The Acosta Bridge spans the St. Johns River in Jacksonville, Florida on a fixed span. It was named for City Councilman St. Elmo W. Acosta, who convinced voters to approve a $950,000 bond issue for the original bridge. It carries SR 13 (six lanes) with the two-track JTA Skyway in the median. Prior to its replacement in 1991, the bridge, originally called St. Johns River Bridge, opened in 1921 and carried three lanes (center one reversible) on a lift bridge of similar design to the Main Street Bridge but was known as the Yellow Monster, largely for its tendency to stick in the upward position. Tolls were charged until 1940, earning more than $4 million for the City of Jacksonville. At some time in 1991, the original bridge was closed to allow construction of the new one to proceed.
Despite being a freeway, bicycles are permitted on the main lanes of the bridge.
The Acosta Bridge is also notable because of the blue neon lights that illuminate it at night.
Read more about Acosta Bridge: North (downtown) Approach, South Approach
Famous quotes containing the word bridge:
“It launch’d forth filament, filament, filament, out of itself,
Ever unreeling them, ever tirelessly speeding them.
And you O my soul where you stand,
Surrounded, detached, in measureless oceans of space,
Ceaselessly musing, venturing, throwing, seeking the spheres to connect them,
Till the bridge you will need be form’d, till the ductile anchor hold,
Till the gossamer thread you fling catch somewhere, O, my soul.”
—Walt Whitman (1819–1892)