Building in a War Zone

Construction from 1933 to 1937 was a daily battle against nature:

• Workers endured constant fog, wind, and freezing spray on exposed steel hundreds of meters above churning water
• The south tower foundation had to be built 30 meters underwater inside a massive concrete fender, while tidal currents tried to sweep everything away
• A safety net strung beneath the deck was the first ever used on a major bridge project

That net was revolutionary. Before it, the grim rule of thumb was one death per million dollars of bridge construction. Strauss's net caught workers who would otherwise have fallen, and it changed industry safety standards forever.