Episode notes
In the 1920s San Francisco was the largest American city still dependent on ferries, and the Southern Pacific Railroad's monopoly charged a dollar per car for a 20 minute crossing. The railroad sued to stop a bridge, and experts called the 6,700 foot, 372 foot deep strait unbridgeable. Engineer Joseph Strauss, who had proposed bridging the Bering Strait, promised to do it for 17 million dollars against a city estimate of 100 million, backed by the auto industry. His first design, a bulky double cantilever, was panned, and the Navy wanted black and yellow stripes. Strauss quietly relied on Leon Moisseiff's deflection theory for a flexible deck, architect Irving Morrow's Art Deco styling and International Orange, and principal engineer Charles Alton Ellis.
Ellis, a Greek scholar turned engineering professor, did the calculations and designed the arch that spares historic Fort Point. In November 1931 Strauss fired him, citing telegram costs. Jobless in the Depression, Ellis kept working 70 hours a week unpaid and delivered ten volumes of calculations, but was not officially recognized until 2007. Bank of America founder Amadeo Giannini bought the entire 30 million dollar bond issue in 1932, construction began in January 1933, and the bridge opened in May 1937, ahead of schedule and 1.3 million dollars under budget.
- A safety net caught 19 men, who formed the Halfway to Hell Club
- In February 1937 undersized bolts failed, a scaffold tore through the net, and ten of the 12 men who fell died
- About 300,000 people on the deck at the 1987 50th anniversary flattened the arch of the center span
- The corroded concrete deck was replaced with steel over 401 nights in the 1980s, and 38 painters and ironworkers maintain it year round
- New railing slats installed in 2020 made the bridge hum in high winds, and a 224 million dollar suicide deterrent net now runs its length