Editing Golden Gate Bridge (section)

==== 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>