SAN FRANCISCO, CA – The Golden Gate bridge is now singing and on some days, it can be heard for miles around the San Francisco area. The cause? New slats installed on the bridge’s bike path vibrate in the window, creating the eerie tones. Designers of the upgrades knew the bridge would hum after performing tests in a wind tunnel on scale models of the project.
“The Golden Gate Bridge has started to sing,” Paolo Cosulich-Schwartz, a spokesman for the Golden Gate Bridge, Highway and Transportation District said, “The new musical tones coming from the bridge are a known and inevitable phenomenon that stem from our wind retrofit during very high winds.”
On days with high winds spanning across the bridge, the humming begins. Here are some videos of what is going on.
Photo Golden Gate Bridge Transportation District.
The Golden Gate Bridge now makes music. You can hear this whistle all over the city pic.twitter.com/W1V9Dw4sXb
— Raemond (@RaemondBW) June 6, 2020
Anthony J.:
“Engineers designed new sides for the sidewalk to help with wind resistance but didn’t take into account the EXTREME sound it creates when wind passes through it. The bridge sings crazy songs now it’s so trippy. It hurts the ears and unbearable it’s that loud.” pic.twitter.com/GWdVia1GNS— Mark Krueger (@markkrueg) June 6, 2020