Bridging the Generations

The Golden Gate Bridge was opened in 1937 after years of haggling with San Francisco Bay ferryboat owners and skeptics who said that it could not be done. At first, traffic was so light that some toll collectors on the graveyard shift set garbage-can lids in the approach lanes to warn themselves of oncoming vehicles. But business soon picked up, and now runs to 33 million vehicles a year. The bridge has attracted more than cars. It gained an unfortunate reputation as one of America's most melodramatic suicide sites. Last week a 65-year-old woman became the 419th victim to take the plunge into San Francisco Bay.

This week a happier event occurs. The Golden Gate Bridge and highway transportation district will hand over a final installment check of $2,860,700 to the Bank of America to retire the original $35 million bond issue. The span cost a good deal more than that, of course; the interest alone came to more than $38 million. Now, with the presentation of the check to the bank, one generation has paid for what another built.

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