Existing comment:
Hanging the Roadway Deck
The steel trusses on each side of the roadway deck structure along its length can be identified by their triangles. The trusses support beams holding up the roadway and stiffen the deck structure against wind. They span 50 feet (15 meters) between the vertical steel suspender ropes that support them. The vertical suspenders pull the weight of the deck, along with its traffic, up to the main cables. When installed, the 250 pairs of suspender ropes looked like strings on a giant harp.
An 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 is built in sections, proceeding out from the towers in a balanced way, 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. |