Continued....

[HoJofan206]

Here are some pictures of the original and new Sunshine Skyway bridges located in Bradenton Florida.  The original span opened in 1954.  The 15 mile span bridge ran from Bradenton to St Petersburg Florida.  The vertical clearance of the bridge was 150 ft high and appx 750 feet in width across the channel.

[HoJofan206]

The second "sister" bridge was added to for additional traffic in 1971 giving traffic two lanes in both directions.

[HoJofan206]

On a foggy morning in May of 1980 a horrible tradedy occurred.  As an empty frieght ship called the SUMMET VENTURE passed through the channel the large ship accidentally clipped the newer of the two bridges (the 1970-71 span)

[HoJofan206]

The impact caused 1261 feet of the center of the bridge to plummet into the bay below.  Taking with it 35 lives as many people drive right off of the missing bridge into the cold waters below.  Most of the victims were on a greyhound bus that simply drove right off the missing end of the bridge.

[HoJofan206]

This was a great blow to the local community in many ways.
The captain of the ship was later cleared of all charges in the mishap.  The second span was never replaced.

[HoJofan206]

The original bridge carried both lanes of traffic from may 1980 while a brand new bridge was constucted.

[HoJofan206]

It took neary 5 years to construct the New Sunshine Skyway Bridge over  the bay....

[HoJofan206]

The new style bridge is very attractive.....

[HoJofan206]

The new and old bridges sat side by side for a few years.  A sad reminder of the tragedy from that fatefull morning.

[HoJofan206]

1990 brought the beginning of the end to the original twin bridges.

[HoJofan206]

I recall driving over the new bridge in 1991 on a family vacation having no idea of the history of the weathered bridge setting abandoned....

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A construction crew removed the middle section of the original 1954 span in order to prepare for the demolition.

[HoJofan206]

Preparing for demolition...

[HoJofan206]

Explosives were used to destroy the original bridges and their concrete fittings.

[HoJofan206]

Demolition continues....

[HoJofan206]

continued....

[HoJofan206]

A sad picture of the grayhound bus being romoved after the accident.

[HoJofan206]

The New Sunshine Skyway bridge today.

[HoJofan206]

And a final original postcard of the 1954 single span.

[powersbt]

Very Interesting!! Very Well done. Thanks!!

[HoJofan206]

You are very welcome.  A sad story, but something interesting that I thought the group might want to hear about.

[HoJofan206]

The new bridge looks very nice with the lights on at night.

[HoJofan206]

Cool picture of the bridge from above.

[HoJofan206]

A classic 1950's Postcard of the original span  of the Sunshine Skyway bridge.

[HoJofan206]

Here is a before and after shot of the original bridges.

[HoJofan206]

Another older postcard of the original bridge.

[HoJofan206]

This is a link to a rather disturbing site linked to the Skyway Bridge.  www.jumperspool.com :no:

[HoJofan206]

Foggy morning picture of the bridge

[HoJofan206]

The "New" bridge to the left, and the remaining original spans used for fishing these days.  Most tourists have no idea of the tragedy from 27 years ago. :no:

[HoJofan206]

From a 1980 newspaper article, look how close the Buick got to going over the edge.  WOW!