While at a technology management conference in San José, California I took the opportunity to visit San Francisco. It was interesting to compare its bridge with the Lisbon one I have been crossing regularly over the last 22 years (see earlier post for comments on Sydney bridge).
The Golden Gate suspension bridge with a span of 1,280 metres is said to have the 9th longest span in the world for this type of structure while Lisbon’s 25 April bridge with a span of 1,013 metres comes in at number 21.
There have been some cases of suicide over the years on the 25 April even though it does not allow pedestrians to cross. The Californian bridge does allow pedestrians – albeit with a helpline for the suicidal.
Cyclists too!
Two other points of difference:
There doesn’t appear to be a permanent separation between the incoming and outgoing traffic lanes as we have in Lisbon. I assume this is to give flexibility in lane assignation in periods of high one-way traffic, but it does assume a high quality of driving discipline on the part of users.
On both bridges the toll is paid only on city entry but the Californian predominantly manual cash collection system seems much slower than the Lisbon version which has been largely automatic using the Via Verde RFID-based system for many years.
Update 1 (2013)
There were 2 separate
incidents involving teenagers surviving falls from the bridge in 2011. One of
these was a suicide attempt while the other is believed to have been a stunt. There
has been an average of 25 suicides per year from the bridge with a total of
12,000 deaths since the bridge opened. A controversial film, The Bridge, recorded the
leaps of 24 of these in 2004. The bridge is 60 m above water level (the Lisbon 25
April bridge is 70 m)
Update 2 (2013)
Tollbooths were
discontinued in March 2013 in favour of an electronic system that photographs
licence plates.
