Sunshine Skyway Bridge
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The Sunshine Skyway Bridge is the world's longest cable-stayed concrete bridge, with a length of 29,040 feet (exactly 5.5 miles or approximately 8.85 km). It is part of I-275 (SR 93) and US 19 (SR 55), connecting St. Petersburg in Pinellas County, Florida and Palmetto in Manatee County, Florida, passing through Hillsborough County waters. Construction of the current bridge began in 1982 and was completed on February 7, 1987, at a cost of $245 million.
It is constructed of steel and concrete. Its longest span is 1200 feet (366 m), which is 193 feet (58.8 m) over the water. Twenty-one steel cables clad in nine-inch steel tubes along the center line of the bridge support the structure. It was designed by the Figg & Muller Engineering Group, and built by the American Bridge Company.
In November 2005, an act of Florida Legislature officially named the current bridge the Bob Graham Sunshine Skyway Bridge, after the Governor of Florida 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. [link]
Bridge disaster
The present bridge replaces a steel cantilever bridge of the same name. The original two-lane bridge was completed in 1954, with a similar structure built parallel to it in 1969 to make it a four-lane bridge and bring it to Interstate standards. The southbound span (the one built in 1969) was destroyed on May 9, 1980, when the freighter SS Summit Venture collided with a pier during a storm, sending over 1200 feet (366m) of the bridge plummeting into Tampa Bay. The collision caused several automobiles and a Greyhound bus to plunge 150 feet (46 m), killing 35 people, although one person survived the fall when his pickup truck hit the deck of the Summit Venture before falling into the Bay, allowing the single occupant ability and time to escape. [link]
The old bridge replaced a ferry from Point Pinellas to Piney Point. US 19 was extended from St. Petersburg to its current end north of Palmetto when the bridge opened. After the Summit Venture disaster, the northbound span carried one lane in either direction until the current bridge opened. The main span of the northbound bridge was demolished in 1992 and the approaches for both old spans were made into the Skyway Fishing Pier State Park. These approaches sit 1/2 mile (0.8 km) to the south and west of the current bridge.
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 (0.4 km) in either direction are surrounded by large concrete barriers called "dolphins" that can protect the bridge piers from collisions with freighters larger than the Summit Venture.
Bridge suicides/stunts
According to compilations from various media reports, at least 96 people have committed suicide by jumping from the center span into the waters of Tampa Bay since the opening of the new bridge in 1987 and many more have tried. Another 51 people ended their lives from the old Sunshine Skyway from 1954-1987. Several other missing persons are suspected of having jumped from the bridge, but their deaths could not be confirmed as no body was recovered.
At [skywaybridge.com], visitors can read extensive articles and news reports about suicide jumpers, as well as interesting information about the bridge. The site self-admittedly uses sarcasm to chronicle these jumpers in an effort to lessen the praise normally given suicide practitioners and to highlight the shame, hurt, and sorrow they leave behind for family and friends.
In response to the bridge's popularity as method of demise for the depressed, 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 received 18 calls from potential jumpers, all of whom survived, according to a [St. Petersburg Times] report. However, the total number of jumpers has not significantly declined since the introduction of these safeguards.
On April 27, 1997, a group of daredevils did a "pendulum swing" off the bridge, where they were to go back and forth on a rope attached to the cast-off point, eventually ending up directly below where they had started. This failed when the rope snapped, plunging them 60 meters into the water, leading to broken bones and neck injuries. [read articles] about this stunt.
Trivia
In the last scene of the crime film The Punisher, the hero of the movie stands on the Sunshine Skyway Bridge. The movie was set in the Tampa Bay area.External links
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