How Do the Golden Gate Bridge Cables Hold Up the Road?

From far away, the Golden Gate Bridge looks as though it hangs from two lines of orange paint. Up close, there are several kinds of steel to pick out. Start at the San Francisco visitor area with a cut end of cable, then take the same idea onto the sidewalk.

What is inside one of the two big cables?

Find the cable cross-section in the southeast visitor area. Its exposed face shows how thousands of small wires make up an object just over three feet across. The bridge district counts 27,572 wires in each main cable. Try picking out a bundle before you try to see an individual wire. Builders spun the wires back and forth across the strait and gathered them into the finished cables.

What are the straight vertical lines below the curved cables?

Those are steel suspender ropes. The roadway and sidewalk sit on a structure with trusses running along its length. Follow one section of truss to a vertical rope, then look upward to the curved main cable. Each rope takes a share of the deck’s weight. They repeat at intervals of about 50 feet, so you can see the same connection several times on a short walk.

Where does that weight go at the towers?

At the south tower, look up to where the main cable passes over the steelwork. There is a saddle at the top, and the tower carries weight down through its foundations. The cable continues toward shore, where a massive anchorage resists its pull. On the way back to the visitor area, follow that descending curve with your eye to complete the path.