St. Louis Gateway Arch

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St. Louis Gateway Arch
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Looks

• The base legs are equilateral triangles 60 feet
  per side
• Each side at the top is 17 feet wide
• It is 630 feet tall and 630 feet at the base
• The view from the top of the arch can reach 30
  miles

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History

• Arch construction started on February 12, 1963
  and lasted to October 28, 1965
• A year before construction, a nationwide
  competition was held to find the best design for
  the national monument
• Immediately after it was opened to the public,
  the unique tram system that combined an elevator
  cable lift system was installed.

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Design

• The architects who designed the Arch was Eero
  Saarinen and the engineer was Fred Severud
• Saarinens design was chosen after a nationwide
  competition, held the previous year
• The Dutch mathematician
• Christiaan Huygens named this curve

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Cost

• It cost about 13 million dollars to build the
  Arch
• The transportation system built inside cost about
  3.5 million dollars

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Reliability

• The structure sways about one inch in a 20 mph
  wind
• It is designed to sway up to 18 inches in 150
  mile per hour winds.
• On July 2007, one of the two trams was out of
  service after a power failure 200 people were
  trapped for hours inside

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Function

• The Arch commemorates Thomas Jefferson and the
  westward expansion of the United States
• It was also built to honor three events in
  American history the Louisiana Purchase, the
  establishment of the Cathedral Basilica of St.
  Louis, and the Dred Scott case

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Sources

• http//www.enchantedlearning.com/history/us/monume
  nts/stlouisarch/
• http//www.city-data.com/articles/The-Gateway-Arch
  -in-St-Louis-Missouri.html
• http//www.buzzle.com/articles/gateway-arch-facts.
  html
• http//www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2007-07-22-st-
  louis-arch_N.htm