What is the main span of San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge?

The main span of San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge measures 1,280 metres, or 4,200 feet.

This is the distance between the bridge’s two main towers across the Golden Gate Strait, the entrance from the Pacific Ocean to San Francisco Bay. When the bridge opened in 1937, that span was the longest suspension-bridge main span in the world.

The bridge was designed by chief engineer Joseph B. Strauss, with important design contributions from Leon Moisseiff and Charles Alton Ellis. Its towers rise 227 metres above the water, while the roadway sits about 67 metres above the average high tide.

The 1,280-metre figure refers only to the central main span, not the bridge’s total length. The full structure, including its approaches, extends for about 2,737 metres. This distinction explains why different sources give different measurements for the same bridge.