Painting The Golden Gate Bridge
The Golden Gate Bridge has always been painted orange vermilion, deemed "International Orange." Rejecting carbon black and steel gray, Morrow selected the color because it blends well with the span's natural setting. If the U.S. Navy had its way, the Bridge might have been painted black with yellow stripes to assure greater visibility for passing ships.
Painting the Bridge is an ongoing task and the primary maintenance job. The Bridge paint protects it from the high salt content in the air, which rusts and corrodes the steel components. Many misconceptions exist about how often the Bridge is painted. Some say once every seven years, others say from end to end each year. Actually, the Bridge was painted when it was originally built with a red lead primer and a lead-based topcoat. For the next 27 years, only touch up was required. By 1968, advancing corrosion sparked a program to remove the original paint and replace it with an inorganic zinc silicate primer and vinyl topcoats. The topcoat was changed to acrylic emulsion in 1990 to meet air quality requirements. The original program was completed in 1995 with continuous touch up on areas with the most severe erosion.
Many people ask how to obtain International Orange Paint - it easy-your
paint store can mix it with the following information:
The PMS code is 173 or the CMYK colors are: C= Cyan: 0%, M =Magenta:69%, Y
=Yellow:100%, K = Black:6%