Sunshine Skyway Bridge

In 1924, J.G. "Jim" Foley, a realtor, and his partner Charles R. Carter joined with James E. Bussey, an attorney, to create the Bee Line Ferry Company. The service started on March 7, 1927, and originally had two ferries: Fred D. Doty and the City of Wilmington (which was late renamed Pinellas). The ferry crossed from the end of Bay Vista Park in St. Petersburg and went to Piney Point on the other side of the bay.[11]

A physiotherapist from St. Petersburg named Herman Simmonds proposed building a "high-level suspension bridge" in 1926.[6] Sometime during 1927, Simmonds received congressional approval and a permit from the US War Department to build a bridge. However, efforts were put on hold due to the Great Depression.[12]

The Florida State Legislature gave the Bee Line Ferry a franchise for 50 years to operate it in 1929.[13] Another unsuccessful proposal to build a crossing would occur in 1929 when a bill was introduced into the state legislature to build a tunnel crossing lower Tampa Bay running from Pinellas Point to Piney Point. With the tunnel itself being buried 40 feet (12 m) under the bay and going for a length of 1,000 feet (300 m). However this proposal was not successful in the end with unspecified "Tampa officials" arguing that any bridge or tunnel would be a navigational hazard during periods of war time.[14]

The ferry service continued to expand with the Fred D. Doty being replaced by another ferry called the Manatee in 1932. A fourth vessel, the Sarasota was bought and put into service in 1937. Ferries departed every 30 minutes between 7:30 am and 9 pm during the winter. In the summer, they departed every 45 minutes.[11] The ferry company ceased operating when the US federal government confiscated the boats as they needed them for the World War II war effort in 1942.[15]

At close to the same time when the proposal from Simmonds ended, another proposal originating from Louis E. Saupe emerged. Saupe who was the head of the West Coast Bridge and Tunnel Co. wanted a combination of a causeway and a tunnel. The causeway portion would go from Maximo Point to Mullet Key while the tunnel portion would run for less than a 1/2 mile before transitioning to a causeway until reaching Terra Ceia. Pinellas County commissioners liked the idea and agreed to it. In 1939 they pushed state officials to approve it and the state legislature agreed to back it. Since the bridge would cross into part of Hillsborough County, which was not included in the bill for the bridge, it was declared unconstitutional.[16]

During 1944, the St. Petersburg Port Authority bought the franchise from the company that operated the ferry. They continued to operate the ferry until the opening of the Sunshine Skyway Bridge.[12]

Bail, Horton, and Associates along with Parsons, Brinckerhoff, Hogan & Macdonald received a contract from the port authority on December 20, 1944, to design the bridge. Both firms released a report in November 1945 about the bridge.[15] Freeman Horton of Bail, Horton and Associates proposed Snead Island as its southern terminus and 10th Street in Palmetto be the thoroughfare.[17] Bail, Horton, and Associates was awarded the contract but as it was unable to get $10 million in revenue bonds, the state government halted the project sometime during the late 1940s. The design competition was reactivated again in the early 1950s with Parsons, Brinckerhoff, Hogan & Macdonald getting the contract this time[15] and they ended up serving as the engineers for construction and design. The partner-in-charge for Brinckerhoff was M. N. Quade. The successful attempt for building the bridge came after the Florida State Improvement Commission was approached with a proposal that they finance it while the State Road Department (SRD) built it. The Florida's State Improvement Commission proceeded to at some point take over the St. Petersburg Port Authority's assets which included $520,000 seen with bonded indebtedness. A $21,250,000 bond issue was passed by the Improvement Commission and sales started after the Port Authority's assets were acquired.[18]

On July 4, 1950 a day-long celebration was held in St. Petersburg called "Spans Across the Bay". The name of the bridge was announced that day being the Sunshine Skyway Bridge. The name was submitted by Virginia Seymore of Indian Rocks, Florida as part of a national contest to give the bridge a name with 20,000 entries being submitted.[12] The contest was held by the St. Pete Junior Chamber of Commerce and the State Road Department. Names that were prohibited would be those that referred to a person's name or a geographic place.[19] Construction bids began to be accepted during that day as well.[12] Construction started on October 19, 1950[6] with 544 people helping to build the bridge in total.[19] Staging areas were put at both crossing sites. An entire concrete factory was established near Piney Point while prefabricated concrete parts were delivered via barge from a site in Tampa where they were made.[12] 4,100,000 cubic yards of material would be dredged as part of building the causeways for the bridge. To physically build the bridge: 12,104,000 pounds (5,490,000 kg) of structural steel, 8,536,700 pounds (3,872,200 kg) of rebar and 115,980 cubic yards of concrete would be used.[19]

A postcard depicting the original Sunshine Skyway bridge.

The original two-lane bridge was built by the Virginia Bridge Company and opened to traffic on September 6, 1954.[7][20] At the time of the bridge's opening it would be among the longest bridges on Earth and it was the longest continuous bridge in the United States.[19] Notable participants in opening ceremonies that day would be: US Senator and former Governor Spessard Holland, former Governors Charley E. Johns and Fuller Warren along with James Melton and General James Van Fleet. Delegations from 10 Florida counties would participate that day as well.[21] On the day the original bridge opened, it would be toll free from 11 AM to 11 PM.[20] It was reported that 15,086 cars crossed the bridge starting at 11:40 AM when opening ceremonies ended and 11 PM when the toll free time ended.[22]

The bridge's central span would be 22,373 feet (6,819 m) long with a 864 feet (263 m) opening for a ship channel. It consisted of 32 concrete piers set every 135 feet (41 m) apart with the exception of the ship channel and the bridge went upwards at a 5% grade.[7] There would be two lanes for it with no passing allowed. The original maximum speed limit would be 45 miles per hour (72 km/h) and the minimum was 35 miles per hour (56 km/h). There would be no illumination as well making the bridge dark at night.[19] The bridge would not be easily accessible to reach however and drivers would often have to take detours to reach it. US Route 19's final segment which ended at the Sunshine Skyway Bridge would be opened on July 19, 1955.[6]

A similar structure was built parallel and to the west of it in 1969 to make it a four-lane bridge and bring it to Interstate Highway standards. Opening of the newer span was delayed until 1971 for reinforcing of the south main pier, which had cracked due to insufficient supporting pile depth.[23] It would end up being dedicated on May 19, 1971.[24] During the dedication for the second span, Governor Reuben Askew would be present and so would the mayor of Bradenton, B.T. Arbuckle.[25] The second span was used for all southbound traffic, while the original span was converted to carry northbound traffic.

The collapsed original bridge on May 9, 1980, after the Summit Venture collision

The current bridge (top) and the old bridges. The piers of the current bridge are protected by structural dolphins. The collapsed bridge is under demolition.

The southbound span (opened in 1971) of the original bridge was destroyed at 7:38 a.m. on May 9, 1980, when the freighter MV Summit Venture collided with a pier (support column) during a sudden squall, sending over 1,200 feet (370 m) of the bridge plummeting into Tampa Bay. The collision caused six cars, a truck, and a Greyhound bus to fall 150 feet (46 m) into the water, killing 35 people.[26][27] One man, Wesley MacIntire, survived, although, contrary to belief, his Ford Courier pickup truck did not land on the deck of the Summit Venture and roll into the water; rather, it flew into the hull on the port side, ricocheted off and sank.[28] He sued the company that owned the ship, and settled in 1984 for $175,000 ($456,000 today).[29] Several other drivers - including former Major League Baseball player Granny Hamner - were able to stop their vehicles before reaching the gap in the roadway.[30]

John Lerro, the harbor pilot who had been steering the ship, was later cleared of wrongdoing by both a state grand jury and a Coast Guard investigation. A microburst had suddenly hit the freighter with torrential rains and 70 mph (110 km/h) winds as it was in the middle of a turn in the shipping channel nearing the bridge, cutting visibility to near zero and temporarily rendering the ship's radar useless.[31][32][33] Lerro put the ship's engines into full reverse and ordered the emergency dropping of the anchor as soon as he realized that the freighter was out of the channel, but the bow still hit two support piers with enough force to cause a portion of the roadway to collapse.[34] The south main pier withstood the ship strike without significant damage, but a secondary pier to the south was not designed to withstand such an impact and failed catastrophically.[23]

After the Summit Venture disaster, the southbound span was used as a temporary fishing pier and the northbound span was converted back to carry one lane in either direction until the current bridge opened. Before the old bridge was demolished and hauled away in barges, MacIntire (the only survivor in the collapse) was the last person to drive over it. He was accompanied by his wife, and when they reached the top of the bridge, they dropped 35 white carnations into the water, one for each person who died in the disaster.[35] MacIntire later died of bone cancer on October 16, 1989.[36]

Both the main spans of both the intact northbound bridge and the damaged southbound bridge were demolished in 1993 and the approaches for both old spans were made into the Skyway Fishing Pier State Park. These approaches sit 1⁄2 mile (800 m) to the south and west of the current bridge. The approaches of the 1950s span were demolished in 2008.

Gov. Graham's idea for the design of the current bridge won out over other proposals, including a tunnel (deemed impractical due to Florida's high water table) and a simple reconstruction of the broken section of the old bridge that would not have improved shipping conditions. The new bridge's main span is 50% wider than the old bridge. The piers of the main span and the approaches for 1⁄4 mile (400 m) in either direction are surrounded by large concrete barriers, called "dolphins", that can protect the bridge piers from collisions by ships larger than the Summit Venture like tankers, container ships, and cruise ships.[37]

In 1990 FDOT awarded the winning bid to Hardaway Company to demolish all steel and concrete sections of the older Sunshine Skyway Bridge.[38] The scope of the project required that all underwater piles and piers, and surface roadway, girders, and beams be dismantled. Special care had to be taken in removing underwater bridge elements near the shipping channel. Additionally, the concrete material, deck sections, pilings and steel girders were to be collected in order to be placed offshore and along the remaining bridge approaches to become artificial reefs for the new planned state fishing park. The main bridge span had to be removed in one piece in order not to block the main shipping canal leading to the Port of Tampa.[39]

During the disassembly work of the bridges’ structural steel members, several difficult engineering challenges had to be resolved: the order of disassembly, a safe method for detonating charges on concrete and steel members in a publicly open and difficult to control area such as the Tampa Bay, and the development of a safe methodology for the removal in one piece of the bridge’s main span and concrete piers.

After extensive research, the engineering team developed a 4 × 1:16 ratio pulley system where each of the four corners of the span was connected to two 25-ton winches (bolted to the pavement of the deck). These winches controlled the descent of the main 360-foot (110 m), 608-ton span to a barge anchored 150 feet (46 m) below. As part of the project design, the engineering team developed a real-time, computerized, synchronized descent calculator and control program to help each of the two winch management teams ensure that all winches were synchronized at the same 30 feet (9.1 m) per minute descent rate. The operation was executed successfully in 2+1⁄2 hours despite adverse weather conditions.[40]

Work would begin on creating a replacement bridge in January 1983. The foundation would be driven into the bay during January and work on the main piers would start in September. A report would be issued by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) saying the bridge's design was flawed but the Florida Department of Transportation would deny this. A variety of construction mistakes which delayed progress on the bridge and accidents were reported to have happened. Initially the bridge was scheduled to be opened to traffic originally in January 1987 but was delayed because of bad weather before the bridge finally was opened [41] at 2 PM on April 30, 1987.[42] One day prior to the bridge's opening on April 29 at about 3:30 PM on "a clear and sunny afternoon", The Deliverance a shrimp boat had hit one of the new bridge's bumpers. The bumper would sustain minor damage while the bridge itself had none. The vessel started to sink after hitting the bumper and was towed out of the channel into shallow waters.[43]

At least 315 people have committed suicide by jumping from the bridge or its predecessors into the waters of Tampa Bay. An estimated 45 others have survived.[44] Many other missing persons are suspected of having jumped from the bridge but their deaths could not be confirmed as no bodies were recovered.

In response to the high number of suicide attempts from the bridge, the state of Florida installed six crisis hotline phones along the center span in 1999, and began 24-hour patrols. As of 2003, the call center at the Crisis Center of Tampa Bay received 18 calls from potential jumpers, all of whom survived, according to a 2003 St. Petersburg Times report.[45]

In 2006, a feature film Loren Cass was released, which depicted a suicide jump off the Sunshine Skyway.[46] Two years later, a second filmmaker, Sean Michael Davis of Rhino Productions, was inspired by his haunting experience witnessing a woman jump off the bridge so quickly that no one could intervene, to create a not-for-profit film titled Skyway Down. His objectives: to deter other potential jumpers by " 'punch[ing] them in the face' with interviews with survivors and family members",[47] to give them "hope and to try to de-glorify the romanticism of the bridge",[48] in part by informing those who have "mulled a leap to know about the bloody, battered aftermath."[47]

In January 2020, FDOT announced they would install the Skyway Vertical Net, a vertical barrier in an effort to deter suicide attempts.[49] The vertical barrier was placed on the outside walls of the bridge and extends vertically 8 feet (2.4 m) from the side barriers. It spans each side of the bridge for about 1.5 miles (2.4 km). Construction for the project began in fall 2020 and completed in June 2021.[50]

As part of any Florida controlled-access highway, pedestrians and bicycles are prohibited.[51] Stopping on the bridge for any non-emergency, including sightseeing, is prohibited. Traffic on the bridge is monitored by the Florida Highway Patrol, and a stopped vehicle, bicyclist, or pedestrian will elicit a police dispatch.

A major problem with the Sunshine Skyway Bridge is corrosion of the steel in the precast concrete segmental columns on the high level approaches. Because the segments are hollow, workers were able to enter the bridge superstructure in 2003 and 2004 to reinforce the corroded sections of the bridge, ensuring its future safety.[52] Another problem arose around 2005–06 when several news bureaus reported paint discolorations on the bridge's cables. These paint splotches and patches were a result of touch-ups that were performed sometime in 1998 but began to show through as a result of using newer, environmentally-safe paint. The change in the paint's composition caused it to fade faster than expected.

From 2006 to 2008, Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) hired a contractor to perform the first full repainting of the bridge since it opened in 1987. The work included repainting the bridge's 42 steel cables one consistent shade of yellow and rehabilitating the lighting system at the summit of the bridge.[53]

A 2014 FDOT study noted that the Skyway's low bridge clearance prevented larger vessels from using the Port Tampa Bay terminals, but made no recommendation about options as the air draft of most new cruise ships exceeds the bridge's height limit at 180 feet (55 m).[54]

The former and current bridge have been featured in various forms of media. The original Sunshine Skyway Bridge is featured in Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar and the opening credits to Superboy. The current bridge has provided the setting for several films such as Loren Cass and The Punisher. The bridge also served as plot devices to various novels such as Dennis Lehane's 1997 novel Sacred[55] and Ben Bova's 2005 novel Powersat.[56] The bridge is also the subject of the song "Skyway Avenue" by We the Kings.[57]

The United States Postal Service featured the bridge in 2012 on a Priority Mail postage stamp. Carl T. Hermann worked on the painting and the digital illustration was created by artist Dan Cosgrove.[58]

In 2005, an act of the Florida Legislature officially named the current bridge the Bob Graham Sunshine Skyway Bridge, after the former Governor of Florida and then U.S. Senator who presided over its design and most of its construction. According to sources, he was inspired to suggest the current design by a visit to France, where he saw a similar cable-stayed bridge, the Brotonne Bridge. The original bridge was dedicated to state engineer William E. Dean, as noted on a plaque displayed at the rest area at the south end of the bridge.

In November 2017, work began on installing decorative lighting to the Skyway's columns, main spans, and sloped spans.[59] The $15.6 million lighting project provides a visual aesthetic while also enhancing safety and security by providing more light to the underside of the bridge from dusk to dawn. Over 1,800 LEDs were installed along 1.7 miles (2.7 km) of the bridge which cycles through animated routines. The lighting project was completed in October 2019 and funded by FDOT through collected toll fees.[60]

On January 11, 1987, the Skyway Bridge opened-up to 10,000 runners, joggers and walkers before the bridge was opened to motor vehicle traffic the following week. Runners participated in four races that ran simultaneously across the bridge, with two races going southbound and two races directed northbound.[61]

On March 4, 2018, in partnership with the Armed Forces Families Foundation, the Skyway Bridge was closed for the Inaugural Skyway 10K.[62] In contrast to the one-time race in 1987, the Skyway 10K has been held annually since 2018 with the exception of 2021 as it was cancelled due to the COVID-19 Pandemic and would be held virtually instead.[63]

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  Before demolition
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  Demolition of steel and concrete girders. Truncated pier visible was the one struck by Summit Venture
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  Main bridge span secure on barge being towed away
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  Blasting steel truss
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  Blasting concrete piers

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  The bridge at twilight
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  View of bridge from Fort De Soto Park
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  Driving on the bridge, near the peak
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  View of bridge heading south
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  View from Tampa Bay
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  The bridge in 2019