Today, Golden Gate Bridge officials have decided to erect yet another net, this one with the potential to save the lives of those who try to commit suicide by jumping approximately 2 20 feet from the bridge into the Golden Gate Strait, the waters dividing the San Francisco Bay and the Pacific Ocean. Inspired by the protective qualities of the hat, Strauss created the first-ever hardhat area at the Golden Gate bridge construction site. The net extended 10 feet out from both sides of the construction zone so that even those blown off the bridge by high winds could potentially be saved.īullard also included the world's first piece of industrial head protection by installing a suspension system inside the hat. The so-called Halfway-to-Hell Club, or the group of construction workers saved by the net during the course of construction, numbered 19 by the project's end. In fact, at a time when one death per $1 million of construction work was the accepted norm on a project of its size, the Golden Gate Bridge was a record-setter in the safety arena, largely due to a movable safety net installed under active work areas. The bridge project was also a safe one, losing only one worker in 1936 until a scaffold collapse took the lives of 10 more a few months before the bridge was complete and open to the public. Once the longest span in the world, the orange, 8,981 - foot-long bridge first opened in May of 1937 after four years of construction worth $27 million, which would total significantly more than $1 billion if it had to be built today. However, there is perhaps no image more iconic that that of the Golden Gate Bridge. “The District has been transparent about the condition of the Bridge with Shimmick throughout the project.When one thinks of San Francisco, it's likely that several images come to mind - foggy, hilly streets Alcatraz Island Chinatown and Fisherman's Wharf, just to name a few. “We are deeply frustrated by Shimmick’s slow pace of construction and multiple delays building the suicide barrier,” Paolo Cosulich-Schwartz, a district spokesperson, wrote to the Associated Press. In recent court filings, the contractors are pinning the blame for the project's delays and overruns on the district, and have asked a judge for permission to sue the district, too.Īccording to the Associated Press, only 47% of the nets have been completed to date, and it could take until December 2023 just to finish that portion of the project. Last year, one of SDJV's subcontractors, Vigor Works LLC, sued SDJV over money owed from the project, and SDJV has since countersued. including extensive bridge deterioration that interfered with SDJV's ability to perform the work as designed by the District."Īs a result, SDJV alleges that the costs for the project have skyrocketed from an original estimate of $142 million to at least $398 million, and they've blown past the original January 2021 completion deadline for the suicide deterrence nets. But they say the project as it was originally drawn up by the Golden Gate Bridge, Highway and Transportation District (referred to as the "District" in court filings) was flawed, and that the district "concealed significant information. In 2018, contractors Shimmick Construction Company and Danny’s Construction Company, referred to as SDJV in court filings, were supposed to begin work updating decades-old maintenance and inspection platforms, replacing handrails and adding wind fairing as well as suicide deterrence nets to the bridge. Long-delayed plans to fix maintenance platforms and put up stainless steel mesh nets on both sides of San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge are still far from completion, at a skyrocketing cost of nearly $400 million, according to recent court filings. The Golden Gate Bridge is seen with fog during Fleet Week in San Francisco on Oct.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |