The iconic Sunshine Skyway Bridge brings shining days and luminous nights over Tampa Bay
The iconic Bob Graham Sunshine Skyway Bridge, typically called the Sunshine Skyway or just the Skyway, spans more than four miles across the mouth of Tampa Bay, the waterway at the heart of the region, connecting Pinellas and Manatee counties.
The famed Skyway is one of the longest bridges in Florida, second only to one other platform: the Seven-Mile Bridge, which, while aptly named for its impressive length, is dwarfed by the Skyway in virtually every other category. The Skyway is bursting with history, to boot.
Spectacular sights
The Skyway is quite photogenic, featuring in several different media, including the opening credits of “Superboy” and 2004’s “The Punisher,” not to mention written cameos in a couple of novels.
Anyone who has seen this beauty in person will understand the allure. The Skyway’s golden arches are real attention magnets — two sharp, gilded tributes to Greater Tampa Bay’s year-round sunny glow. At night, the Skyway’s supporting pillars are illuminated by multi-hued fluorescent lights. This is a bridge that grants passage in celebrity and style.
While the Skyway is not open to pedestrians, drivers, be prepared for passengers to insist on slowing down — everyone will want to soak in that view of Tampa Bay’s skyline and the big, blue sea.
Past of the pathway
The Skyway in its current form opened for traffic in 1987, but the original bridge was a golden oldie from back in 1954. Even this initial structure was built to replace Greater Tampa Bay’s Bee Line Ferry, which was a 1920s shortcut across the water from Bradenton to St. Petersburg.
Before the ferry, travelers had to fill up their gas tanks and buckle up for a 49-mile road trip around the bay. When traffic grew too voluminous for the ferry to manage, the situation called for nothing short of a full-on bridge.
While the sunny Skyway is a beloved beacon over the bay today, there is a darker page in its history, tracing back to a fateful day in 1980. A freighter was navigating the bay during a storm, when visibility was low, and it collided with a Skyway support. It was a massive vessel — big enough to crunch the support and plummet a chunk of the Skyway into the waters below — with several vehicles falling with it. Unfortunately, the accident claimed 35 lives in the process.
Those taken by the tragedy will never be forgotten — and the new bridge rebuilt in its place was carefully redesigned to keep boaters and motorists safe. The new and improved Skyway reopened seven years after the incident.
This latest rendition includes an enlarged shipping channel to secure all passengers above and below the structure. Six dolphins — not the sea creatures, but rather support structures for the bridge — each gird the Skyway piers, capable of weathering 87,000 tons of impact from wayward ships.
Sunshine-yellow paint now reflects the Skyway’s warm optimism, promising safety and smooth travels for GTB drivers.
By Drew Mortier
