Each year the Golden Gate Bridge supposedly attracts more than 10 million visitors to take in its tremendous 746-foot tall towers and 1.7 mile long bridge, sweeping main cables, signature International Orange colour and Art Deco styling. It is a sensory experience featuring colour, light and sound.   It’s always a fascinating experience to drive around SFO downtown, and on/around the bridge.  It’s lot more fun, now that amount of traffic has come down.  Last weekend, I had to host newbies in town, so this was a default place of choice to hang around, and part of those 10 million visitor count 🙂

The 1.7-mile-long Golden Gate Bridge, an icon of the San Francisco Bay region, connects the city of San Francisco to Marin County, California. At its completion in 1937, the suspension bridge was considered an engineering marvel—the longest main suspension bridge span in the world. It held that record until New York City’s Verrazano Narrows Bridge opened in 1964 and, as of 2019, the Akashi Kaikyo Bridge in Japan boasts the world’s longest span.

It is mentioned that The U.S. Navy had lobbied that the bridge be painted in blue and yellow stripes to increase its visibility. But when the steel arrived in San Francisco painted in a burnt red hue as primer, the consulting architect decided the colour was both highly visible—and more pleasing to the eye. The bridge’s colour is officially called international orange.