Koyna Dam

Impounds Koyna River

Koyna Nagar, Maharashtra
Locale
India
Length 807.2 m (2,648 ft)
Height 103.2 m (339 ft)
Opening date 1967
Dam owner(s) Government of Maharashtra
Reservoir information
Creates Shivaji Lake
2,797,400,000 m3 (9.8789×1010
Capacity
cu ft)
Surface area 89,178 km2 (34,432 sq mi)
Power generation information
Turbines 18
Installed capacity 1,920 MW
Official website

The Koyna Dam is one of the largest dams in Maharashtra, India. It is located in Koyna Nagar,
nestled in the Western Ghats on the state highway between Chiplun and Karad, Maharashtra.

The dam supplies water to western Maharashtra as well as cheap hydroelectric power to the
neighbouring areas with a capacity of 1,920 MW. The Koyna project is actually composed of
four dams, with the Koyna Dam having the largest catchment area.

The catchment area dams the Koyna River and forms the Shivaji Lake which is approximately
50 km (31 mi) in length. Completed in 1963, it is one of the largest civil engineering projects
commissioned after Indian independence. The Koyna electricity project is run by the
Maharashtra State Electricity Board. Most of the generators are located in excavated caves a
kilometre deep, inside the heart of the surrounding hills.
The dam has contributed to earthquakes in the recent past, including the devastating 1967
Koynanagar earthquake that almost razed the dam, resulting in the dam developing major cracks.

Date
Built in: 1962 - 1963

Height of dam: 103 metres

Water storage: 2,797.400 km³

Volume of dam: 1,555.000 m³
Width of dam: 808 m
Slope at water side: 24:1
Length of lake: 60 km
• Storage:
o Gross storage: 98.78 TMC
o Live: 93.65 TMC
o Dead: 5.125 TMC
• Length: 1807.22 m
• Height: 85.35 m
• Year of completion: 1963

Jayakwadi Dam
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
Jayakwadi Dam

Jayakwadi Dam on Godavari River.

Jayakwadi project is one of the largest irrigation projects in Maharashtra. It is a multipurpose

project. Its water is used mainly to irrigate agricultural land in the drought prone Marathwada
region of Maharashtra state. It also provides water for drinking and industrial usage to nearby
towns and villages and to the municipalities and industrial areas of Aurangabad and Jalna. The
surrounding area of the dam has a beautiful garden and a bird sanctuary.

Location
It is located on Godavari river at the site of Jayakwadi village in Paithan taluka of Aurangabad
district in Maharashtra state, India.

Foundation
Foundation was laid by late Prime minister Lal Bahadur Shastri on 18 October 1965.

Inauguration
Inaugurated by late Prime minister Indira Gandhi on 24 February 1976.

Purpose
Multipurpose project. Mainly To irrigate land for agriculture in the drought prone of Marathwada
region of Maharashtra state. Also to provide water for drinking and industrial usage to nearby
towns and villages and to the municipalities and industrial areas of Aurangabad and Jalna.

Statistics
Built in: 1965–1976
Height of
40 m approx
dam:
 Water storage: 2.909 km3
9998 m (10 km
Width of dam:
approx)
Area of
350 km2
Reservoir :

About the dam

• Jayakwadi project is one of the largest irrigation projects in Aurangabad Maharashtra.
o It is a multipurpose project.
o Jayakwadi is one of the largest earthen dams in Asia.
o Its cachement area is 21,750 km².
o Total submergence area due to the reservoir is approx 35,000 ha.
o Its height is approx 41.30 m and length of 9998 m (10 km approx)
o Nath Sagar is the name of the reservoir formed due to Jayakwadi Dam.
o Total area of reservoir is approx 350 km2.
o Its total storage capicity is approx 2.909 km³ & effective live storage capacity is
2.17 km³.
o The length of left bank canal is 208 km & the length of right bank canal is
132 km.

•
o It irrigates culturable area of 237,452 ha in the districts of Aurangabad, Jalna,
Beed and Parbhani. While its total command area is 263,858 ha.
o Its installed power generating capacity is 12 megawatts.
o It is also used to supply drinking water to Aurangabad city & surrounding areas.
o Unfortunately siltation has taken a heavy toll on the project. It is estimated that
appprox 30% of the dam is filled with silt, reducing its life as well as storage
capacity.

• In the year 2009 it has entered in 35th year of its life. It has in its lifetime overflowed
only 17 times. On 10 August 2006 highest discharge of 250000 ft³/s was recorded.

Migratory birds at Jayakwadi Dam, Aurangabad

Dnyneshwar Udyan
Dnyaneshwar Udyan is one of the largest gardens in Maharashtra resembling the Vrindavan
Gardens of Mysore. It is spread over 125 hectares and is situated on the banks of Nathsagar Lake
formed due to Jayakwadi Dam. It is located near the town of Paithan which is 40 km south of
Aurangabad and nearly about 22 km east to hatgaon which is femous in all over india

Itaipu Dam

Central Hidroeléctrica Itaipú

Official name Binacional
Usina Hidrelétrica Itaipu Binacional
Impounds Paraná River
Foz do Iguaçu
Locale
Ciudad del Este
Length 7,700 m (25,300 ft)
Height 196 m (643 ft)
Hydraulic head 118 m (387 ft)
Construction began January 1970
Opening date 5 May 1984
Construction cost US$19.6 billion
Maintained by Itaipu Binacional
Reservoir information
Creates Itaipu Reservoir
Capacity 29,000,000,000 m3 (1.0×1012 cu ft)
Catchment area 1,350 km2 (520 sq mi)
Power generation information
Turbines 20 × 700 MW
Installed capacity 14,000 MW
Annual generation 91.6 TWh (2009)
Conventional Yes
www.itaipu.gov.br
Website
www.itaipu.gov.py

The Itaipu Dam (Guarani: Itaipu, Portuguese: Itaipu, Spanish: Itaipú; Portuguese
pronunciation: Spanish pronunciation: is a hydroelectric dam on the Paraná River located on the
border between Brazil and Paraguay. The name "Itaipu" was taken from an isle that existed near
the construction site. In the Guarani language, Itaipu means "the sound of a stone". The
American composer Philip Glass has also written a symphonic cantata named Itaipu, in honour
of the structure.

The dam is the largest operating hydroelectric facility in terms of annual generating capacity,
generating 94.7 TWh in 2008 and 91.6 TWh in 2009, while the annual generating capacity of the
Three Gorges Dam was 80.8 TWh in 2008 and 79.4 TWh in 2009.[1] It is a binational undertaking
run by Brazil and Paraguay at the Paraná River on the border section between the two countries,
15 km (9.3 mi) north of the Friendship Bridge. The project ranges from Foz do Iguaçu, in Brazil,
and Ciudad del Este in Paraguay, in the south to Guaíra and Salto del Guaíra in the north. The
installed generation capacity of the plant is 14 GW, with 20 generating units providing 700 MW
each with a hydraulic design head of 118 m. In 2008 the plant generated a record 94.68 billion
kWh, supplying 90% of the energy consumed by Paraguay and 19% of that consumed by Brazil.
[2]

Of the twenty generator units currently installed, ten generate at 50 Hz for Paraguay and ten
generate at 60 Hz for Brazil. Two 600 kV HVDC lines, each approximately 800 km long, carry
both Brazilian and Paraguayan energy to São Paulo where the terminal equipment converts the
power to 60 Hz.

History
Negotiations between Brazil and Paraguay

The concept behind Itaipu Power Plant was the result of heavy negotiations between the two
countries during the 1960s. The "Ata do Iguaçu" (Iguaçu Act) was signed on July 22, 1966, by
the Brazilian and Paraguayan Ministers of Foreign Affairs, Juracy Magalhães and Sapena Pastor,
respectively. This was a joint declaration of the mutual interest in studying the exploitation of the
hydric resources that the two countries shared in the section of the Paraná River starting from,
and including, the Salto de Sete Quedas, to the Iguaçu River's watershed. The Treaty that gave
origin to the power plant was signed in 1973.

The terms of the treaty, which expires in 2023, have been the subject of widespread discontent in
Paraguay. The government of President Lugo vowed to renegotiate the terms of the treaty with
Brazil, which long remained hostile to any renegotiation.[3]

In 2009, Brazil agreed to a fairer payment of electricity to Paraguay and also allowed Paraguay
to sell excess power directly to Brazilian companies instead of solely through the Brazilian
electricity monopoly.[4][5]

Construction starts

The dam undergoes expansion work.

In 1970, the consortium formed by the companies IECO (from the United States of America) and
ELC Electroconsult S.p.A. (from Italy) won the international competition for the realization of
the viability studies and for the elaboration of the construction project. Work began in February
1971. On April 26, 1973, Brazil and Paraguay signed the Itaipu Treaty, the legal instrument for
the hydroelectric exploitation of the Paraná River by the two countries. On May 17, 1974, the
Itaipu Binacional entity was created to administer the plant's construction. The works began in
January of the following year.

Paraná River rerouted

On October 14, 1978, the Paraná River had its route changed, which allowed a section of the
riverbed to dry so the dam could be built there.

Agreement by Brazil, Paraguay, and Argentina

An important diplomatic settlement was reached with the signing of the Acordo Tripartite by
Brazil, Paraguay and Argentina, on October 19, 1979. This agreement established the allowed
river levels and how much they could change as a result of the various hydroelectrical
undertakings in the watershed that was shared by the three countries. At that time, the three
countries were ruled by military dictatorships. Argentina was concerned that, in the event of a
conflict, Brazil could open the floodgates, raising the water level in the River Plate and
consequently flood the capital city of Buenos Aires.

Formation of the lake

The plant's reservoir began its formation on October 13, 1982, when the dam works were
completed and the side canal's gates were closed. Throughout this period, heavy rains and
flooding accelerated the filling of the reservoir as the water rose 100 meters (330 ft) and reached
the gates of the spillway at 10 a.m. on October 27.

Start of operations

On May 5, 1984, the first generation unit started running in Itaipu. The first 18 units were
installed at the rate of two to three a year; the last two of these started running in the year 1991.

Capacity expansion in 2007

The last two of the 20 electric generation units started operations in September 2006 and in
March 2007, thus raising the installed capacity to 14 GW and completing the power plant. This
increase in capacity will allow for 18 generation units to remain running all of the time while two
stay down for maintenance. Due to a clause in the treaty signed between Brazil, Paraguay and
Argentina, the maximum number of generating units allowed to operate simultaneously cannot
exceed 18 (see the agreement section for more information).

The rated nominal power of each generating unit (turbine and generator) is 700 MW. However,
because the head (difference between reservoir level and the river level at the foot of the dam)
that actually occurs is higher than the designed head (118 m), the power available exceeds 750
MW half of the time for each generator.

Each turbine generates around 700 MW; by comparison, all the water from the Iguaçu Falls
would have the capacity to feed only two generators.

November 2009 power failure

On November 10, 2009, transmission from the plant was totally disrupted, possibly due to a
storm damaging up to three high-voltage distribution lines.[6] Itaipu itself was not damaged. This
caused massive power outages in Brazil and Paraguay, blacking out the entire country of
Paraguay for 15 minutes, and plunging Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo into darkness for more than
2 hours. 50 million people were reportedly affected. [7] The blackout hit at 10:13 p.m. local time.
It affected the southeast of Brazil most severely, leaving São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and Espírito
Santo completely without electricity. Blackouts also swept through the interior of Rio Grande do
Sul, Santa Catarina, Mato Grosso do Sul, Mato Grosso, the interior of Bahia and parts of
Pernambuco, energy officials said.[8] By 12:30 a.m. power had been restored to most areas.

Wonder of the Modern World

In 1994, the American Society of Civil Engineers elected the Itaipu Dam as one of the seven
modern Wonders of the World. In 1995, the American magazine Popular Mechanics published
the results.[9]

Social and environmental impacts

When construction of the dam began, approximately 10,000 families living beside the Paraná
River were displaced.[10]

The world's largest waterfall by volume, the Guaíra Falls were drowned by the newly formed
Itaipu reservoir. The Brazilian government liquidated the Guaíra Falls National Park, and
dynamited the submerged rock face where the falls had been, facilitating safer navigation, but
eliminating the possibility of restoring the falls in the future. A few months before the reservoir
was filled, 80 people died when an overcrowded bridge overlooking the falls collapsed, as
tourists sought a last glimpse of the falls.[11]

Statistics

Spillways in action.

Construction

• The course of the seventh biggest river in the world was shifted, as were 50 million tons
of earth and rock.
• The amount of concrete used to build the Itaipu Power Plant would be enough to build
210 football stadiums the size of the Estádio do Maracanã.
• The iron and steel used would allow for the construction of 380 Eiffel Towers.
• The volume of excavation of earth and rock in Itaipu is 8.5 times greater than that of the
Channel Tunnel and the volume of concrete is 15 times greater.
• Around forty thousand people worked in the construction.[citation needed]
 • The cost of constructing Itaipu makes it one of the most expensive objects ever built.

Generating station and dam

• The total length of the dam is 7235 m. The crest elevation is 225 m. Itaipu is actually four
dams joined together — from the far left, an earth fill dam, a rock fill dam, a concrete
main dam, and a concrete wing dam to the right.
• The spillway has a length of 483 m.
• The maximum flow of Itaipu's fourteen segmented spillways is 62.2 thousand cubic
metres per second, into three skislope formed canals. It is equivalent to 40 times the
average flow of the nearby natural Iguaçu Falls.
• The flow of two generators (700 m3·s−1 each) is roughly equivalent to the average flow of
the Iguaçu Falls (1500 m3·s−1).
• If Brazil were to use Thermal Power Generation to produce the electric power of Itaipu,
434,000 barrels (69,000 m3) of petroleum would have to be burned every day.
• The dam is 196 metres high, equivalent to a 65-story building.[12]
• Though it is the seventh largest reservoir in size in Brazil, the Itaipu's reservoir has the
best relation between electricity production and flooded area. For the 14,000 MW
installed power, 1350 square kilometres were flooded. The reservoirs for the
hydroelectric power plants of Sobradinho Dam, Tucuruí Dam, Porto Primavera Dam,
Balbina Dam, Serra da Mesa Dam and Furnas Dam are all larger than the one for Itaipu,
but have a smaller installed generating capacity. The one with the largest hydroelectric
production, Tucuruí, has an installed capacity of 8,000 MW, while flooding 2,430 km2
(938 sq mi) of land.

Hoover Dam, Facts, Statistics and Project Construction

Hoover Dam

Hoover dam is America's most famous landmark, completed in 1935. It was the most colossal
structure in the world at that time. This great American icon was to be the largest and heaviest
dam, producing the largest amount of Hydro electric power in the world.

The Hoover sketch details

21000 men took part in its construction and of them 112 laid their lives to complete this
megastructure. Though its not the superior dam today but still most famous, iconic and greatest
dam ever built. Situated in Mojave desert, 30 Km south-east of Las Vegas. Built on Colorado
River at Black Canyon, the construction site was extremely difficult. The risks involved were
huge and the consequences could have been catastrophic, if the dam failed.

Hoover Dam is 221m high, 201 meters thick and 3.4 million cubic meters of concrete has been
used in it.

Background for Hoover Construction

Colorado, worlds one of the most powerful and unpredictable rivers, would break its banks in
every spring and flood the area. The Government instructed the Bureau of Reclamation to come
up with a solution and they decided to build world's largest dam. The site chosen for the
megastructure Hoover Dam was Black Canyon. It is an 800 ft high deep gorge through which the
river flowed. The spot, Black canyon is in the middle of the desert, so there was no
infrastructure, no labors, no transportation and the weather too was harsh.

Frank Crow, was the Chief Engineer of Hoover Dam and was assigned the job to get it
completed in the span from 1931 – 1935. The construction of Hoover took 7 years at a cost of $
125 million. Nowadays this amount is about 788 million pounds. If the dam was not completed
in the given time it would have cost the contractors $ 3000 / day in financial penalties.

Stage 1 of construction

Hoover Tunnels
Hoover Tunnels. Tunnels Used to divert water from dam site

In April 1931 blasting for construction of plain dry area, upon which dam would be built, began.
To divert the Colorado river 4 tunnels were to be excavated on each side of the Canyon,
measuring 4000 ft long and the diameter of the tunnel was 56 ft, these were acting as diversion
channels. Two tunnels would be constructed on the Nevada side, and another two were to be
constructed on the Arizona side. 2 small cofferdams were built to force water into the tunnels. In
may 1931 the drilling continued. The digging, blasting, and debris removal continued for 13
months, with men working 3 shifts 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Holidays were observed only
at Christmas, 4rth July and Labor Day. The workers had to face harsh conditions but were paid
only 40% extra. No proper ventilation was provides, work was extremely physically demanding.
Men had to swing 100's of feet down the canyon walls to remove dangerous loose rocks, using
jacks and dynamites. Due to lack of safety measure men required nerves of steel. The most
common cause of death was, being hit by falling rocks.

Coffer dams, to build Hoover Dam

Because no roads led into the canyon, men (as well as equipment) arrived at the work site by
boat. Workers used 500 pneumatic drills, hoses, and compressors to make holes in the canyon
rock where explosives could be placed. Once holes were drilled, workers used dynamite to blast
into the rock and break it into smaller pieces that could be hauled away by dump trucks. A ton
(0.9 metric tons) of dynamite was required for every 14 feet (4.3 meters) of tunnel that workers
dug into the canyon wall. Special team then visited the inside of the tunnels to ensure it would
remain same for workers to work inside it. The tunnels were then lined with concrete and By
sliding sticks of dynamite into holes bored into the canyon wall, workers were able to blast and
excavate large diversion tunnels. These tunnels, each about the size of a 4-lane highway, were
lined with 3 feet of concrete, allowing river water to be transported away from the
construction site at a rate of 1.5 million gallons per second.

Till November, 14, 1932 four 4 tunnels were completed and the water was allowed to flow
through it.

Coffer Dams

Workers made the cofferdams by using 100 trucks to dump dirt, rock, and debris into the water
at a rate of one truckload every 15 seconds. This amazing pace of dredging and dumping went on
for five months. The largest flow ever recorded at Black Canyon 200,000 cubic feet per second,
was used by the Engineers to design the coffer dams.
 Stage 2 of construction

In this stage building the dam itself was the task. The work was too huge, there were many
problems in design which needed to be solved.

Design of the Hoover Dam

Hoover is a Gravity dam, stabilized by its huge mass

Hoover is an arch gravity dam, incorporating two principles.

According to the first principle, the weight of the dam forces it into the ground due to its weight,
thus helping it to remain stable.

In another principle, the arch shape of the dam deflects the force of the water into the canyon
walls through the compression of dam's concrete walls, using the compressive strength of
concrete (concrete is very strong in compression).

Major problem was the pouring of 3.4 million cubic meters of concrete. Plants were installed at
the construction site to produce concrete locally. But the dam was too big to be made into a
single concrete mount. If the concrete in the dam was poured in only one go, the concrete would
not have settled even today.

It is because when ingredients of concrete – cement, sand, coarse aggregate combine in the
presence of water, they start a chemical reaction, resulting in the generation of internal heat, thus
slowing down the curing process. The large the pour, the larger the cure. If heat is not dispersed,
cracks would form, weakening the structure.

Heat of hydration in Hoover dam

The cooling of Blocks to avoid shrinkage due to heat evolution

To counteract the problem of heat generation, Hoover dam was built in series of inter locking
blocks. This idea was conceived by a previous dam called Lower Crystal Spring dams. But
Hoover was even 20 times massive than gigantic Lower Crystals Spring Dam. Each block was 5
ft high and was inter locked with the neighboring one and water was forced between them. To
accelerate the setting of concrete, cool water pipes were passed through each block. Concrete
mix was cooled and cured faster. To speed up pouring of concrete in the mega structure, an
elaborate overhead network of cables and pulleys was designed, carrying vast buckets of
concrete. Labors stayed on the site to spread, place and compact the poured in concrete. Due to
this new method, a record breaking volume – 8000 cubic meters of concrete was poured in a
single day.
Akashi Kaikyō Bridge

Akashi Kaikyō Bridge

Akashi Kaikyō Ō-hashi (明石海峡大橋?)

Akashi Kaikyō Bridge from the air.

Other name(s) Pearl bridge
Carries 6 lanes of roadway
Crosses Akashi Strait[1]
Locale Awaji Island and Kobe[1]
Maintained by Honshū-Shikoku Bridge Authority
Design Suspension bridge[1]
Total length 3,911 meters (12,831 ft)
Height 282.8 metres (928 ft) (pylons)[1]
Longest span 1,991 meters (6,532 ft)[1]
Clearance
65.72 meters
below
Beginning date
1988[1]
of construction
Completion
1998[1]
date
Opened April 5, 1998
Toll ¥2,300
34°36′59″N 135°01′13″E /
34.61639°N
Coordinates 135.02028°ECoordinates:
34°36′59″N 135°01′13″E /
34.61639°N 135.02028°E
The Akashi-Kaikyō Bridge also known as the Pearl Bridge, has the longest central span of any
suspension bridge, at 1,991 metres (6,532 ft). It is located in Japan and was completed in 1998[1].
The bridge links the city of Kobe on the mainland of Honshū to Iwaya on Awaji Island by
crossing the busy Akashi Strait. It carries part of the Honshū-Shikoku Highway.

The bridge is one of the key links of the Honshū-Shikoku Bridge Project, which created three
routes across the Inland Sea.

History

Before the Akashi Kaikyō Bridge was built, ferries carried passengers across the Akashi Strait in
Japan. This dangerous waterway often experiences severe storms, and in 1955, two ferries sank
in the strait during a storm, killing 168 children. The ensuing shock and public outrage
convinced the Japanese government to develop plans for a suspension bridge to cross the strait.
The original plan called for a mixed railway-road bridge, but when construction on the bridge
began in April 1986, the construction was restricted to road only, with six lanes. Actual
construction did not begin until May 1986, and the bridge was opened for traffic on April 5,
1998. The Akashi Strait is an international waterway that necessitated the provision of a 1,500-
metre (4,921 ft)-wide shipping lane.

Architecture

The bridge has three spans. The central span is 1,991 m (6,532 ft)[1], and the two other sections
are each 960 m (3,150 ft). The bridge is 3,911 m (12,831 ft) long overall. The central span was
originally only 1,990 m (6,529 ft), but the Kobe earthquake on January 17, 1995, moved the two
towers sufficiently (only the towers had been erected at the time) so that it had to be increased by
1 m (3.3 ft).[1]

The bridge was designed with a two-hinged stiffening girder system, allowing the structure to
withstand winds of 286 kilometres per hour (178 mph), earthquakes measuring to 8.5 on the
Richter scale, and harsh sea currents. The bridge also contains pendulums that are designed to
operate at the resonance frequency of the bridge to damp forces. The two main supporting towers
rise 298 m (978 ft) above sea level, and the bridge can expand because of heating up to 2 metres
(7 ft) over the course of a day. Each anchorage required 350,000 tonnes (340,000 LT; 390,000
ST) of concrete. The steel cables have 300,000 kilometres (190,000 mi) of wire: each cable is
112 centimetres (44 in) in diameter and contains 36,830 strands of wire.[2][3]

The Akashi-Kaikyo bridge has a total of 1737 illumination lights: 1084 for the main cables, 116
for the main towers, 405 for the girders and 132 for the anchorages. On the main cables three
high light discharged tubes are mounted in the colors red, green and blue. The RGB model and
computer technology make for a variety of combinations. Currently, 28 patterns are used for
occasions as national or regional holidays, memorial days or festivities.[citation needed]

Use

The total cost is estimated at ¥500 billion, and is expected to be defrayed by charging commuters
a toll to cross the bridge. The toll is ¥2,300 and the bridge is used by approximately 23,000
cars/day.[4]

Nearby attractions

Two parks in proximity of the bridge have been built for tourists, one in Maiko (including a
small museum) and one in Asagiri. Both are accessible by the coastal train line.

Golden Gate Bridge

Golden Gate Bridge

 6 lanes of US 101 / SR 1 ,
Carries
pedestrians and bicycles
Crosses Golden Gate
San Francisco, California and Marin
Locale
County, California
Golden Gate Bridge, Highway and
Maintained by
Transportation District[1]
Joseph Strauss, Irving Morrow, and
Designer
Charles Ellis
Suspension, truss arch & truss
Design
causeways
1.7 mi (2.7 km) or 8,981 ft (2,737.4
Total length
m)[2]
Width 90 ft (27.4 m)
Height 746 ft (227.4 m)
Longest span 4,200 ft (1,280.2 m)[3]
Vertical 14 ft (4.3 m) at toll gates, higher
clearance truck loads possible
Clearance
220 ft (67.1 m) at mean high water
below
Opened May 27, 1937
Cars (southbound only)
$6.00 (cash), $5.00 (FasTrak), $3.00
Toll
(carpools during peak hours, FasTrak
only)
Daily traffic 118,000[4]
Connects:
San Francisco
Peninsula with
Marin County

37°49′11″N 122°28′43″W /
37.81972°N
Coordinates 122.47861°WCoordinates:
37°49′11″N 122°28′43″W /
37.81972°N 122.47861°W

The Golden Gate Bridge is a suspension bridge spanning the Golden Gate, the opening of the
San Francisco Bay into the Pacific Ocean. As part of both U.S. Route 101 and California State
Route 1, it connects the city of San Francisco on the northern tip of the San Francisco Peninsula
to Marin County. The Golden Gate Bridge was the longest suspension bridge span in the world
when it was completed during the year 1937, and has become one of the most internationally
recognized symbols of San Francisco, California, and of the United States. Despite its span
length being surpassed by eight other bridges since its completion, it still has the second longest
suspension bridge main span in the United States, after the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge in New
York City. It has been declared one of the modern Wonders of the World by the American
Society of Civil Engineers. The Frommers travel guide considers the Golden Gate Bridge the
"possibly the most beautiful, certainly the most photographed, bridge in the world"[5] (although
Frommers also bestows the most photographed honor on Tower Bridge in London, England).[6]

History
Golden Gate with Fort Point in foreground, circa 1891

Before the bridge was built, the only practical short route between San Francisco and what is
now Marin County was by boat across a section of San Francisco Bay. Ferry service began as
early as 1820, with regularly scheduled service beginning in the 1840s for purposes of
transporting water to San Francisco.[7] The Sausalito Land and Ferry Company service, launched
in 1867, eventually became the Golden Gate Ferry Company, a Southern Pacific Railroad
subsidiary, the largest ferry operation in the world by the late 1920s.[7][8] Once for railroad
passengers and customers only, Southern Pacific's automobile ferries became very profitable and
important to the regional economy.[9] The ferry crossing between the Hyde Street Pier in San
Francisco and Sausalito in Marin County took approximately 20 minutes and cost US$1.00 per
vehicle, a price later reduced to compete with the new bridge. [10] The trip from the San Francisco
Ferry Building took 27 minutes.

Many wanted to build a bridge to connect San Francisco to Marin County. San Francisco was the
largest American city still served primarily by ferry boats. Because it did not have a permanent
link with communities around the bay, the city's growth rate was below the national average. [11]
Many experts said that a bridge couldn’t be built across the 6,700 ft (2,042 m) strait. It had
strong, swirling tides and currents, with water 500 ft (150 m) in depth at the center of the
channel, and frequent strong winds. Experts said that ferocious winds and blinding fogs would
prevent construction and operation.[11]

Conception

Although the idea of a bridge spanning the Golden Gate was not new, the proposal that
eventually took place was made in a 1916 San Francisco Bulletin article by former engineering
student James Wilkins.[12] San Francisco's City Engineer estimated the cost at $100 million,
impractical for the time, and fielded the question to bridge engineers of whether it could be built
for less.[7] One who responded, Joseph Strauss, was an ambitious but dreamy engineer and poet
who had, for his graduate thesis, designed a 55-mile (89 km) long railroad bridge across the
Bering Strait.[13] At the time, Strauss had completed some 400 drawbridges—most of which were
inland—and nothing on the scale of the new project.[3] Strauss's initial drawings[12] were for a
massive cantilever on each side of the strait, connected by a central suspension segment, which
Strauss promised could be built for $17 million.[7]

Local authorities agreed to proceed only on the assurance that Strauss alter the design and accept
input from several consulting project experts.[citation needed]
A suspension-bridge design was
considered the most practical, because of recent advances in metallurgy.[7]

Strauss spent more than a decade drumming up support in Northern California. [14] The bridge
faced opposition, including litigation, from many sources. The Department of War was
concerned that the bridge would interfere with ship traffic; the navy feared that a ship collision or
sabotage to the bridge could block the entrance to one of its main harbors. Unions demanded
guarantees that local workers would be favored for construction jobs. Southern Pacific Railroad,
one of the most powerful business interests in California, opposed the bridge as competition to
its ferry fleet and filed a lawsuit against the project, leading to a mass boycott of the ferry
service.[7] In May 1924, Colonel Herbert Deakyne held the second hearing on the Bridge on
behalf of the Secretary of War in a request to use Federal land for construction. Deakyne, on
behalf of the Secretary of War, approved the transfer of land needed for the bridge structure and
leading roads to the "Bridging the Golden Gate Association" and both San Francisco County and
Marin County, pending further bridge plans by Strauss.[15] Another ally was the fledgling
automobile industry, which supported the development of roads and bridges to increase demand
for automobiles.[10]

The bridge's name was first used when the project was initially discussed in 1917 by M.M.
O'Shaughnessy, city engineer of San Francisco, and Strauss. The name became official with the
passage of the Golden Gate Bridge and Highway District Act by the state legislature in 1923.[16]

Design
South tower seen from walkway

Strauss was chief engineer in charge of overall design and construction of the bridge project. [11]
However, because he had little understanding or experience with cable-suspension designs,[17]
responsibility for much of the engineering and architecture fell on other experts.

Irving Morrow, a relatively unknown residential architect, designed the overall shape of the
bridge towers, the lighting scheme, and Art Deco elements such as the streetlights, railing, and
walkways. The famous International Orange color was originally used as a sealant for the bridge.
Many locals persuaded Morrow to paint the bridge in the vibrant orange color instead of the
standard silver or gray, and the color has been kept ever since.[18]

Senior engineer Charles Alton Ellis, collaborating remotely with famed bridge designer Leon
Moisseiff, was the principal engineer of the project. [19] Moisseiff produced the basic structural
design, introducing his "deflection theory" by which a thin, flexible roadway would flex in the
wind, greatly reducing stress by transmitting forces via suspension cables to the bridge towers.[19]
Although the Golden Gate Bridge design has proved sound, a later Moisseiff design, the original
Tacoma Narrows Bridge, collapsed in a strong windstorm soon after it was completed, because
of an unexpected aeroelastic flutter.[20]

Ellis was a Greek scholar and mathematician who at one time was a University of Illinois
professor of engineering despite having no engineering degree (he eventually earned a degree in
civil engineering from University of Illinois prior to designing the Golden Gate Bridge and spent
the last twelve years of his career as a professor at Purdue University). He became an expert in
structural design, writing the standard textbook of the time.[21] Ellis did much of the technical and
theoretical work that built the bridge, but he received none of the credit in his lifetime. In
November 1931, Strauss fired Ellis and replaced him with a former subordinate, Clifford Paine,
ostensibly for wasting too much money sending telegrams back and forth to Moisseiff. [21] Ellis,
obsessed with the project and unable to find work elsewhere during the Depression, continued
working 70 hours per week on an unpaid basis, eventually turning in ten volumes of hand
calculations.[21]

With an eye toward self-promotion and posterity, Strauss downplayed the contributions of his
collaborators who, despite receiving little recognition or compensation,[17] are largely responsible
for the final form of the bridge. He succeeded in having himself credited as the person most
responsible for the design and vision of the bridge.[21] Only much later were the contributions of
the others on the design team properly appreciated.[21] In May 2007, the Golden Gate Bridge
District issued a formal report on 70 years of stewardship of the famous bridge and decided to
give Ellis major credit for the design of the bridge.
Finance

The Golden Gate Bridge and Highway District, authorized by an act of the California
Legislature, was incorporated in 1928 as the official entity to design, construct, and finance the
Golden Gate Bridge.[11] However, after the Wall Street Crash of 1929, the District was unable to
raise the construction funds, so it lobbied for a $30 million bond measure. The bonds were
approved in November 1930,[13] by votes in the counties affected by the bridge.[22] The
construction budget at the time of approval was $27 million. However, the District was unable to
sell the bonds until 1932, when Amadeo Giannini, the founder of San Francisco–based Bank of
America, agreed on behalf of his bank to buy the entire issue in order to help the local economy.
[7]

Construction

Construction began on January 5, 1933.[7] The project cost more than $35 million.[23]

Strauss remained head of the project, overseeing day-to-day construction and making some
groundbreaking contributions. A graduate of the University of Cincinnati, he placed a brick from
his alma mater's demolished McMicken Hall in the south anchorage before the concrete was
poured. He innovated the use of movable safety netting beneath the construction site, which
saved the lives of many otherwise-unprotected steelworkers. Of eleven men killed from falls
during construction, ten were killed (when the bridge was near completion) when the net failed
under the stress of a scaffold that had fallen.[24] Nineteen others who were saved by the net over
the course of construction became proud members of the (informal) Halfway to Hell Club.[25]

The project was finished by April 1937, $1.3 million under budget.[7]

Opening festivities

Opening of the Golden Gate Bridge

The bridge-opening celebration began on May 27, 1937 and lasted for one week. The day before
vehicle traffic was allowed, 200,000 people crossed by foot and roller skate.[7] On opening day,
Mayor Angelo Rossi and other officials rode the ferry to Marin, then crossed the bridge in a
motorcade past three ceremonial "barriers", the last a blockade of beauty queens who required
Joseph Strauss to present the bridge to the Highway District before allowing him to pass. An
official song, "There's a Silver Moon on the Golden Gate", was chosen to commemorate the
event. Strauss wrote a poem that is now on the Golden Gate Bridge entitled "The Mighty Task is
Done." The next day, President Roosevelt pushed a button in Washington, D.C. signaling the
official start of vehicle traffic over the Bridge at noon. When the celebration got out of hand, the
SFPD had a small riot in the uptown Polk Gulch area. Weeks of civil and cultural activities
called "the Fiesta" followed. A statue of Strauss was moved in 1955 to a site near the bridge.[12]

Description

Specifications

A photograph of the bridge from a boat

Fog at the Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco

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, surpassing the Golden Gate Bridge by 60 feet (18 m).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 total length
to become the world's longest two-tower suspension bridge in total length between anchorages,
but the Mackinac Bridge has a shorter suspended span (between towers) compared to the Golden
Gate Bridge.

Structure

The weight of the roadway is hung from two cables that pass through the two main towers and
are fixed in concrete at each end. Each cable is made of 27,572 strands of wire. There are 80,000
miles (129,000 km) of wire in the main cables.[26] The bridge has approximately 1,200,000 total
rivets.

Traffic

As the only road to exit San Francisco to the north, the bridge is part of both U.S. Route 101 and
California Route 1. The median markers between the lanes are moved to conform to traffic
patterns. On weekday mornings, traffic flows mostly southbound into the city, so four of the six
lanes run southbound. Conversely, on weekday afternoons, four lanes run northbound. Although
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 movable median barrier. The eastern walkway
is for pedestrians and bicycles during the weekdays and during daylight hours only (6:30 am to
3:30 pm), and the western walkway is open to bicyclists on weekday afternoons (after 3:30 pm),
weekends, and holidays (3:30 pm to 6:30 am).

The speed limit on the Golden Gate Bridge was reduced from 55 mph (89 km/h) to 45 mph (72
km/h) on 1 October 1996.

Aesthetics
The Golden Gate Bridge by night, with part of downtown San Francisco visible in the
background at far left

Despite its red appearance, the color of the bridge is officially an orange vermillion called
international orange.[27] The color was selected by consulting architect Irving Morrow because it
complements the natural surroundings and enhances the bridge's visibility in fog. Aesthetics was
the foremost reason why the first design of Joseph Strauss was rejected. Upon re-submission of
his bridge construction plan, he added details, such as lighting, to outline the bridge's cables and
towers.[28] In 1999, it was ranked fifth on the List of America's Favorite Architecture by the
American Institute of Architects.

Paintwork

The bridge was originally painted with red lead primer and a lead-based topcoat, which was
touched up as required. In the mid-1960s, a program was started to improve corrosion protection
by stripping the original paint and repainting the bridge with zinc silicate primer and vinyl
topcoats.[29][30] Since 1990 Acrylic topcoats have been used instead for air-quality reasons. The
program was completed in 1995 and it is now maintained by 38 painters who touch up the
paintwork where it becomes seriously eroded.[31]

Current issues

Economics

The last of the construction bonds were retired in 1971, with $35 million in principal and nearly
$39 million in interest raised entirely from bridge tolls.[32]
In November 2006, the Golden Gate Bridge, Highway and Transportation District recommended
a corporate sponsorship program for the bridge to address its operating deficit, projected at $80
million over five years. The District promised that the proposal, which it called a "partnership
program", would not include changing the name of the bridge or placing advertising on the
bridge itself. In October 2007, the Board unanimously voted to discontinue the proposal and seek
additional revenue through other means, most likely a toll increase.[33][34]

On 2 September 2008, the auto cash toll for all southbound motor vehicles was raised from $5 to
$6, and the FasTrak toll was increased from $4 to $5. Bicycle, pedestrian, and northbound motor
vehicle traffic remain toll free.[35] For vehicles with more than two axles, the toll rate is $2.50 per
axle.[36][37]

Congestion pricing

Further information: San Francisco congestion pricing

In March 2008, the Golden Gate Bridge District board approved a resolution to implement
congestion pricing at the Golden Gate Bridge, charging higher tolls during peak hours, but rising
and falling depending on traffic levels. This decision allowed the Bay Area to meet the federal
requirement to receive $158 million in federal transportation funds from USDOT Urban
Partnership grant.[38] As a condition of the grant, the congestion toll must be in place by
September 2009.[39][40]

The first results of the study, called the Mobility, Access and Pricing Study (MAPS), showed
that a congestion pricing program is feasible.[41] The different pricing scenarios considered were
presented in public meetings in December 2008 and the final study results are expected for late
2009.[42]

Suicides
As a suicide prevention initiative, this sign promotes a special telephone available on the bridge
that connects to a crisis hotline.

The Golden Gate Bridge is not only the most popular place to commit suicide in the United
States but also the most popular in the entire world.[43] The deck is approximately 245 feet (75 m)
above the water.[44] After a fall of approximately four seconds, jumpers hit the water at some
76 miles per hour (122 km/h). At such a speed, water has been determined to take on properties
similar to concrete. Because of this, most jumpers die on their immediate contact with the water.
The few who survive the initial impact generally drown or die of hypothermia in the cold water.

An official suicide count was kept, sorted according to which of the bridge's 128 lamp posts the
jumper was nearest when he or she jumped. By 2005, this count exceeded 1,200 and new
suicides were averaging one every two weeks.[45] For comparison, the reported second-most-
popular place to commit suicide in the world, Aokigahara Forest in Japan, has a record of 78
bodies, found within the forest in 2002, with an average of 30 a year. [46] There were 34 bridge-
jump suicides in 2006 whose bodies were recovered, in addition to four jumps that were
witnessed but whose bodies were never recovered, and several bodies recovered suspected to be
from bridge jumps. The California Highway Patrol removed 70 apparently suicidal people from
the bridge that year.[47]

There is no accurate figure on the number of suicides or successful jumps since 1937, because
many were not witnessed. People have been known to travel to San Francisco specifically to
jump off the bridge, and may take a bus or cab to the site; police sometimes find abandoned
rental cars in the parking lot. Currents beneath the bridge are very strong, and some jumpers have
undoubtedly been washed out to sea without ever being seen. The water may be as cold as 47 °F
(8 °C).
The fatality rate of jumping is roughly 98%. As of 2006, only 26 people are known to have
survived the jump.[45] Those who do survive strike the water feet-first and at a slight angle,
although individuals may still sustain broken bones or internal injuries. One young man survived
a jump in 1979, swam to shore, and drove himself to a hospital. The impact cracked several of
his vertebrae.[48]

Engineering professor Natalie Jeremijenko, as part of her Bureau of Inverse Technology art
collective, created a "Despondency Index" by correlating the Dow Jones Industrial Average with
the number of jumpers detected by "Suicide Boxes" containing motion-detecting cameras, which
she claimed to have set up under the bridge.[49] The boxes purportedly recorded 17 jumps in three
months, far greater than the official count. The Whitney Museum, although questioning whether
Jeremijenko's suicide-detection technology actually existed, nevertheless included her project in
its prestigious Whitney Biennial.[50]

Various methods have been proposed and implemented to reduce the number of suicides. The
bridge is fitted with suicide hotline telephones, and staff patrol the bridge in carts, looking for
people who appear to be planning to jump. Iron workers on the bridge also volunteer their time
to prevent suicides by talking or wrestling down suicidal people.[51] The bridge is now closed to
pedestrians at night. Cyclists are still permitted across at night, but must be buzzed in and out
through the remotely controlled security gates.[52] Attempts to introduce a suicide barrier had
been thwarted by engineering difficulties, high costs, and public opposition. [53] One recurring
proposal had been to build a barrier to replace or augment the low railing, a component of the
bridge's original architectural design. New barriers have eliminated suicides at other landmarks
around the world, but were opposed for the Golden Gate Bridge for reasons of cost, aesthetics,
and safety (the load from a poorly designed barrier could significantly affect the bridge's
structural integrity during a strong windstorm).

Strong appeals for a suicide barrier, fence, or other preventive measures were raised once again
by a well-organized vocal minority of psychiatry professionals, suicide barrier consultants, and
families of jumpers after the release of the controversial 2006 documentary film The Bridge, in
which filmmaker Eric Steel and his production crew spent one year (2004) filming the bridge
from several vantage points, in order to film actual suicide jumps. The film caught 23 jumps,
most notably that of Gene Sprague as well as a handful of thwarted attempts. The film also
contained interviews with surviving family members of those who jumped; interviews with
witnesses; and, in one segment, an interview with Kevin Hines who, as a 19-year-old in 2000,
survived a suicide plunge from the span and is now a vocal advocate for some type of bridge
barrier or net to prevent such incidents from occurring.

On October 10, 2008, the Golden Gate Bridge Board of Directors voted 14 to 1 to install a
plastic-covered stainless-steel net below the bridge as a suicide deterrent. The net will extend
20 feet (6 m) on either side of the bridge and is expected to cost $40–50 million to complete. [54]
[55]
However, lack of funding could delay the net's construction.[56]

Wind

Air show over Golden Gate Bridge

Since its completion, the Golden Gate Bridge has been closed due to weather conditions only
three times: on 1 December 1951, because of gusts of 69 mph (111 km/h); on 23 December
1982, because of winds of 70 mph (113 km/h); and on 3 December 1983, because of wind gusts
of 75 mph (121 km/h).[57]

Seismic retrofit

Modern knowledge of the effect of earthquakes on structures led to a program to retrofit the
Golden Gate to better resist seismic events. The proximity of the bridge to the San Andreas Fault
places it at risk for a significant earthquake. Once thought to have been able to withstand any
magnitude of foreseeable earthquake, the bridge was actually vulnerable to complete structural
failure (i.e., collapse) triggered by the failure of supports on the 320-foot (98 m) arch over Fort
Point.[58] A $392 million program was initiated to improve the structure's ability to withstand
such an event with only minimal (repairable) damage. The retrofit's planned completion date is
2012.[59][60]
Doyle Drive replacement project

The elevated approach to the Golden Gate Bridge through the San Francisco Presidio is
popularly known as Doyle Drive. Doyle Drive, dating back to 1933, was named after Frank P.
Doyle, director of the California State Automobile Association.[61] The highway carries
approximately 91,000 vehicles each weekday between downtown San Francisco and suburban
Marin County.[62] However, the road has been deemed "vulnerable to earthquake damage", has a
problematic 4-lane design, and lacks shoulders. For these reasons, a San Francisco County
Transportation Authority study recommended that the current outdated structure be replaced with
a more modern, efficient, and multimodal transportation structure. Construction on the $1
billion[63] replacement, known as the Presidio Parkway, began in December 2009[64] and is
expected to be completed in 2013.

Øresund Bridge

Official name Øresundsbroen, Öresundsbron

Four lanes of European route E20
Carries
Double track Oresund Railway Line
Crosses Oresund strait (The Sound)
Copenhagen, Denmark and Malmö,
Locale
Sweden
Designer Georg Rotne
Design Cable-stayed bridge
Total length 7,845 metres (25,738 ft)
Width 23.5 metres (77.1 ft)
Longest span 490 metres (1,608 ft)
Clearance
57 metres (187 ft)
below
Opened July 2, 2000
Toll 285DKK[1] /375SEK[2] /39EUR[3]
Daily traffic ca. 17,000 road vehicles
55°34′31″N 12°49′37″E /
Coordinates
55.57528°N 12.82694°E
The Øresund or Öresund Bridge (Danish: Øresundsbroen, Swedish: Öresundsbron, joint
hybrid name: Øresundsbron) is a combined twin-track railroad and four-lane highway bridge-
tunnel across the Öresund strait. The Øresund Bridge connects Sweden and Denmark, and it is
the longest highway and railroad bridge in Europe. The Øresund Bridge also connects two major
Metropolitan Areas: those of the Danish capital city of Copenhagen and the major Swedish city
of Malmö. Furthermore, the Øresund Bridge connects the highway network of Scandinavia with
those of Central and Western Europe

The international European route E20 crosses this bridge-tunnel via the roadway, and the
Öresund Railway Line uses the railroads. The construction of the Great Belt Fixed Link – which
connects Zealand to Funen and whence to the Jutland Peninsula – and the Øresund Bridge have
connected Western and Central Europe to Scandinavia. The Øresund Bridge was designed by the
Danish architectural practice Dissing+Weitling.

The purpose for the additional expenditure and complexity related to digging a tunnel for part of
the way – rather than simply raising that section of the bridge – was to avoid interfering with
airliners from the nearby Copenhagen International Airport, and also to provide a clear channel
for ships in good weather or bad, and to prevent ice floes from blocking the strait. The Øresund
Bridge crosses the border between Denmark and Sweden, but according to the Schengen
Agreement and the Nordic Passport Union, there are usually no passport inspections. There are
customs checks at the entrance toll booths for entering Sweden, but not for entering Denmark.

Name

In Sweden and Denmark the bridge is most often referred to as Öresundsbron and
Øresundsbroen, respectively. The bridge company itself insists on Øresundsbron, a compromise
between the two languages. This symbolises a common cultural identity for the region, with
some of the people considering themselves "Öresund citizens" once the Øresund Bridge was
completed. Since the crossing is actually composed of a bridge, one artificial island, and a
tunnel, it is sometimes called the "Öresund Link" or the "Öresund Connection" (Danish:
Øresundsforbindelsen, Swedish: Öresundsförbindelsen).

The phrase The Sound Bridge is occasionally heard, using the historic English name for the
strait.
History

The construction of the Øresund Bridge began in 1995. It was finished about August 14, 1999.
Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark and Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden met midway across
the bridge-tunnel to celebrate its completion. Its official dedication took place on July 1, 2000,
with Queen Margrethe II, and King Carl XVI Gustaf as the host and hostess of the ceremony.
The bridge-tunnel was opened for public traffic later that day. On 12 June 2000, two weeks
before the dedication, 79,871 runners competed in a half marathon (Broloppet, the Bridge Run)
from Amager, Denmark, to Skåne, Sweden.

In spite of two schedule setbacks – the discovery of 16 unexploded World War II bombs lying on
the seafloor and an inadvertently skewed tunnel segment – the bridge-tunnel was finished three
months ahead of schedule.

Initially, the crossing was not used as much as expected, probably because of the high tolls.
Since 2005, there has been a rapid increase in traffic. This may have been caused by Danes
buying homes in Sweden – to take advantage of lower housing prices in Malmö – and
commuting to work in Denmark. In 2008, to cross by car cost DKK 260, SEK 325, or € 36.30,
although discounts up to 75% are available for regular users. In 2007, almost 25 million people
traveled over the Øresund Bridge: 15.2 million by car and bus, and 9.6 million by train.

Link features

The bridge
Aerial Photo of Oresund Bridge.

At 7,845 m (25,738 ft), the bridge covers half the distance between Sweden and the Danish
island of Amager, the border between the two countries being located 5.3 km (3.3 mi) from the
Swedish end. The structure has a mass of 82,000 tonnes and supports two railroad tracks beneath
four road lanes in a horizontal girder extending along the entire length of the bridge. On both
approaches to the three cable-stayed bridge sections, the girder is supported every 140 m (459 ft)
by concrete piers. The two pairs of free-standing cable supporting towers are 204 m (669 ft) high
allowing shipping 57 m (187 ft) of head room under the main span. Even so, most ship's captains
prefer to pass through the unobstructed Drogden Strait above the Drogden Tunnel. Its 491 m
(1,611 ft) cable-stayed main span is the longest of this type in the world. A girder and cable-
stayed design was chosen to provide the rigidity necessary to carry heavy railroad traffic, and
also to resist large accumulations of ice..

Peberholm

The bridge joins the Drogden tunnel on the artificial island christened Peberholm (Pepper Islet).
With characteristic good humour, the Danes chose the name to complement the natural island of
Saltholm (salt islet) just to the north. They also made Peberholm a designated nature reserve.
Built from Swedish rock and the soil dredged up during the bridge and tunnel construction,
Peberholm is approximately 4 km (2.5 mi) long, with an average width of 500 m (1,640 ft).
Drogden Tunnel

Cross-section of the Oresund Tunnel

The connection between the artificial island of Peberholm and the artificial peninsula at Kastrup
on Amager island – the nearest populated part of Denmark – is through the Drogden Tunnel
(Drogdentunnelen). The 4,050 m (13,287 ft) long tunnel comprises a 3,510 m (11,516 ft)
undersea tube tunnel plus 270 m (886 ft) entry tunnels at each end. The tube tunnel is made from
20 prefabricated reinforced concrete segments – the most massive in the world at 55,000 tonnes
each – interconnected in a trench dug in the seabed. Two tubes in the tunnel carry railway tracks;
two more carry roads while a small fifth tube is provided for emergencies. The tubes are
arranged side by side.

Rail transport

Satellite image of the Oresund Bridge

The public transport rail system is operated jointly by the Swedish SJ and the Danish via
DSBFirst on a commission by Skånetrafiken and other county traffic companies (that also sell
tickets) and the Danish transport agency. A series of new dual-voltage trains were developed
which link the Copenhagen area with Malmö and southern Sweden as far as Gothenburg and
Kalmar on selected schedules. SJ operate the X2000 and InterCity trains over the bridge with
connections to Gothenburg and Stockholm. DSB operate trains to Ystad that connect directly to a
ferry to Bornholm. Copenhagen Airport at Kastrup is served by its own train station close to the
western bridgehead. Trains operate every 20 minutes over the crossing and once an hour during
the night in both directions. An additional couple of Øresundstrains are operated at rush hour,
and 1-2 per hour and direction SJ trains and DSB trains every other hour. Freight trains also use
the crossing.

The rail connection has become popular and is now experiencing congestion. The congestion is
mainly on land and not really on the bridge. The railway stations on both sides of the bridge,
especially the Malmö Central Station, are the main sources of congestion. People have to stand
onboard during rush hour since it is hard to run more trains. The new Malmö City Tunnel and its
stations will relieve the congestion on the Swedish side.

The rail section is double track standard gauge (1435 mm; 4 ft 81⁄2 in) and capable of high-speeds
up to 200 kilometres per hour (120 mph), but slower in Denmark, especially in the tunnel
section. There were challenges related to the difference in electrification and signaling between
the Danish and Swedish railway networks. The solution chosen is to switch the electrical system,
from Swedish 15 kV, 16.7 Hz to Danish 25 kV, 50 Hz AC right before the eastern bridgehead at
Lernacken in Sweden. The line is signaled according to the standard Swedish system across the
length of the bridge. On Peberholm, the line switches to Danish signaling which continues into
the tunnel. Sweden runs railways with left-hand traffic and Denmark with right-hand traffic. The
switch is made at the Malmö Central Station, which is also a terminus. For the new Malmö City
Tunnel connection a flyover will pass one track over to the other side.

Costs

In the tunnel

The cost for the entire Øresund Connection construction, including motorway and railway
connections on land, was calculated at DKK 30.1 billion according to the 2000 year price index,
with the cost of the bridge paid back by 2035. In 2006 Sweden began spending a further SEK
9.45 billion on the Malmö City Tunnel as a new rail connection to the bridge; it is due for
completion in 2010.

The connection will be entirely user financed. The owner company is owned half by the Danish
government and half by the Swedish government. This owner company has taken loans
guaranteed by the governments to finance the connection, and the user fees are the only incomes
for the company. After the increase in traffic these fees are enough to pay the interest and begin
paying back the loans, which is expected to take about 30 years.

The tax payers have not paid for the bridge and the tunnel. However, tax money has been used
for the land connections. Especially on the Danish side the land connection has domestic benefit,
mainly connecting the airport to the railway network. The Malmö City Tunnel has the benefit of
connecting the southern part of the inner city to the rail network and allowing many more trains
to and from Malmö.

Toll charge

In April 2009, the toll for driving the fixed link was as follows (one way trip without discount) in
Danish kroner (DKK), Swedish kronor (SEK) and euro (EUR):

Vehicle DKK[1] SEK[2] EUR[3]

Motorcycle 150 215 21
Standard car 275 380 39
Motorhome/car+caravan 550 790 75
Minibus (6-9 metres) 550 790 75
Bus (longer than 9 metres) 1145 1675 157
Lorry/truck (9-20 metres) 795 1170 109
Lorry/truck (over 20 metres) 1190 1755 163
Train ticket[4] 78 98 9

There has been criticism of the tolls which are much higher than what many consider reasonable
for a bridge. However they are comparable with the ferry charges that were levied before the
bridge was built and for the ferries still running between Helsingborg and Helsingør.

Radio masts and towers

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search

Masts of the Rugby VLF transmitter in England

A dismantled radio mast in sections

Radio masts and towers are, typically, tall structures designed to support antennas (also known
as aerials) for telecommunications and broadcasting, including television. They are among the
tallest man-made structures. Similar structures include electricity pylons and towers for wind
turbines.

Masts are sometimes named after the broadcasting organisations that use them, or after a nearby
city or town.

The Warsaw Radio Mast was the world's tallest supported structure on land, but it collapsed in
1991, leaving the KVLY/KTHI-TV mast as the tallest.

In the case of a mast radiator or radiating tower, the whole mast or tower is itself the transmitting
antenna.

[edit] Mast or tower?

A radio mast base showing how virtually all support is provided by the guy-wires

The terms "mast" and "tower" are often used interchangeably. However, in structural engineering
terms, a tower is a self-supporting or cantilevered structure, while a mast is held up by stays or
guys. Masts tend to be cheaper to build but require an extended area surrounding them to
accommodate the stay blocks. Towers are more commonly used in cities where land is in short
supply.

There are a few borderline designs which are partly free-standing and partly guyed. For example:

• The Gerbrandy tower consists of a self-supporting tower with a guyed mast on top.
• The few remaining Blaw-Knox towers do the opposite: they have a guyed lower section
surmounted by a freestanding part.
• Zendstation Smilde a tall tower with a guyed mast on top (guys go to ground)
• Torre de Collserola a guyed tower, with a guyed mast on top. (Tower portion is not free-
standing.)

[edit] Materials
[edit] Steel lattice
Steel lattice tower

The steel lattice is the most widespread form of construction. It provides great strength, low wind
resistance and economy in the use of materials. Such structures are usually triangular or square in
cross-section.

When built as a stayed mast, usually the whole mast is parallel-sided. One exception is the Blaw-
Knox type.

When built as a tower, the structure may be parallel-sided or taper over part or all of its height.
When constructed of several sections which taper exponentially with height, in the manner of the
Eiffel Tower, the tower is said to be an Eiffelized one. The Crystal Palace tower in London is an
example.
[edit] Tubular steel

Some masts are constructed out of steel tubes. In the UK, these were the subject of collapses at
the Emley Moor and Waltham TV stations in the 1960s.

At several cities in Russia and Ukraine, guyed masts were built between 1960 and 1965 with
crossbars running from the mast structure to the guys. All these masts are tubular structures, used
exclusively for FM/TV transmission. Except for the mast in Vinnytsia, these masts have heights
between 150 and 200 metres.

First modern TV Tower in Stuttgart

[edit] Reinforced concrete

Reinforced concrete towers are relatively expensive to build but provide a high degree of
mechanical rigidity in strong winds. This can be important when antennas with narrow
beamwidths are used, such as those used for microwave point-to-point links, and when the
structure is to be occupied by people.

In the 1950s, AT&T built numerous concrete towers, more resembling silos than towers, for its
first transcontinental microwave route. Many are still in use today.

In Germany and the Netherlands most towers constructed for point-to-point microwave links are
built of reinforced concrete, while in the UK most are lattice towers.
Concrete towers can form prestigious landmarks, such as the CN Tower in Toronto. As well as
accommodating technical staff, these buildings may have public areas such as observation decks
or restaurants.

The Stuttgart TV tower was the first tower in the world to be built in reinforced concrete. It was
designed in 1956 by the local civil engineer Fritz Leonhardt.

Tokyo Tower

[edit] Fibreglass

Fibreglass poles are occasionally used for low-power non-directional beacons or medium-wave
broadcast transmitters.

[edit] Wood

There are fewer wooden towers now than in the past. Many were built in the UK during World
War II because of a shortage of steel. In Germany before World War II wooden towers were
used at nearly all medium-wave transmission sites, but all of these towers have since been
demolished, except for the Gliwice Radio Tower.

Ferryside Relay is an example of a TV relay transmitter using a wooden pole.

[edit] Other types of antenna supports and structures

[edit] Poles
Shorter masts may consist of a self-supporting or guyed wooden pole, similar to a telegraph pole.
Sometimes self-supporting tubular galvanized steel poles are used: these may be termed
monopoles.

[edit] Buildings

In some cases, it is possible to install transmitting antennas on the roofs of tall buildings. In
North America, for instance, there are transmitting antennas on the Empire State Building, the
Sears Tower, and formerly on the World Trade Center towers. When the buildings collapsed,
several local TV and radio stations were knocked off the air until backup transmitters could be
put into service.[1] Such facilities also exist in Europe, particularly for portable radio services and
low-power FM radio stations.

[edit] Disguised cell-sites

Completed in December 2009 at Epiphany Lutheran Church in Lake Worth, Florida, this 100'
tall cross conceals equipment for T-Mobile.

Many people view bare cellphone towers as ugly and an intrusion into their neighbourhoods.
Even though people increasingly depend upon cellular communications, they are opposed to the
bare towers spoiling otherwise scenic views. Many companies offer to 'hide' cellphone towers in,
or as, trees, church towers, flag poles, water tanks and other features.[2] There are many providers
that offer these services as part of the normal tower installation and maintenance service. These
are generally called "stealth towers" or "stealth installations".

The level of detail and realism achieved by disguised cellphone towers is remarkably high; for
example, such towers disguised as trees are nearly indistinguishable from the real thing, even for
local wildlife (who additionally benefit from the artificial flora).[3] Such towers can be placed
unobtrusively in national parks and other such protected places, such as towers disguised as cacti
in Coronado National Forest.[4]
Even when disguised, however, such towers can create controversy; a tower doubling as a
flagpole attracted controversy in 2004 in relation to the U.S. Presidential campaign of that year,
and highlighted the sentiment that such disguises serve more to allow the installation of such
towers in subterfuge away from public scrutiny rather than to serve towards the beautification of
the landscape.[original research?][5]

[edit] Mast radiators

Main article: Mast radiator

A mast radiator is a radio tower or mast in which the whole structure works as an antenna. It is
used frequently as a transmitting antenna for long or medium wave broadcasting.

Structurally, the only difference is that a mast radiator may be supported on an insulator at its
base. In the case of a tower, there will be one insulator supporting each leg.

[edit] Telescopic, pump-up and tiltover towers

Main article: Cell on wheels

A special form of the radio tower is the telescopic mast. These can be erected very quickly.
Telescopic masts are used predominantly in setting up temporary radio links for reporting on
major news events, and for temporary communications in emergencies. They are also used in
tactical military networks. They can save money by needing to withstand high winds only when
raised, and as such are widely used in amateur radio.

Telescopic masts consist of two or more concentric sections and come in two principal types:

• Pump-up masts are often used on vehicles and are raised to their full height
pneumatically or hydraulically. They are usually only strong enough to support fairly
small antennas.
• Telescopic lattice masts are raised by means of a winch, which may be powered by hand
or an electric motor. These tend to cater for greater heights and loads than the pump-up
type. When retracted, the whole assembly can sometimes be lowered to a horizontal
position by means of a second tiltover winch. This enables antennas to be fitted and
adjusted at ground level before winching the mast up.

[edit] Balloons and kites

A tethered balloon or a kite can serve as a temporary support. It can carry an antenna or a wire
(for VLF, LW or MW) up to an appropriate height. Such an arrangement is used occasionally by
military agencies or radio amateurs. The American broadcasters TV Martí broadcast a television
program to Cuba by means of such a balloon.

[edit] Other special structures

For two VLF transmitters wire antennas spun across deep valleys are used. The wires are
supported by small masts or towers or rock anchors. See List of spans: Antenna spans across
valleys. The same technique was also used for the Criggion VLF transmitter.

For ELF transmitters ground dipole antennas are used. Such structures require no tall masts.
They consist of two electrodes buried deep in the ground at least a few dozen kilometres apart.
From the transmitter building to the electrodes, overhead feeder lines run. These lines look like
power lines of the 10 kV level, and are installed on similar pylons.

[edit] Design features

[edit] Economic and aesthetic considerations

A radio amateur's do it yourself steel-lattice tower

Felsenegg-Girstel TV-tower

Uetliberg TV-tower
Communications tower, camouflaged as a slim tree

• The cost of a mast or tower is roughly proportional to the square of its height.[citation needed]
• A guyed mast is cheaper to build than a self-supporting tower of equal height.
• A guyed mast needs additional land to accommodate the guys, and is thus best suited to
rural locations where land is relatively cheap. An unguyed tower will fit into a much
smaller plot.
• A steel lattice tower is cheaper to build than a concrete tower of equal height.
• Two small towers may be less intrusive, visually, than one big one, especially if they look
identical.
• Towers look less ugly if they and the antennas mounted on them appear symmetrical.
• Concrete towers can be built with aesthetic design - and they are, especially in
Continental Europe. They are sometimes built in prominent places and include
observation decks or restaurants.

[edit] Masts for HF/shortwave antennas

For transmissions in the shortwave range, there is little to be gained by raising the antenna more
than a few wavelengths above ground level. Shortwave transmitters rarely use masts taller than
about 100 metres.

[edit] Access for riggers

Because masts, towers and the antennas mounted on them require maintenance, access to the
whole of the structure is necessary. Small structures are typically accessed with a ladder. Larger
structures, which tend to require more frequent maintenance, may have stairs and sometimes a
lift, also called a service elevator.

[edit] Aircraft warning features

Tall structures in excess of certain legislated heights are often equipped with aircraft warning
lamps, usually red, to warn pilots of the structure's existence. In the past, ruggedized and under-
run filament lamps were used to maximize the bulb life. Alternatively, neon lamps were used.
Nowadays such lamps tend to use LED arrays.

Height requirements vary across states and countries, and may include additional rules such as
requiring a white flashing strobe in the daytime and pulsating red fixtures at night. Structures
over a certain height may also be required to be painted with contrasting color schemes such as
white and orange or white and red to make them more visible against the sky.

[edit] Light pollution and nuisance lighting

In some countries where light pollution is a concern, tower heights may be restricted so as to
reduce or eliminate the need for aircraft warning lights. For example in the United States the
1996 Telecommunications Act allows local jurisdictions to set maximum heights for towers,
such as limiting tower height to below 200 feet and therefore not requiring aircraft illumination
under FCC rules. The limit is more commonly set to 190 or 180 feet to allow for masts extending
above the tower.

[edit] Wind-induced oscillations

One problem with radio masts is the danger of wind-induced oscillations. This is particularly a
concern with steel tube construction. One can reduce this by building cylindrical shock-mounts
into the construction. One finds such shock-mounts, which look like cylinders thicker than the
mast, for example, at the radio masts of DHO38 in Saterland. There are also constructions, which
consist of a free-standing tower (usually from reinforced concrete), onto which a guyed radio
mast is installed. The best known such construction is the Gerbrandy Tower in Lopik (the
Netherlands). Further towers of this building method can be found near Smilde (the Netherlands)
and Fernsehturm, Waldenburg, Baden-Württemberg, Germany).

[edit] Hazard to birds

Radio, television and cell towers have been documented to pose a hazard to birds. Reports have
been issued documenting known bird fatalities and calling for research to find ways to minimize
the hazard that communications towers can pose to birds.[6][7]

[edit] Catastrophic collapses

Main article: List of catastrophic collapses of radio masts and towers

[edit] Law
Since June 2010, Telecom operators in the USA can erect new telecom masts or towers as the
government has lifted the moratorium, which was earlier placed on the issuance of permits for
the construction of telecommunication towers.[8]