Stretching across the San Francisco Bay stands the world famous Golden Gate Bridge. The bridge is located in one of nature’s most beautiful settings, spanning the mile-wide bay from Fort Point in San Francisco to the Marin County Shore. Joseph Strauss, specializing in bridge building, was the leader of the construction of the Golden Gate Bridge. The start of construction began on January 5, 1993 and, after four years, was completed on April 27, 1997. The bridge was needed to be built because of the growing population after the California Gold Rush. The bridge was a difficult task for engineers and is now an inspiration. The Golden Gate Bridge is one of the largest suspension bridges and is well known around the world. The Golden Gate Bridge stands as one of America’s most majestic and beloved landmarks.
As early as 1872 there was talk about “bridging the gate” (Elliot) by Charles Crocker, who proposed that he wanted to build a railroad bridge across the Golden Gate. City officials thought this would just be too risky and others thought it would be impossible. James Wilkins, with a degree in engineering, took employment with the San Francisco Bulletin and “in 1916 began an editorial campaign to bridge the gate” (Doherty 9). He suggested that a suspension bridge would work. A suspension bridge supports a long span in its middle by using cables that are suspended from towers at either end. At the time, ferry boats took people north and south across the bay. Joseph Strauss was a bridge builder who had come to San Francisco on business and read Wilkins’s article. The thought of building a bridge across the Golden Gate excited him. It excited him so much he spent the next 22 years thinking about designing, and building the Golden Gat...
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...Gate “will cost an estimated $147 million” (Doherty 41). As costs of repairing and maintaining the bridge have gone up, so have the tolls. The original toll of 50 cents each way was reduced a number of times until it “was 25 cents in 1955” (Barter 99). Since then, it has gone up steadily. In 1971, the toll was increased to “one dollar” (Doherty 41). It hit “two dollars in 1981 and three dollars in 1991” (Doherty).
Although there are now taller and longer bridges in the world, there are few other bridges that are recognized as easily as the Golden Gate Bridge. The bridge that people said was impossible to build has become a shining example of human engineering. It is also a permanent monument to the skill and dedication of the many people who made Strauss’s dream a reality. Today, the Golden Gate Bridge stands as one of America’s most majestic and beloved landmarks.
In Barbara Berlund’s Making San Francisco American: Cultural Frontiers in the Urban West, Berlund explains how San Francisco grew from a young settlement which grew rapidly thanks to in part of the California Gold Rush which took place in 1949. Of course with the growing of this small settlement came it’s conflicts and how it rised to where it stands present day. A primary factor which helped San Francisco flourish a ton was the influence from those who had power and chose what would happen throughout the city, for example the Big 4. Those who were wealthy did not make this city what it is today without the help of people who made up the middle class as well. Every establishment within this city set the social order as to how the inhabitants of San Francisco would go about their life in society.
“It was designed with a twenty-two foot roadway and one five-foot sidewalk” (Silver). The silver bridge is a very long bridge. “An eye-bar is a long steel plate having large circular ends with an "eye" or hole through which a pin is used to connect to other eyebars (to make a chain) or to other parts of the bridge.” according to Richard Fields. The whole bridge was built using the eye-bar suspension.
Once again, it is necessary to remember that the Peace Bridge is an important link between the United States and Canada. The PBA states, "There was ten million dollars traveling over the bridge weekly in 1990, presently in 2001 there is 700 million dollars traveling over the bridge weekly. " In addition, 6,000 trucks carrying commercial goods travel over the bridge daily. By the year 2003, the Peace Bridge will reach ultimate capacity. If traffic continues to grow, the bridge will become outdated by 2004.
Joseph Mallord William Turner, 1775-1851, born the son of a London Barber and Wigmaker, is considered one of the greatest European artists of the 19th century. Turner, the English romantic landscape painter, watercolourists and printmaker, was regarded as a controversial and revolutionary figure by his contemporaries despite his training being similar to other artists of the time. His work ‘Walton Bridge’, Oil on Canvas 1806-10, reflects much of his training as a young artists as well as his well-known Romantic style. In this essay I will follow the beginnings of Turners artistic life, showing how his influences, training and opinions surrounding landscape painting have influenced his work ‘Walton Bridge.’ I will further explore how art critics, fellow artists and the wider public of the 19th Century received ‘Walton Bridge’ and his Landscape paintings in general.
At the time of its construction in 1929, the Ambassador Bridge was the largest spanned suspension bridge at 564 meters until the George Washington Bridge was built. It was an engineering masterpiece at the time. The total bridge length is 2,286 meters and rises to 118 meters above the river. Suspension cables support the main span of the Ambassador Bridge and the main pillars under the bridge are supported by steel in a cantilever truss structure. In total, the McClintic-Marshall masterpiece is comprised of 21,000 tons of steel. The immense socio-economical impact that the Ambassador Bridge has on transportation and trade is imperative for daily interaction between the Un...
Have you ever wondered why both the Panama Canal and the Great Wall of China are such iconic land marks for the countries they are in? It’s because of the magnitude of effort that took to create such massive structures. Hard work, blood, tears, sweat and certainly patience played part in the creation of such marvels. However the purpose behind each structure and the challenges builders faced during their construction is what truly sets them apart.
The Golden Gate bridge, standing as an icon of roadway innovations, took multiple engineers years to design and complete. They could not just simply build an ordinary bridge. They had to take into consideration the physics behind it, as well as, what kind of effect the environment would have upon the bridge. The bridge sits along one of the most active fault lines in the world, so engineers had to make sure their bridge could withstand a little movement. Today the Golden Gate bridge still stands tried and true, as does many other innovations that 20th century engineers came up with.
The Jericho Covered Bridge in Kingsville, Maryland was built in 1865 and restored in 1982. The bridge is 100 feet long and cased in cedar planks and timber beams. Legend has it that after the Civil War many lynchings occurred on the bridge. Passersby were supposedly captured on the bridge and hung from the upper rafters. The bridge is very close to my house and I have driven over it several times. The storyteller, age 19, also lives a couple minutes away from the bridge. He has lived in Kingsville, Maryland his entire life. He recalled a dramatic story he had heard from his older brother involving the haunted bridge.
The Tunnel tolls will be in effect for about 59 more years so people have to get used to it. They have to realize that there will be consequences; a consequence could be the High Rise Bridge possibly collapsing because too much traffic. The public has to look at the bigger picture, even though they might not like it. There is soon to be more on this issues but since its so opinion based it is very hard to get a certain argument since there are so many. Sooner or later people will start gravitating towards the bridge. They will realize its what’s best.
People who thinks of Thornton Wilder primarily in terms of his classic novella “Our Town,” The Bridge of San Luis Rey will seem like quite a switch. For one thing, he has switched countries; instead of middle America, he deals here with Peru. He has switched eras, moving from the twentieth century back to the eighteenth. He has also dealt with a much broader society than he did in “Our Town,” representing the lower classes and the aristocracy with equal ease. But despite these differences, his theme is much the same; life is short, our expectations can be snuffed out with the snap of a finger, and in the end all that remains of us is those we have loved.
The 14-year construction of this urban landmark that stretched across the East River was completed in May of 1883. This was not only a bridge; it stood for many significant symbols. During this time period, the industrial aspects of things were at its peak and this represented the strength of the industry. Also it symbolized the use of immigrant workers and how much time and effort they put into making this bridge. Twenty seven men died while creating this bridge and that is something that most people forget when looking at the bridge, people risked there lives while giving a society that people needed. Not only that but it took tons and tons of steel and iron in order to complete this bridge and it was part of the steel and iron boom. This landmark led to the rise o...
The bridge was designed at a time when America was moving toward streamline products, this included the design of bridges. The Tacoma Narrows Bridge was a sleek, graceful looking suspension bridge. Suspension bridges consist of many cables anchored...
In her essay,”Importance of the Golden Gate Bridge,” Stephanie Stiavetti suggest that “It maintained this point of pride for nearly 25 years until the Verrazano- Narrows Bridge was built in New York in 1964. Today, this historic San Francisco landmark holds its place as the second largest suspension bridge in the country, behind Verrazano Narrows.” Back then, experts thought that it would be impossible to build a bridge across the tides and currents in that area because strong currents and tides would make construction extremely difficult and dangerous. The water is over 500 feet deep in the center of the channel, and along with the area's strong winds and thick fog, the idea of building a bridge there seemed nearly impossible. Despite all of the problems of building a bridge across the Golden Gate, Joseph Strauss was named as lead engineer for the project. Construction began January 5, 1933, and in the end cost more than $35 million to
The Great Wall of China has been called a wonder by many who have seen it. It brings pride to the Chinese nation, and is known for being the only man made structure visible from space. The magnitude of The Great Wall is an architectural achievement as well as an example of the will power of man. Many find it hard to believe that such an amazing sight could have a history so filled with death, slavery and sadness as The Great Wall does. The Great Wall of China is one of the world's most famous architectural triumphs and has helped China throughout its history, even though its creation is marked by tragedy.
The Aqueduct, while not an invention of the Romans, was made effective and marvels of the engineering world. Some of the techniques of the aqueducts are still used by modern engineers. Roman aqueducts were immense feats of engineering and architecture