Tourists who plan to visit the United States of America are interested in learning about the sights of the country. One of these attractions is the Golden Gate Bridge.
History and description of the bridge
The Golden Gate Bridge is not yet 100 years old. The construction of the bridge began in the first half of the 20th century, on January 5, 1933. Its opening took place in the early morning of May 27, 1937. At first, only pedestrians could walk on it. And on May 28, President Roosevelt was allowed to use the bridge for transport. The names of the engineer Joseph Strousse, the architect Irving Morrow were immortalized on the builders' plaque. And the names of the bridge designers, Charles Alton Ellis and Lev Moiseyev, were not included.
The Golden Gate Bridge is one of the largest bridges in the world and a famous landmark in the city of San Francisco. This bridge is one of the most important highways and passes about 100,000 vehicles per day. There is a toll on the bridge, and only one way - to the south. The fee is around $ 5. Travel to the north is free. The weight of the structure is about a million tons. The length of the bridge is almost 2 kilometers (1970 meters), and the length of its main part is 1280 meters. It is designed in such a way that the supports are much higher than the roadway. The protruding part of the supports above the water is 230 meters, and 67 meters to the carriageway.
The official history of the name of the bridge is as follows: there is the Golden Gate Strait, connecting the San Francisco Bay and the Pacific Ocean. The strait was so named by the surveyor John Fremont. And the bridge was also named after this strait. But there is also an unofficial version, according to which people traveled along this path during the California gold rush to San Francisco to find gold there. The bridge is very popular and recognizable. His image is used in the emblem of the NBA basketball club and in many films, for example, in the movie X-Men: The Last Stand. It also has the infamous Suicide Bridge. After all, if you jump from a height of 67 meters into the water, then death is almost guaranteed. There are even approximate statistics that show about 2 deaths per month. Despite the fact that the bridge is equipped with a special fence, this does not stop those who decided to commit suicide. There is a free emergency telephone on the bridge.
What to see
Since the Golden Gate Bridge is a truly grandiose structure, it is of great interest to tourists. You can visit the museum, where you can learn everything about the construction and history of the construction. There you can buy souvenirs dedicated to the bridge. The museum has an exhibit: a section of a section of a steel rope that connects the pillars of the bridge. There are 27,000 wires in the rope, and the diameter of the rope is almost a meter (93 centimeters). The area next to the bridge is the two popular cities of San Francisco and Sausalito. Accordingly, you can see the sights of these cities, located next to the bridge. For example, the Walt Disney Museum, the stunning Gulf Coast. You can visit the bridge with an excursion called "Golden Gate Bridge + Cruise in the Bay". The duration of the tour is 5 hours, the cost is from 2250 rubles for a child's ticket and from 3355 rubles for an adult.
How to get there
There are several ways to get to the bridge: by car (personal or rented) on Highway 101 north of San Francisco, by bicycle (also personal or rented), or by public transport, such as bus number 28. You can go there with a tour group. The address of the Lincoln Boulevard Bridge, near Doyle Drive and Fort Point, San Francisco, CA 94129. The bridge is open 24 hours a day. There are hours during which pedestrians cannot cross the bridge: in winter from 18:30 to 5:00, and in summer from 21:00 to 5:00). The working hours of the tourist pavilion are from 9:00 to 18:00.
