The Golden Gate Bridge is an iconic, long and breathtaking suspension bridge, but is there any more to it than that? You’re about to find out with these 18 interesting facts about The Golden Gate Bridge.

1. The Golden Gate Bridge was designed by Joseph Strauss in 1917.

2. Construction started in January 1933.

3. It was actually finished early!

4. And under budget!

5. In fact it was millions of dollars under budget and opened its doors in May 1937.

6. The bridge links San Francisco, California to Marin County.

7. There used to be a lucrative ferry service  in place of the bridge.

8. It had been fully booked from the moment it opened for business way back in 1820.

9. The ‘Golden Gate’ part of its name dates back to 1846.

10. This is when a traveling photographer said the area reminded him of the Byzantium harbour called ‘Golden Horn’.

11. A giant net was suspended under the bridge during the building process.

12. It successfully caught 19 falling workmen.

13. But failed to save the lives of 11 others.

14. At 4,200 ft across, it was the longest suspension bridge in the world when it was finished.

15. It would hold this title until the Verrazzano Bridge in NYC beat it in 1964.

16. The original plan was for it to be painted a rather garish black and yellow!

17. In today’s money it would cost a little over $600 million.

18. FDR and CDG are the only people in history to have had the entire bridge shutdown for their visits.