Golden Gate Bridge Problem Statement

It is 1933. Construction begins. 1937, this landmark is completed and opened to pedestrians and vehicles. It is built at a cost of approximately $35.5 million and comes in under budget and ahead of schedule. World War I veteran Harold Wobber, this landmarks first suicide, claimed, "This is where I get off,” and then jumps to his death. Now jump to 2013. Nearly 1,600 people have committed suicide by jumping off. The average number of suicides from this landmark is three per month. The Golden Gate Bridge was an example of a feat of engineering.

were very poor, but somehow, many architectural feats were being made. The U.S. Government was still building the greatest dam in the world before the Depression, the Hoover Dam, which lasted five years to build. It takes a lot of manpower and materials for the Government to build this great dam, so they hired contractors to build it and the The U.S. provides the materials. Men of six companies were hired to build the dam in 7 years or penalties will ensue; the men were called, Six Companies, Inc. Remarkably, the contractors banded together to build the dam because of the immense size of the structure, one contractor cannot do the task alone (America's Experiences). The Dams magnificent feat in becoming USA’s greatest dam inspired the same contracting firm to work on a certain bridge in the west (Hiktzik). During the time Hoover Dam was being constructed, out in the west, another architectural feat was occurring. In 1933 San Francisco, California, construction starts on what will soon to be one of America’s greatest landmarks, The Golden Gate Bridge. One of the bridges architects, Joseph B. Strauss, a man who built many bridges across the U.S., was involved in the bridge project. Strauss and his colleagues had to deal with many problems about the bridge such as people saying it had to be impossible or it was expensive and a hazard to the environment (History.com). Once the bridge was funded with thirty-five million dollars,

When bridges are poorly constructed, they may fail due to load they carry, collision by derailed trains or even by vehicles that lose control leading to catastrophic incidences. However, if bridges are well-constructed, the chances or injury are greatly minimized in the event of an accident. Discussed in the subsections are the requirements of AS 5100 standards in relation to cable-stayed bridges and include design requirements for bridges, bridge aesthetics, bridge functional requirements, bridge component design requirements and bridge construction

The first completed steel bridge was the Eads Bridge, in St. Louis Missouri. Steel was a very new material and was just starting to become commercially available. Steel was a smart choice to use because it is extremely hard and resists rusting. The Eads Bridge was the longest arch bridge in the world, of 510 feet long. St. Louis became a very important city in the midwest and had to really compete with Chicago during the Civil War. After the Civil War, St. Louis started growing in all directions. “.... the city of St. Louis wanted to reestablish its prewar dominance as the economic powerhouse of the midwest” (Ostrow 75). The main reason to build the Eads Bridge was to connect settlers from the East to the lands of the West. At the time there

These included the installation of a floating pipeline to deliver concrete to those structures located in the river itself and floating the arch to the bridge site from its riverside fabrication site.

One of the few people that were going to fully push for this project would be William Tweed, a New York politician that was said to have a hand in every creek and crevice of business in the area of New York both legal and otherwise. Tweed began his career in 1851 by going from a simple fireman into an alderman and from then on he found that he no longer had to depend on honest work from then on and by 1869 or the time when the bridge would start to be build and the same year that its very own author of the great bridge would sacrifice his life for the sake of both his own pride and according to some accounts, the bridge’s success. By 1869, he was reaching the pinnacle of his influence as he was in his prime and doing everything that he set his mind to and this was when he would become the “Boss” of New York and from then on become known as Boss Tweed and he might as well been since judges made decisions based on his request, legislators passed or opposed laws at his will, and both the Mayor and Governor were in his pockets and were at his beck call. This was the Tweed Machine and it controlled every aspect of politics and was the epicenter

The report debates the Tacoma narrows bridge failure and the different theories of how it came about, using information about what type of bridge it is and the forces acting on it before and during the collapse. It also discusses ways in which the failure could have been avoided, from changes in the design to modifications to the bridge after its construction.

Initially, suspension bridges before 1940 were made of piers, towers, wires, anchorages, and roadways. Piers were the main foundation for the suspension bridges. There usually were two of them, which were made out of cement and were entrenched in ground underneath the body of water that the bridge was spanned across. Towers were built on top of the piers to provide a means of connection for the roadways and wires. Wires were connected to the towers, roadways, and anchorages to provide tension support for the weight of the bridge. The anchorages were large cement platforms that were planted into the ground on either side of the land so that the wires could be connected to it. Lastly, the roadways were the main point of the suspension bridge. They usually were wide enough to provide four lanes of traffic and stretched from one side of the bridge to the other. This was the basic design of the suspension bridges

In Washington, the Interstate 5 bridge, which crossed the Skagit River, collapsed last month. The damage of this accident included two cars broke and three persons injured. According to officials, the bridge fell into the river after the large truck hit a beam. The bridge had a risky condition called facture critical. The U.S has a lot of bridges; however, nearly two thousand bridges were built between the middle of 1950s and the 1970s, so those ones are obsolete bridges. In addition, back then, the government cut corners in bridge buildings to cost reduction. Although gas and diesel taxes attempted to allocate to restored the bridge, the government cloud not collect money enough to repair the bridge because people began to use efficient vehicle.

In 1919, a study was begun to see if it would be possible to build a bridge across the Golden Gate. Michael O’Shaughnessy was the San Francisco city engineer. He was in charge of the rebuilding of the city after the devastating 1906 earthquake that destroyed much of the city. O’Shaughnessy knew the need for the city to have bridges. Most said it could not be done and others said it could be done but “it would cost about $100 million to build it” (Barter 23). O’Shaughnessy and Strauss, both wanting the same thing, got together. After the two consulted, they figured the only way to bridge the channel was to use a suspension bridge.

Orchestrated above the gentle waves of Parramatta River, is the steel through arch bridge known as the ‘Coat hanger’ or simple, the Sydney Harbor Bridge. It connects northern suburbs of Sydney with the city centre. Built in 1932, the 134m high bridge is an ideal place to visualize some of the most mesmerizing views of Sydney. One may be thrilled to see this engineering feat in films but there is nothing quite like seeing it for yourself. But how do we reach the Bridge?

The current Bay Bridge spans across the San Francisco Bay and through Yerba Buena Island. The reason the bridge travels through an island is because in the 1930’s it would have been nearly impossible to construct an eight mile long bridge spanning such deep water. During most of the 20th century, this island was a U.S. Navy base and in order for construction to be allowed, the approval of Congress was necessary. As a result, there was a great deal of lobbying that occurred in order to allow California the right to build across the island. After gaining the approval of Congress in February of 1931, construction started in July of 1933.

During the construction, two half-spans being assembled 50 meters above ground level had a misalignment of 4.5 inches or 114mm in camber. It was suggested by John Holland & Constructions to use a kentledge to weigh down the higher section of bridge. It so happened that they had ten, eight tonne concrete blocks on site. These were placed halfway along the higher span to

It is shaped in a way to transfer weight to the towers and anchors with its tension (O'Connor, 1971, p. 372). Cables are made of high strength wires spirally bound to form a rope (O'Connor, 1971, p. 372). Vertical cable suspenders that are fastened to the main cables hang the actual roadway. Stiffening girders and trusses are along the side of the bridge to distribute concentrated loads and help to keep the motion of the bridge at a minimum (Troitsky, 1994, p115).

Because of advancements in today’s technology in construction field, many types of bridges are being constructed depending on the requirement and their suitability for the situations.