History
In 1954, the State Road Department completed the original Sunshine Skyway Bridge, the first fixed span to connect Saint Petersburg directly to Bradenton. This greatly shortened the travel time between the two cities, as before cars would have to either use a ferry or drive about 100 miles (160 km) around Tampa Bay. A parallel span was completed in 1971 to make the bridge Interstate standard, and it became part of I-275. After the southbound (newer) span was destroyed in 1980 when the SS Summit Venture collided with it, a replacement bridge was finished in 1987.
In 1974, FDOT completed Florida's Turnpike, a 312-mile (502 km) limited access toll highway that connected the panhandle area through Orlando to Miami. The turnpike is part of an initiative to finance transportation with user fees.
In recent years, FDOT has had much experience in emergency repairs, including a sinkhole that destroyed most of westbound I-4 in Lake Mary in 2001, a tanker truck fire that critically damaged a ramp from SR 528 to I-4 in Orlando in 2002, and a car accident that destroyed an I-75 overpass near Gainesville in 2003. In 2004, FDOT reopened the I-10 Escambia bridge 17 days after Hurricane Ivan ripped it apart.
Read more about this topic: Florida Department Of Transportation
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