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Construction of the lingering suicide prevention upgrades is wrapping up on the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco. The project's long road to culmination was covered by the New York Times recently as contractors work to finish installing the netting system, which was more than 80% in place as of... View full entry
The much-awaited debut of San Francisco's Presidio Tunnel Tops is now set for July 17th, according to a recent announcement from the city and design partner James Corner Field Operations. The new attraction has been in the works since at least the early 90s when San Francisco’s... View full entry
The maddening hum of safety slats on the pedestrian handrails of the Golden Gate Bridge will finally be silenced under a recently released proposal by the Bridge District.
The fix — devised and tested by bridge engineers in consultation with aerodynamic and acoustic experts — calls for attaching U-shaped clips containing a thin rubber sleeve to all 12,000 vertical slats on the railings.
— The San Francisco Chronicle
The haunting acoustic hum is the direct result of a $12 million wind retrofit project authored by the Golden Gate Bridge Highway and Transportation District. A few enterprising locals have made the most of the deafening din, although the majority of drivers in the Bay Area were vocally against it... View full entry
The single image published Dec. 8, 1922, resembles the industrial Carquinez Bridge, except at 20 times the scale. It’s the kind of bridge one designs when all they have to work with is Popsicle sticks and string. — The San Francisco Chronicle
An engineer turned newspaper editor named James Wilkins was the first to propose the bridge in a 1916 San Francisco Bulletin article. Joseph Strauss' early plans called for a cantilever-suspension hybrid but were later changed due to eight-figure cost concerns. Illustration of the... View full entry
You might've heard of the concept of a "bridge" in music. Well, guitarist Nate Mercereau is taking that term literally. In July, he released a new album in collaboration with San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge — yes, you read that right — titled Duets / Golden Gate Bridge, which features droning guitar improvisations over the eerie hum of the Bay Area landmark. — NPR
The Bay Area icon is known to have a humming effect resulting from a retrofit that added new slats to the bridge's handrails. Mercereau read about the effect in a San Francisco Chronicle article last year before recruiting an audio engineer and photographer to follow him into the... View full entry
A ghostly, ear-rattling thrum emanating over the Golden Gate Bridge and throughout San Francisco’s Presidio neighborhood appears to be the result of high winds gusting through new slats on the bridge handrails.
Officials at San Francisco’s 311 call center acknowledged the issue on Twitter after it snowballed Friday night, with multiple users posting recordings of the deafening noise.
— San Francisco Chronicle
According to the San Francisco Chronicle, a spokesman for the Golden Gate Bridge Highway and Transportation District said that the sounds "were a known and inevitable part of a wind retrofit project" that the bridge had underwent. "As part of that larger project, engineers replaced the... View full entry
Construction has begun on a steel net to prevent people from jumping off the Golden Gate Bridge, after years of debate over whether such an obstacle would mar the bridge’s romantic image.
For at least the next two years, crews will toil throughout the night to build a coarse web of marine cable beneath the Art Deco span that is both an international symbol for engineering beauty and a magnet for suicides.
— San Francisco Chronicle
"Oakland companies Shimmick Construction Co. and Danny’s Construction Co. won the contract to design and build the net for $211 million — about three times what the Golden Gate Bridge, Highway and Transportation District Board of Directors had proposed when it put the project out for bid in... View full entry
For as long as there have been landmarks, there have been people willing to deface them in the name of politics, art, fame or sheer stupidity. — The Guardian
From the San Francisco Golden Gate Bridge to the Trevi fountain in Rome, this Guardian article explores a brief history of temporary vandalism on famous landmarks (and it's not just artfully placed tarps: try a dangling VW Beetle!). From the annals of the vandals:Detroit issues arrest for... View full entry
Roughly 25 people each year jump to their deaths from San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge, which prompted city leaders to authorize a plan to erect a kind of suicide-prevention stainless steel cable netting twenty feet below the bridge's deck. The netting, which is painted gray to blend in with... View full entry
For its 75th birthday on Sunday, the bridge's management is planning a celebration that includes music, art shows, lectures, a new book and a new visitor center. But one thing won't happen: Nobody gets to cross the bridge on foot on the big day. — pbs.org
PBS also published a very nice photo essay on the bridge's history: Golden Gate Bridge 75th Anniversary. View full entry
Musicians look at the bridge differently. Mickey Hart, the former Grateful Dead drummer, sees the Golden Gate Bridge as a "giant wind harp." He plans to be at Crissy Field on Sunday evening, the bridge's 75th birthday, to perform an original composition.
The bridge will be the star. "The most famous bridge in America," Hart said, "is actually a musical instrument."
— sfgate.com
