Golden Gate Bridge turns 75 with pomp and circumstance – USATODAY.com

by Elizabeth Weise, rssfeeds.usatoday.com
April 1st 2011

SAN FRANCISCO – Some said it couldn't, or shouldn't, be built. When it hit 50, the sheer weight of its fans almost flattened it. This Sunday tens of thousands are expected to come visit as the Golden Gate Bridge turns 75.

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  By Justin Sullivan, Getty Images

  Tourists ride bicycles on a newly constructed bike path near the Golden Gate Bridge, whose 75th anniversary will be marked this weekend.

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By Justin Sullivan, Getty Images

Tourists ride bicycles on a newly constructed bike path near the Golden Gate Bridge, whose 75th anniversary will be marked this weekend.

The iconic suspension bridge arches across the Golden Gate, the opening of San Francisco Bay to the Pacific Ocean. It is one of the most well-known spans in the world, and each year more than 10 million people visit it, according to the Golden Gate Bridge District, which is responsible for its maintenance and upkeep.

The bridge officially opened on May 27, 1937. Completed in just four and a half years at the height of the Depression, it is an example of American ingenuity, "overcoming adversity and thinking ahead," Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) told a crowd on Friday as the ribbon was cut on the bridge's newly built welcome center.

• PHOTOS: Golden Gate Bridge turns 75

Many at the ceremony sported orange hats, scarves and cloths in homage to "international orange," the official name of the color the bridge has always been painted. Finding the emblematic clothing wasn't hard, joked San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee, because orange is also the color of the San Francisco Giants. He called the bridge "our welcome sign to the world."

Quick Facts

• - The total length of bridge, including approaches from abutment to abutment, is 1.7 miles.
• - The height of the bridge's towers above water is 746 feet. Each tower contains approximately 600,000 rivets.
• - The bridge's two cables have a diameter of 36 3/8 inches. Each main cable is 7,650 feet long.
• - The bridge is named for the Golden Gate Strait, the entrance to the San Francisco Bay from the Pacific Ocean.
• - The toll to cross the bridge in a car is $6.
• - The bridge cost $27 million to buildin 1932.
• - The bridge was painted orange vermilion (dubbed International Orange) because it blends well with bridge's setting and because it provides enhanced visibility for passing ships.
• - Rough weather has only closed the bridge three times in its history. Each time, the bridge weathered the storm and suffered no structural damage.

Taking a moment to make a political point, California Gov. Jerry Brown noted that when the bridge was built the nation and the state were in a deep depression and much poorer than today. "When we 'couldn't afford it,' we built a great monument" and weren't afraid to invest in the future, he told the crowd.

The bridge's last big anniversary was a nail-biter for engineers. When it turned 50, the celebration included closing the span to auto traffic and allowing pedestrians to walk across. Organizers had expected a crowd but they didn't expect the 300,000 who thronged it. The sheer weight of the crowd actually began to flatten out the bridge deck, which rises in a gentle arch to 80 feet at midpoint.

"The chief engineer at the time was on the south tower, and he did some quick back-of-the-napkin calculations to make sure it was up to the load," says Mary Currie, spokesperson for the Golden Gate Bridge District, who was there that day. The bridge can safely move 16 feet, so the 6 feet it sank was "well within safety limits."

This time around activities will stay on the ground, with a large portion of the beach area to the south of the span devoted to the Golden Gate Festival on Sunday. It will include parades of vintage cars, displays of boats, music, history and finally a fireworks display Sunday night.

But while "tens of thousands" of people are expected to come, according to Currie, the crowds should stay manageable if only because no parking will be allowed across a broad swath of the parks near the bridge. Websites caution would-be well-wishers to bike, walk or take public transit and to "plot your route beforehand." Severe traffic congestion is expected throughout Sunday and especially after the fireworks.

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