Sunshine Skyway Bridge - The Original Sunshine Skyway Bridge

The Original Sunshine Skyway Bridge

The present bridge replaces a steel cantilever bridge of the same name. The original two-lane bridge built by the Virginia Bridge Company was opened to traffic on September 6, 1954, with a similar structure built parallel and to the west of it in 1969 to make it a four-lane bridge and bring it to Interstate standards. Opening of the newer span was delayed until 1971 for reinforcing of the south main pier, which had cracked due to insufficient supporting pile depth. The second span was used for all southbound traffic, while the original span was converted to carry northbound traffic.

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. The engineer associated with its construction is Freeman Horton, who built the seawalls along the bay for Tampa and purchased Seagate from Powel Crosley following WWII.

The original Sunshine Skyway Bridge is featured in the old-time radio series "Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar" in the episode "The Fancy Bridgework Matter" (11/22/1959) and in the original opening credits to the 1988 Superboy TV series which showed the hero flying over the damaged original span and then turning to view the new bridge under construction.

The remaining approaches to the old cantilever bridge remain in use as Skyway Fishing Pier State Park.

The original Sunshine Skyway Bridge was the site of a number of tragic events, including the collision of the US Coast Guard Cutter Blackthorn and outbound freighter Capricorn in 1980 which claimed 23 Coast Guardsmen's lives, and a structural collapse caused by a collision with the bridge support by the inbound freighter Summit Venture in 1980 which killed 35 people and ultimately ended the bridge spans' useful life.