Stopping Corrosion on the Golden Gate Bridge

In 2012, the Golden Gate Bridge, Highway and Transportation District had a problem they thought they had to live with: a never ending paint job. The Golden Gate Bridge is so large that by the time painters finish repainting the mammoth structure, they have to start the entire process over again.

In 2013, The Golden Gate Bridge, Highway and Transportation District employed 33 full time painters to maintain this national icon. The current process of repainting the bridge involves: grinding the surface down to bare metal, applying a very thick, heavy zinc-loaded primer, and then finally the color coating over the primer.

Maintaining the bridge is particularly arduous due to the corrosive salt water environment it exists in. Salt is very damaging to paint, and quite often a literal “salt fog” blankets the bridge almost entirely.

Fifteen Million Dollars Spent on Maintaining the Golden Gate Bridge’s Paint Every Year

When we approached them, we did not know how long our protective coating would perform in this harsh environment, but we did know it would provide some much needed upkeep relief. They agreed to coat over part of the North Tower immediately after repainting it.

4 years later, the coated section looks almost exactly the same as the day the new paint was applied. As you can see, the uncoated section is heavily oxidized, failing, and aesthetically displeasing.

On average, fifteen million dollars is spent on maintaining the bridge’s paint every year. Millions of dollars will be saved by using our asset preservation coatings. When nanotechnology meets the coating industry, tax dollar eating problems like this one become easy to solve.