The bridge was the brainchild of Joseph Strauss， an engineer responsible for over 400 drawbridges， though they were far smaller than this project and mostly inlandinland adj.内陆的， 国内的 adv.在内地， 向内地 n.内地. Strauss spent over a decade drumming up support in Northern California. Strauss，s initial proposal for this location was not at all pretty， being comprised of a massive cantilever on each side connected with a central suspension segment. Other key figures in the bridge，s construction include architect Irving Morrow， responsible for the Art Deco touches and the choice of color， and engineer Charles Alton Ellis and bridge designer Leon Moisseiff， who collaborated on the complicatedcomplicated adj.复杂的， 难解的 mathematics.
The construction of the bridge began on January 5， 1933. Funding for the project came from the voters within the District who voted a special bond issue that put their homes， farms and business properties up as collateral. This bond issue raised the initial ＄35 million to finance the building of the Bridge. The last of the construction bonds were retired in 1971， with ＄35 million in principal and nearly ＄39 million in interest being financed entirely from tolls. Strauss， a graduate of the University of Cincinnati placed a brick from his alma mater，s demolished McMicken Hall in the south anchorageanchorage n.停泊地点， 抛锚地点 before the cement was poured. The bridge was completed in April 1937 and opened to pedestrians on May 27 of that year. The next day， President Roosevelt pushed a button in Washington D.C.. signaling the start of vehicle traffic over the Bridge. A unique aspect of the construction of this bridge was that a safety net was set up beneath it， significantly reducing the number of deaths that were typical for a construction project such as this in the early 1900s. 11 men were killed from falls during construction， and approximately 19 men were saved by the safety net. 10 of the deaths occurred near completion when the net itself failed under the stress of a scaffold fall. The 19 workers whose lives were saved by the safety nets became proud members of the (informal) Halfway to Hell Club.
The center span was the longest among suspension bridges until 1964 when the Verrazano Narrows Bridge was erected between the boroughs of Staten Island and Brooklyn in New York City. The Golden Gate Bridge also had the world，s tallest suspension towers at the time of construction， and retained that record until more recently. In 1957， Michigan，s Mackinac Bridge surpassed the Golden Gate Bridge，s length between anchorages to become the world，s longest suspension bridge in total length. The longest center suspension span in the world is currently the AkashiKaikyo Bridge in Japan.
As the only road to exit San Francisco to the north， the bridge is part of both United States Highway 101 and California State Route 1. The bridge has six total lanes of vehicle traffic， and walkways on both sides of the bridge. The median markers between the lanes are moved to conform to traffic patterns. On weekday mornings， traffic flows mostly southboundsouthbound adj.往南的 into the city， so four of the six lanes run southbound. Conversely， on weekday afternoons， three lanes run northbound. While there has been discussion concerning the installation of a movable barrier since the 1980s， the Bridge Board of Directors， in March 2005， committed to finding funding to complete the ＄2 million study required prior to the installation of a moveable median barrier. The eastern walkway is for pedestrians and bicyles during the weekdays and during daylight hours only， and the western walkway is open to bicycles on weekends.