed, even then, as worthy of historic preservation. He penned a graceful steel arch spanning the fort and carrying the roadway to the bridge's southern anchorage.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://goldengatebridge.org/research/FortPoint.php |title=The Point of Fort Point: A Brief History |publisher=Golden Gate Bridge Highway and Transportation District |access-date=November 2, 2018 |archive-date=November 21, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181121022951/http://goldengatebridge.org/research/FortPoint.php |url-status=dead }}</ref>

[[File:Below Golden Gate Bridge.jpeg|thumb|Below Golden Gate Bridge]]

Ellis was a Greek scholar and mathematician who at one time was a University of Illinois professor of engineering despite having no engineering degree. He eventually earned a degree in civil engineering from the University of Illinois prior to designing the Golden Gate Bridge and spent the last twelve years of his career as a professor at Purdue University. He became an expert in structural design, writing the standard textbook of the time.<ref name="ellis"/> Ellis did much of the technical and theoretical work that built the bridge, but he received none of the credit in his lifetime. In November 1931, Strauss fired Ellis and replaced him with a former subordinate, Clifford Paine, ostensibly for wasting too much money sending telegrams back and forth to Moisseiff.<ref name="ellis"/> Ellis, obsessed with the project and unable to find work elsewhere during the Depression, continued working 70 hours per week on an unpaid basis, eventually turning in ten volumes of hand calculations.<ref name="ellis"/>

With an eye toward self-promotion and posterity, Strauss downplayed the contributions of his collaborators who, despite receiving little recognition or compensation,<ref name=PBS/> are largely responsible for the final form of the bridge. He succeeded in having himself credited as the person most responsible for the design and vision of the bridge.<ref name="ellis">{{cite web |url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/goldengate/peopleevents/p_ellis.html |access-date=November 7, 2007 |publisher=Public Broadcasting Service |title=The American Experience:Charles Alton Ellis (1876–1949) |archive-date=March 27, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090327122238/https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/goldengate/peopleevents/p_ellis.html }}</ref> Only much later were the contributions of the others on the design team properly appreciated.<ref name="ellis"/> In May 2007, the Golden Gate Bridge District issued a formal report on 70 years of stewardship of the famous bridge and decided to give Ellis major credit for the design of the bridge.

{{Clear}}
{{Wide image|Golden-Gate-Bridge.svg|1000px|Panorama showing the height, depth, and length of the span from end to end, looking west}}
{{Wide image|Golden Gate Bridge Dec 15 2015 by Don Ramey Logan.jpg|1000px|Panorama of the Golden Gate Bridge at sunset, as seen from just north of [[Alcatraz Island]]}}

===Finance===
The Golden Gate Bridge and Highway District, authorized by an act of the [[California Legislature]], was incorporated in 1928 as the official entity to design, construct, and finance the Golden Gate Bridge.<ref name=Sigmund/> However, after the [[Wall Street Crash of 1929]], the District was unable to raise the construction funds, so it lobbied for a $30&nbsp;million [[bond measure]] (equivalent to ${{inflation|US|30|1929|r=0|fmt=c}} million today). The bonds were approved in November 1930,<ref name="experience"/> by votes in the counties affected by the bridge.<ref>Jackson, Donald C. (1995) "Great American Bridges and Dams" ''John Wiley and Sons'', {{ISBN|0-471-14385-5}}</ref> The construction budget at the time of approval was $27&nbsp;million (${{inflation|US|27|1930|r=0|fmt=c}} million today). However, the District was unable to sell the bonds until 1932, when [[Amadeo Giannini]], the founder of San Francisco–based [[Bank of America]], agreed on behalf of his bank to buy the entire issue in order to help the local economy.<ref name="two"/>

===Construction===
Construction began on January 5, 1933.<ref name="two"/> The project cost more than $35&nbsp;million<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.lib.berkeley.edu/news_events/bridge/gate_2.html |title=Bridging the Bay: Bridges That Never Were |publisher=UC Berkeley Library |access-date=February 19, 2007}}</ref> (${{format price|{{Inflation|US-GDP|35000000|r=-7|1935}}}} in {{Inflation-year|US-GDP}} dollars{{Inflation-fn|US-GDP}}), and was completed ahead of schedule and $1.3 million under budget (equivalent to ${{inflation|US|1.3|1935|r=1|fmt=c}} million in {{Inflation-year|US-GDP}}).<ref>{{cite web |title=72 years ago today, iconic Golden Gate Bridge finished construction ahead of schedule & $1.3 million under budget |url=https://www.worldculturepictorial.com/blog/content/72-years-ago-today-iconic-golden-gate-bridge-finished-construction-ahead-schedule-13-million |date=May 27, 2009 |access-date=April 10, 2013}}</ref>
The Golden Gate Bridge construction project was carried out by the McClintic-Marshall Construction Co., a subsidiary of [[Bethlehem Steel Corporation]] founded by Howard H. McClintic and Charles D. Marshall, both of [[Lehigh University]].

[[File:Golden Gate Bridge Rivet 1937.jpg|thumb|An original [[rivet]] replaced during the seismic retrofit after the [[1989 Loma Prieta earthquake]]. A total of 1.2 million steel rivets hold the bridge's two towers together.]]

Strauss remained head of the project, overseeing day-to-day construction and making some groundbreaking contributions. A graduate of the [[University of Cincinnati]], he placed a brick from his alma mater's demolished McMicken Hall in the south anchorage before the concrete was poured.

Strauss also innovated the use of movable safety netting beneath the men working, which saved many lives. Nineteen men saved by the nets over the course of the project formed the [[Half Way to Hell Club]]. Nonetheless, eleven men were killed in falls, ten on February 17, 1937, when a scaffold (secured by undersized bolts) with twelve men on it fell into and broke through the safety net; two of the twelve survived the {{convert|200|ft|m|adj=on}} fall into the water.<ref>{{Cite magazine |title=Life On The American Newsfront: Ten Men Fall To Death From Golden Gate Bridge |magazine=Life |pages=20–21 |date=March 1, 1937 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TFEEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA20}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://goldengatebridge.org/research/facts.php#HalfwayHell |title=Frequently Asked Questions about the Golden Gate Bridge |publisher=Golden Gate Bridge, Highway and Transportation District. |access-date=November 7, 2007 |archive-date=November 5, 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071105064349/http://goldengatebridge.org/research/facts.php#HalfwayHell |url-status=dead }}</ref><!-- to do: review contributions of others, design approval and adoption -->

The [[Round House Café]] [[diner]] was then included in the southeastern end of the Golden Gate Bridge, adjacent to the tourist plaza which was renovated in 2012.<ref name=King>
{{cite news |url=https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/place/article/Golden-Gate-Bridge-s-plaza-flawed-but-workable-3585446.php |title=Golden Gate Bridge's Plaza Flawed but Workable |work=[[San Francisco Chronicle]] |date=May 25, 2012 |first=John |last=King}}</ref> The Round House Café, an Art Deco design by [[Alfred Finnila]] completed in 1938, has been popular throughout the years as a starting point for various commercial tours of the bridge and an unofficial gift shop.<ref name=Kligman>{{cite web |url=https://www.pgecurrents.com/2012/05/25/from-sea-to-shining-sea-pge%E2%80%99s-earley-joins-tribute-to-golden-gate-bridge/ |title=From Sea to Shining Sea: PG&E's Earley Joins Tribute to Golden Gate Bridge |work=Currents |publisher=[[Pacific Gas and Electric|PG&E]] |date=May 25, 2012 |first=David |last=Kligman |access-date=April 12, 2013 |archive-date=October 22, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131022021855/https://www.pgecurrents.com/2012/05/25/from-sea-to-shining-sea-pge%E2%80%99s-earley-joins-tribute-to-golden-gate-bridge/ }}</ref> The diner was renovated in 2012<ref name=King/> and the gift shop was then removed as a new, official gift shop has been included in the adjacent plaza.<ref name=Kligman/>

During the bridge work, the Assistant Civil Engineer of California [[Alfred Finnila]] had overseen the entire iron work of the bridge as well as half of the bridge's road work.<ref>San Francisco Examiner. May 27, 1982. No. 147, p. 2. ''Golden Gate Bridge''&nbsp;– 45th anniversary of completion.</ref>

==== Contributors ====
Plaque of the major contributors to the Golden Gate Bridge lists contractors, engineering-staff, directors and officers:<ref>{{Citation |last=Castaldo |first=Gaetano |title=Plaque of the major Contributors to the Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco, California, USA |date=October 24, 2013 |url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/tanzeus/11272591214/ |access-date=June 8, 2022}}</ref> 
{{div col}}
'''Contractors'''

* Foundations - [[Pacific Bridge Company]]
* Anchorages - [[Barrett & Hilp]]
* Structural steel - Main span - [[Bethlehem Steel|Bethlehem Steel Company Incorporated]]
* Approach steel - J.H. Pomeroy & Company Incorporated - Raymond Concrete Pile Company
* Cables - [[John A. Roebling's Sons Company]]
* Electrical work - Alta Electric and Mechanical Company Incorporated
* Bridge deck - Pacific Bridge Company
* Presidio Approach Roads and Viaducts - Easton & Smith
* Toll Plaza - Barrett & Hilp

'''Engineering staff'''

* Chief engineer - Joseph B. Strauss
* Principal assistant engineer - Clifford E. Paine
* Resident engineer - Russell Cone
* Assistant engineer - Charles Clarahan Jr., Dwight N. Wetherell
* Consulting engineer - O.H. Ammann, Charles Derleth Jr., Leon S. Moisseiff
* Consulting traffic engineer - Sydney W. Taylor Jr.
* Consulting architect - Irving F. Morrow
* Consulting geologist - Andrew C. Lawson, Allan E. Sedgwick

'''Directors'''

* San Francisco - William P. Filmer, Richard J. Welch, Warren Shannon, Hugo D. Newhouse, Arthur M. Brown Jr., John P. McLaughlin, William D. Hadeler, C.A. Henry, Francis V. Keesling, William P. Stanton, George T. Cameron
* Marin County - Robert H. Trumbull, Harry Lutgens
* Napa County - Thomas Maxwell
* Sonoma County - Frank P. Doyle, Joseph A. McMinn
* Mendocino County - A. R. O'Brien
* Del Norte County - Henry Westbrook Jr., Milton M. McVay

'''Officers'''

* President - William P. Filmer
* Vice President - Robert H. Trumbull
* General manager - James Reed, Alan McDonald
* Chief engineer - Joseph B. Strauss
* Secretary - W. W. Felt Jr.
* Auditor - Roy S. West, John R. Ruckstell
* Attorney - George H. Harlan
{{div col end}}

===Torsional bracing retrofit===
On December 1, 1951, a windstorm revealed swaying and rolling instabilities of the bridge, resulting in its closure.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Van Niekerken |first1=Bill |title=When the Golden Gate Bridge was closed by a violent storm |url=https://www.sfchronicle.com/thetake/article/When-the-Golden-Gate-Bridge-was-closed-by-a-7971512.php |access-date=August 2, 2020 |date=June 13, 2016}}</ref> In 1953 and 1954, the bridge was retrofitted with lateral and diagonal bracing that connected the lower chords of the two side trusses. This bracing stiffened the bridge deck in torsion so that it would better resist the types of twisting that had destroyed the [[Tacoma Narrows Bridge (1940)|Tacoma Narrows Bridge]] in 1940.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://goldengate.org/exhibits/bridge-deck-torsional-resistance-retrofit.php|title=Resisting the Twisting|website=Golden Gate Bridge Highway and Transportation District|access-date=July 29, 2019}}</ref>

===Bridge deck replacement (1982–1986)===
The original bridge used a [[concrete]] [[Deck (building)|deck]]. [[Salt]] carried by fog or mist reached the [[rebar]], causing [[corrosion]] and concrete [[spall]]ing. From 1982 to 1986, the original bridge deck, in 747 sections, was systematically replaced with a 40% lighter, and stronger, steel [[orthotropic deck]] panels, over 401 nights without closing the roadway completely to traffic. The roadway was also widened by two feet, resulting in outside curb lane width of 11 feet, instead of 10 feet for the inside lanes. This deck replacement was the bridge's greatest engineering project since it was built and cost over $68 million.<ref>{{cite web |title=Bridge Deck Replacement (1982–1986) |url=https://www.goldengate.org/bridge/bridge-maintenance/major-bridge-improvements/ |website=goldengate.org |access-date=August 2, 2020}}</ref>

===Opening festivities, and 50th and 75th anniversaries===
[[File:25th Anniversary Golden Gate Bridge Plaque b.jpg|thumb|150px|A plaque on the south tower commemorating the 25th anniversary of the bridge]]
[[File:GG-ftpoint-bridge-2 b.jpg|thumb|left|The Golden Gate Bridge and [[Fort Point, San Francisco|Fort Point]]]]
The bridge-opening celebration in 1937 began on May&nbsp;27 at 6:00{{nbsp}}a.m. and lasted for one week.<ref name=optdy>{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=6rgzAAAAIBAJ&sjid=1e4HAAAAIBAJ&pg=5919%2C986451 |work=Lodi News-Sentinel |location=(California) |agency=United Press |title=Bay Bridge fete opens today |date=May 27, 1937 |page=1}}</ref><ref name="first person across">{{cite magazine | url=https://time.com/archive/6892596/transport-gate-party/ | title=Transport: Gate Party | magazine=Time | date=7 June 1937 | accessdate=18 February 2025}}</ref> The day before vehicle traffic was allowed, 200,000 people crossed either on foot or on roller skates.<ref name="two"/><ref name=trtggsr>{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=LhtWAAAAIBAJ&sjid=suMDAAAAIBAJ&pg=4122%2C3915984 |work=Spokesman-Review |location=(Spokane, Washington) |agency=Associated Press |title=Thousands rush to Golden Gate |date=May 28, 1937 |page=1}}</ref> Donald Bryan, a student [[Sprint (running)|sprinter]] from the [[San Francisco Junior College]] (now the City College of San Francisco), was the first to make it across the bridge from end to end.<ref name="first person across"/> On opening day, Mayor [[Angelo Joseph Rossi|Angelo Rossi]] and other officials rode the ferry to Marin, then crossed the bridge in a motorcade past three ceremonial "barriers", the last a blockade of [[Beauty pageant|beauty queens]] who required Joseph Strauss to present the bridge to the Highway District before allowing him to pass. An official song, "[[There's a Silver Moon on the Golden Gate]]," was chosen to commemorate the event. Strauss wrote a poem that is now on the Golden Gate Bridge entitled "The Mighty Task is Done." The next day, [[Franklin D. Roosevelt|President Franklin D. Roosevelt]] pushed a button in Washington, D.C. signaling the official start of vehicle traffic over the Bridge at noon. Weeks of civil and cultural activities called "the Fiesta" followed. A statue of Strauss was moved in 1955 to a site near the bridge.<ref name="Owens"/>

As part of the fiftieth anniversary celebration in 1987, the Golden Gate Bridge district again closed the bridge to automobile traffic and allowed pedestrians to cross it on May&nbsp;24. This Sunday morning celebration attracted 750,000 to 1,000,000 people, and ineffective crowd control meant the bridge became congested with roughly 300,000 people, causing the center span of the bridge to flatten out under the weight.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_20695952/day-golden-gate-bridge-flattened |title=The Day the Golden Gate Bridge Flattened |author=Tung, Stephen |date=May 23, 2012 |work=San Jose Mercury News |access-date=January 17, 2016}}</ref><ref name=qmcas>{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=lPdVAAAAIBAJ&sjid=fuEDAAAAIBAJ&pg=6130%2C6367545 |work=Eugene Register-Guard |location=(Oregon) |agency=Associated Press |title=1 million celebrate a symbol |date=May 25, 1987 |page=1A}}</ref><ref name=hgbggss>{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=-LAzAAAAIBAJ&sjid=jDIHAAAAIBAJ&pg=7001%2C3189935 |work=Lodi News-Sentinel |location=(California) |agency=UPI |title=Human gridlock brought Golden Gate Bridge to a standstill
|date=May 26, 1987 |page=3}}</ref> Although the bridge is designed to flex in that way under heavy loads, and was estimated not to have exceeded 40% of the yielding stress of the suspension cables,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://gndec.ac.in/~librarian/book/Book%20Cds/25885/PDF/CASES/CABLES/GOLDEN_G.PDF |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111011090153/http://gndec.ac.in/~librarian/book/Book%20Cds/25885/PDF/CASES/CABLES/GOLDEN_G.PDF |archive-date=October 11, 2011 |title=The Golden Gate Bridge |author1 =Pollalis, Spiro N. |author2 =Otto, Caroline |year=1990 |publisher=Harvard Design School |access-date=April 3, 2011}}</ref> bridge officials stated that uncontrolled pedestrian access was not being considered as part of the 75th anniversary on Sunday, May 27, 2012,<ref name="NYT">{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1987/05/26/us/golden-gate-crowd-made-bridge-bend.html |title=Golden Gate Crowd Made Bridge Bend |author=McCarthy, Terrence |date=May 26, 1987 |work=The New York Times |access-date=April 3, 2011}}</ref><ref name="MIJ">{{cite web |url=http://www.marinij.com/marinnews/ci_15588533 |title=Golden Gate Bridge officials nix walk for 75th anniversary |author=Prado, Mark |date=July 23, 2010 |work=Marin Independent Journal |access-date=April 3, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101227010207/http://www.marinij.com/marinnews/ci_15588533 |archive-date=December 27, 2010 }}</ref><ref name="GSA">{{cite web |url=http://goldengatebridge75.org/celebrate/golden-gate-festival.html |title=Golden Gate Festival :: Golden Gate Bridge 75th Anniversary |work=Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy |access-date=March 21, 2012}}</ref> because of the additional law enforcement costs required "since [[September 11 attacks|9/11.]]"<ref name="WSJ-BayArea">{{cite news |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052702304019404577418440018082040 |title=A Historian's Long View of Golden Gate Bridge |work=The Wall Street Journal |date=May 24, 2012 |access-date=August 31, 2013 |author=Fowler, Geoffrey A. |pages=A13C}}</ref> To commemorate the bridge's 75th anniversary, automated user-controlled [[Heliograph|solar beacons]] were temporarily installed atop the towers.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://news.berkeley.edu/2012/08/31/solar-beacon-will-bejewel-golden-gate-bridge-through-september/ | title=Solar Beacon will bejewel Golden Gate Bridge through September | work=UC Berkeley News | date=21 August 2012 | accessdate=14 February 2025 | author=Sanders, Roberts}}</ref>

<gallery mode="packed" heights="190">
File:GoldenGateBridge openingday.jpg|A pedestrian poses at the old railing on opening day, 1937.
File:Golden Gate Bridge Opening - (1936).ogg|Opening of the Golden Gate Bridge
File:Invitation to Golden Gate Bridge opening, 1937.jpg|Official invitation to the opening of the bridge. This copy was sent to the City of [[Seattle]].
</gallery>