Driving Across The Sunshine Skyway 1989 - Old bridge clearly visible
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- Опубліковано 24 чер 2014
- Rare footage from 1989 driving over The Sunshine Skyway Bridge with the old bridges still clearly visible prior to demolition.
The southbound span (opened in 1971) of the original bridge was destroyed at 7:33 a.m. on May 9, 1980, when the freighter MV Summit Venture collided with a pier (support column) during a blinding thunderstorm, sending over 1200 feet (366m) 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.
One man, Wesley MacIntire, survived the fall when his pickup truck landed on the deck of the Summit Venture before falling into the bay. He sued the company that owned the ship, and settled for $175,000 in 1984.
The pilot of the ship, John Lerro, was cleared of wrongdoing by both a state grand jury and a Coast Guard investigation.
The south main pier (the one that required reinforcement before completion) withstood the ship strike without significant damage. It was the second pier to the south of it that was destroyed, a secondary pier that was not designed to withstand a large ship strike.
After the Summit Venture disaster, the northbound span carried 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. The main span of the northbound bridge was 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 (0.8 km) to the south and west of the current bridge.
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 (0.4 km) in either direction are surrounded by large concrete barriers called "dolphins" that can protect the bridge piers from collisions with ships larger than the Summit Venture like tankers, container ships, and cruise ships.
![[4K] Driving over the Sunshine Skyway Bridge, Florida](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/nDPFYodesBY/mqdefault.jpg)
Sweet video...i remember driving on the new bridge only a few months after it opened and seeing the old bridge..which i also drove over and have many pics of.
The man who designed the original Skyway was interviewed by Bob Hite of channel 8 news a few short years after the new bridge was opened. Hite and other divers found huge cracks in the support columns of the new bridge, and the designer of the old bridge had nothing but bad things to say about the design and condition of the new span, saying he "would never drive across the new bridge"! That said, the new bridge is still there & still in use.
My mother was so terrified of crossing this bridge that it gave her a massive anxiety attack. She had to pull over and take one of her anti-anxiety pills.
I was not with her thank God because I would have lost my shit.
Vic Morrow Forever In My Heart I don't blame her! lol.
The new one or the old one? As a kid I'd go over the old Skyway before it fell and I hated it, in part because us kids would just be thrown in the back of a pickup and left to slide around the bed of the truck, and also because the old Skyway bridge sounded like you were going over a drawbridge and you could feel the thing swaying in the air - additionally the old bridge was much more steep of an incline than the new bridge, on the new bridge just get in the left lane and it feels like you're not even on a bridge.
i've had anxiety attacks going over it too, luckily they weren't bad enough to make me stop driving but i was a wreck, it only happened when i was driving with someone else was in the vehicle, i'd have to hide my fear.
once i stopped smoking pot regularly and changed my diet (way too much coffee) the attacks just stopped, haven't had one for 15 years.
but i would drive over that thing every other day and after a while you could tell who was having trouble with it, you look over at people and they're "white knuckling" it on the steering wheel, always on the inside lane and driving slow, lol, you knew they were not enjoying the scenery.
i always thought the old bridge and the new bridge were the same height
That is one tall f***ing bridge! Holy shit!
The new bridge looks so ugly... Those concrete pilings and road slab just look so sloppy. Compare this bridge with the Golden Gate, Brooklyn, Hammersmith, or Sundial Bridges and you will realize the new Skyway is ugly.
Those examples are all bridges built to different specifications and circumstances. I feel that the Sunshine Skyway was a beautifully conceived design appropriate for the needs of the Tampa Bay shipping channel.
I thought it looks nice and modern