Golden Gate Bridge travel guide describes the Golden Gate Bridge as "possibly the most beautiful, certainly the most photographed, bridge in the world." At the time of its opening in 1937, it was both the longest and the tallest suspension bridge in the world, with a main span of and a total height of . Before the bridge was built, the only practical short route between San Francisco and what is now Marin County was by boat across a section of San Francisco Bay. A ferry service began as early as 1820, with a regularly scheduled service beginning in the 1840s for the
Suicides at the Golden Gate Bridge or die of hypothermia. The Golden Gate bridge's death toll has since been surpassed only by the Nanjing Yangtze River Bridge in China. In 2013, 118 potential jumpers were talked down from their attempt and did not jump. A number of measures are in place to discourage people from jumping, including telephone hotlines and patrols by emergency personnel and bridge workers. Although it had previously been considered impractical to build a suicide barrier, in 2014 the Bridge's directors approved a proposal for a net below the bridge's deck, extending out either side, rather than side barriers at the railings as