No, you are not going crazy if you’re in the San Francisco Bay Area and think you hear the Golden Gate Bridge singing. Okay, technically, it’s not singing, but it is humming, and it’s attracting a lot of attention.
High winds are producing the tones that are the side effect of a handrail retrofit designed to make the span more aerodynamic on gusty days, reported KTVU-TV. “We knew going into the handrail replacement that the bridge would sing during exceptionally high winds from the west, as we saw yesterday,” said Paolo Cosulich-Schwartz, spokesman for the Golden Gate Bridge, Highway and Transportation District.
The effect was captured in the video below by local resident Brianne Howell. She “started hearing a strange sound at random times for the past month or so while walking through Land’s End”, a coastal strip on the Golden Gate strait known for its walking trails.
The phenomenon was recorded and posted on social media, with some describing it as “angelic and peaceful,” others calling it eerie, mournful or annoying.
Turn up your volume and listen carefully to hear the bridge. A short commercial may run before the bridge starts doing its thing.
##RVT952
Yeah, sure you knew it would “sing” in high winds. Take that knuckleheads license away. Just what you design into the retrofit, a previously quite bridge for what, 90ty years, give or take, to now make noise. That clown is doing his best CYA impersanation.
Makes me think of the Tacoma Bridge incident in 1940.
Yep. The Tacoma Narrows Bridge collapse — “Galloping Gertie.” I can always remember the date, Nov. 7 (“someone’s” birthday), but not the year. For those of you who haven’t seen this dramatic footage, or you want to see it again, here ya go: https://youtu.be/XggxeuFDaDU 😉 —Diane at RVtravel.com
If you look at the trees in the foreground, the wind doesn’t seem to be very high.
I’d like to hear that recorded from next to the Exploratorium’s Wave Organ, also located on the SF Bay at the end of the breakwater at the Golden Gate Yacht Club. That would be an interesting “concert”, with the ferry horns or fog horns carrying the lower end…