Sunshine Skyway Bridge
St. St. Petersburg, United States

Sunshine Skyway Bridge (Florida, USA) - the longest concrete bridge in the world

Location show on map

St. St. Petersburg and Bradenton, Florida, USA

Date of build

April 1987 - completion of construction
May 10, 1980, construction begins

  • Building types: Cable bridge
  • Architectural styles: Modern
  • Material: Steel, concrete
  • Cost: 244 million dollars
  • Length: 8,851.4 meters
  • Architect: Figg & Muller Engineering Group
Sunshine Skyway Bridge description and facts:

Completed in 1987, the Sunshine Skyway Bridge is the longest cable bridge made of concrete.

It is one of the most popular bridges created after 1970, among others due to its color. The cables supporting the structure are painted in a light yellow color, such as they have taxis.

The bridge is also known for its history. Sunshine Skyway is not the first bridge connecting the wide mouth of Tampa Bay. In fact, another four-mile bridge stood in the same place. On May 9, 1980, during a violent storm, the freighter "Summit Venture" hit the bridge. Over 250 meters of the structure fell into the water, killing 35 motorcyclists and bus passengers.

The Florida Department of Transportation started the construction of a safer bridge just a day later. Over 300 previously cast concrete segments have been joined by very strong steel ropes.

The protection of the bridge before the ships was the most important, so each of the pillars built large concrete islands called "dolphins" to absorb unwanted impacts.

The "dolphins" designed by Parson Brinkerhoff around each shaft have been designed to withstand the impact of a vessel weighing 87,000 tons at a speed of 10 knots.

The road carries 21 huge steel cables. These cables consist of thinner nine-inch wires.

10-meter long carriageways run from both sides of the cables. The bridge design allows drivers to view the bay. 20,000 cars pass through these 4 streets daily.

Tampa is a very busy port to provide navigation for larger ships, engineers have designed a bridge to rise 50 meters above the water level.

The longest single span is 365,7 meters long.

Since opening to the public in 1987, the shining Sunshine Skyway has won a dozen awards in the engineering and design category.

After one of the 536 horizontal cables connecting the 76 empty columns was interrupted due to corrosion, the inspectors found still several cables potentially exposed to damage.

Comments to Sunshine Skyway Bridge (8) Average rating: 4,0 Add comment    /    Rate building

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Based on 8 comments
Paula;)
#8
Paula;)
17 years ago
Bylaam tam!!!!To niesamowite przezycie jechac tym mostem....;)Ogromne cisnienie sprawia,ze zatykaja Ci sie uszy;P Czulam sie kapitalnie!!!Zachod slonca jest przepieknykiedy pomyka sie na takich wysokosciach;))A poza tym....z Fort de Soto Park'u tenzemost wyglada poprostu BOSKO!!!Zapiera dech w piersiach!!!Kazdemu zycze takiej przejazdzki;D
Fazi Budownictwo PWR
#7
Fazi Budownictwo PWR
17 years ago
to byli konstruktorzy
redink
#6
redink
18 years ago
Nowy, spoko. Zato firma która rozbierała stary robiła to z taką klasą ze mam ochote zaprosic ich do polski (sejm,parafia Jankowskiego, Toruń - Rydzyk), mieliby troszke pracy.
KOT
#5
KOT
18 years ago
WOW czaderski most
Karolina 15
#4
Karolina 15
18 years ago
Ciekawy most...
MaGa
#3
MaGa
18 years ago
proponuje co podobnego wybudować na Odrze w okolicach Szczecina...będzie pasować!
qstomeq
#2
qstomeq
19 years ago
Racja marian
marian
#1
marian
20 years ago
Nie wiem dlaczeg opodajecie tylko architektów i to przy konstrukcjach typowo inżynierskich ajkimi są mosty - a co z konstruktorami?

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Today (3 October)
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