Golden Gate Bridge to a site near the bridge. In May 1987, as part of the 50th anniversary celebration, the Golden Gate Bridge district again closed the bridge to automobile traffic and allowed pedestrians to cross the bridge. However, this celebration attracted 750,000 to 1,000,000 people, and ineffective crowd control meant the bridge became congested with roughly 300,000 people, causing the center span of the bridge to flatten out under the weight. Although the bridge is designed to flex in that way under heavy loads, and was estimated not to have exceeded 40% of the yielding stress of the suspension cables, bridge officials
Suicides at the Golden Gate Bridge having let go of the rope. Retired UCSF professor of psychiatry Jerome Motto stated that Alarab might have been disturbed by the outbreak of the war and "that previously bearable pain suddenly became intolerable". On May 11, 2004, Gene Sprague, a native of San Mateo, California, committed suicide by jumping off the Golden Gate Bridge. His death is documented in the 2006 film "The Bridge". During the filming of "The Bridge", the crew noticed Sprague walking back and forth along the bridge for around 90 minutes, before stopping to lean over the railing. According to Eric Steel, the film's director,