Engineers Trying To Silence Loud Hum On The Golden Gate Bridge

Residents in and around San Francisco have been dealing with a loud humming sound emanating from the Golden Gate Bridge for over a year. The humming started last year after a sidewalk safety railing was retrofitted on the west side of the bridge.

The $12 million retrofit included replacing 12,000 wide slats with thinner ones to make the bridge safer in high winds. Unfortunately, when the wind blows through the slimmer slats, it creates a loud humming noise that can be heard as far as ten miles away.

Residents have been sharing videos of the eerie and sometimes piercing noise on social media.

Officials have tasked a team of engineers with fixing the issue. They are working in a wind tunnel in Ontario, Canada, using full-size sections of the railing to find a solution to deal with high winds while eliminating the loud humming noise.

They hope to have a solution by the summer but did not say when the issue would ultimately be fixed.

"We'll have more to say this summer," said bridge spokesman Paolo Cosulich-Schwartz. "It's a tricky business. We want to be absolutely sure we get it right. We will never sacrifice the structural integrity of the bridge, but we want to be responsive to our neighbors."

Photo: Getty Images


Sponsored Content

Sponsored Content