Hanging the Roadway Deck

Steel trusses along each side of the roadway deck structure can be identified by their triangles. These trusses support beams holding up the roadway, stiffen the deck structure against wind, and span 50 feet between the vertical steel suspender ropes that support them. The vertical suspenders pull the weight of the deck and its traffic up to the main cables, and when installed, the 250 pairs of suspender ropes looked like strings on a giant harp. One advantage of a suspension bridge is that once the towers, anchorages, and main cables are installed, no temporary supports are needed under the bridge to build the roadway deck. The deck was built in sections, proceeding out from the towers in a balanced way, with each section hung from the suspenders. The final piece of the overall structure, the roadway deck structure with its paving, was in place by April 19, 1937, about a month before the Bridge opened.

San Francisco, California · United States