Opened to traffic in 1987, the Sunshine Skyway Bridge is a cable stayed bridge with a vertical clearance of 191 feet above the 1,200-foot wide shipping channel over Tampa Bay.  The sight is beautiful and majestic as you cross depending on the time of day.  The Sunshine Skyway Bridge is a popular tourist attraction as well as a favorite among St. Petersburg residents and visitors year in and year out.  

Toll to drive across the Sunshine Skyway Bridge is $1.00 for passenger cars, and can be paid with cash or SunPass (an electronic toll collection device that makes driving on toll roads and bridges in Florida more convenient).

The Sunshine Skyway Bridge carries not only Interstate 275, but it multiplexes with US 19 from Exit 17 (54 Av S) to Exit 5 (US 19 South).

The beginning of the Sunshine Skyway Bridge:  The 1954 cantilever span

I wrote a term paper about the Sunshine Skyway Bridge back when I was in high school during my senior year.  The need for a lower Tampa Bay crossing can be traced back to the 1920’s when a suspension bridge was proposed.  However, it met opposition from shipping interests in Tampa, who wanted a tunnel instead.  All ideas of a bridge or tunnel had to be put on the shelf when World War II broke out.

After World War II the idea of a bridge was resurfaced.  The need for a bridge was justified due to the traffic using the Bee Line Ferry as it was the only way to get to Bradenton and points south without having to make the long drive through Tampa.

The makeup of the Sunshine Skyway Bridge would be a system of bridges and dredged causeways crossing lower Tampa Bay.  Each structure would be identified by a letter, with Structure A being the drawbridge crossing the Intracoastal Waterway and Structures B, D and E being small fixed span bridges.  The main event would be Structure C, which would carry the majestic cantilever through truss section as it crosses the shipping channel in Tampa Bay.

Construction began on the original Sunshine Skyway Bridge in 1950 and it was completed in 1954 with a gala grand opening ceremony on Labor Day weekend of that year.  The original bridge was a cantilever through-truss with a vertical clearance of 150 feet and a shipping channel clearance of 800 feet, which was adequate for ships of that era.  One can admire the architecture of the major support piers on either side of the shipping channel as well as the three other support piers on the deck truss section of the bridge.  The only thing that gives anyone the jitters is the steel grid deck as one crosses the shipping channel and the humming sound it makes as one drives across.

For those that don't know the experience of driving across a steel grid deck bridge, it's basically the same as if you were driving across a drawbridge, only it's longer.  Speaking of drawbridges, the first bridge as you leave St. Petersburg going south was a drawbridge.

The 1971 cantilever span:  From blueprint to disaster

Within a few years traffic increased so much that it justified a second span to accommodate southbound traffic.  Plans were prepared for construction of a second cantilever span utilizing the same plans as the Sunshine Skyway's 1954 counterpart.

Construction on the southbound span began in 1967 but it was not finished until 1971 due to settling of a major pier requiring major repair.  It was believed that the pilings driven into the bay bottom to support the pier were of concrete as opposed to steel and were not driven deep enough to the limestone below.  Repairs to the south channel pier were accomplished by driving steel pilings to the limestone and bracing the support pier to make the bridge safe for travel.

Except for the major south channel pier, all the other piers were designed and built identical to their 1954 counterparts.  I have drawn a comparison of the major support piers so that you can notice the difference.

The 1971 span when opened carried southbound traffic and it meant the difference; the 1954 span was converted to accommodate northbound traffic.  However, tragedy would strike nine years later on 9 May 1980 at 7:38 AM when the Summit Venture struck the southbound span of the Sunshine Skyway Bridge in a blinding rainstorm, toppling much of the southbound span into Tampa Bay and costing 35 lives including several aboard a Greyhound bus destined for Miami.  There were two survivors, one who went off the damaged end and swam to safety and another who stopped his car a mere 14 inches from plummeting into the churning waters of Tampa Bay 150 feet below.

After the Skyway disaster there was a choice that had to be made:  Repair or replace?  One side wanted the bridge repaired while the other side wanted a whole new bridge.  After all, two way traffic was once again being maintained on the 1954 span.  A decision was made to replace the Sunshine Skyway Bridge with a cable-stayed bridge modeled after a bridge in France.

The 1987 cable-stayed span:  A much better improvement than its cantilever counterparts

As Interstate 275 was being built through St. Petersburg, the need for a Sunshine Skyway Bridge that is up to interstate standards was more obvious.  Shortly after the 1980 Sunshine Skyway disaster there was talk briefly of not including Interstate 275 with the Sunshine Skyway, but the need was greatly justified, especially with the construction of the replacement cable-stayed bridge.  Both the 1954 and 1971 cantilever spans did not meet interstate standards.

Work begun on replacing the Sunshine Skyway Bridge in 1984 and it was completed with a lot of fanfare in 1987.  Two years later in 1989 the roads leading up to the Sunshine Skyway were brought up to interstate standards, including the construction of overpasses at the north and south rest areas to better facilitate access.  In 1994 the drawbridges were replaced by high level fixed span bridges similar to the Howard Frankland Bridge thereby correcting a potential traffic bottleneck when the drawbridges were up.

The old Sunshine Skyway Bridge was demolished in 1991 and the resulting ends were converted into fishing piers.  Today all that remains of the 1954 and 1971 bridges are that of the fishing piers that were created.  Once the new span was opened the 1954 and 1971 spans including their main channel support piers were a navigation hazard necessitating their demolition.

In November 2005 the Sunshine Skyway was renamed the Bob Graham Sunshine Skyway Bridge in honor of the former Florida governor who I believe made the right decision to replace the 1954 and 1971 cantilever spans with a new cable stayed bridge, modeled after a similar bridge in France.  After the old southbound (1971) span of the Sunshine Skyway collapsed on 9 May 1980 Pinellas and Manatee interests wanted the old cantilever bridge rebuilt as soon as possible while Hillsborough interests wanted a tunnel; the decision to replace the old bridges with the new cable stayed bridge pleased both interests.

Sunshine Skyway Bridge Pictures