Skyway Bridge

[AndyP & Lenore]

Skyway Bridge. It goes over Tampa Bay and joins I75 to St Petersburg.

Awesome to drive over.:yes nod::yes nod:

http://tili.co.uk/florida_june_2011/florida_june2011_5.jpg

[rpn]

That looks awesome and pretty impressive. (Being a structural/civil engineer!)

You were there?

[Gismo]

That looks awesome and pretty impressive. (Being a structural/civil engineer!)

You were there?He was :thumbs up:
I'm gonna drive down there some day and do the Disney thing as well, never been before

[zimbo]

Nice, almost as impressive as the Milau Viaduct :yes nod:, ALMOST :lol:

[Craig]

Really need to get back to Florida some time..... Really miss it :frown:

[AndyP & Lenore]

That looks awesome and pretty impressive. (Being a structural/civil engineer!)

You were there?

We were there. Just back from a 12 day Orlando holiday. Had a road trip to St Pete's Beach and this bridge was en route. Wasn't expecting it, just turned a corner and it loomed front of us. It was so unnexpected we had to go over it, then find a rest stop at the other side so we could get the camera out the trunk - sorry, boot - and take some piccies.

One of my American relations has posted some scary facts about the bridge to Facebook, I'll go get that an re-post here.:thumbs up:

A.

[AndyP & Lenore]

Suspect this is all drawn from Wiki...

According to compilations from various media reports, at least 130 people have committed suicide by jumping from the center span into the waters of Tampa Bay since the opening of the new bridge in 1987 and an estimated 10 others have tried, but survived. A Rottweiler named Shasta survived after either following or being carried over the edge by its owner, who died.[17] Another 51 people ended their lives from the old Sunshine Skyway from 1954 to 1987. Several other missing persons are suspected of having jumped from the bridge, but their deaths could not be confirmed as no bodies were recovered.
In response to the bridge's popularity as method of demise for the depressed, the State of Florida installed six crisis hotline phones along the center span in 1999, and began 24-hour patrols. As of 2003, the call center received 18 calls from potential jumpers, all of whom survived, according to a St. Petersburg Times report.[18] However, the total number of jumpers has not significantly declined since the introduction of these safeguards.
On April 27, 1997 a group of amateur daredevils, led by a bartender from Ft. Lauderdale and composed of a mix of male and female participants, did an unannounced guerrilla "pendulum swing" bungee jump off the bridge, where they were to go back and forth on a home-made bungee cord made of steel cable attached to the cast-off point. Arriving by stretch limousine, the group unexpectedly pulled over at the apex of the bridge, quickly rigged up their cable, tethered themselves to it with harnesses, and jumped over the edge. This stunt failed when the plastic sheathing on the steel cable, unable to handle the increase gravitational forces exerted on it by the initial pendulum swing, sheared off and allowed the connecting clamps to slide freely off the cable, plunging the jumpers 60 feet (18 m) into the water, leading to broken bones and neck injuries. The entire accident was caught on multiple video cameras that had been set up to record the feat.[19]
When later interviewed for a television video program, the group's leader stated that all of the components were rated to handle the combined weight of the participants, and, at the time, he thought the assembly was safe. Later studies showed that his design had failed to take into account the increased g-load caused by the pendulum action of the jump itself, exceeding the ratings on the components and leading to catastrophic failure of the structural integrity of the bungee cable. Since the accident, no other groups have attempted to do a stunt jump from the bridge. This incident aired on Destroyed In Seconds on March 2, 2009.
In 2006 a feature film entitled Loren Cass was released which depicted a suicide jump off the Sunshine Skyway.[20]
On October 12, 2009 a body was found in the trunk of a burning car. Witnesses saw a man carrying a gas can near the car. A Florida Highway Patrol trooper later saw the man jump from the bridge.[21]
Stopping on the bridge for any non-emergency (including sightseeing) is prohibited, as are pedestrians and bicycles. Traffic on the bridge is remotely monitored by the Florida Highway Patrol, and a stopped or illegal vehicle or a pedestrian will elicit a police dispatch.[22]

[Gismo]

Interesting reading Andy :thumbs up:
As a side note, we have in Pensacola whats referred to as The 3 mile Bridge, there is a road sign that says it is illegal to breakdown on it :lol:
Only in America

[stoney]

Interesting reading Andy :thumbs up:
As a side note, we have in Pensacola whats referred to as The 3 mile Bridge, there is a road sign that says it is illegal to breakdown on it :lol:
Only in America


FFS what thas like :lol:

thats some read andy will have to go and see if i can find the vid of the swing now :lol:

[Colin]

Wow impressive bridge!

[zimbo]

Interesting reading Andy :thumbs up:
As a side note, we have in Pensacola whats referred to as The 3 mile Bridge, there is a road sign that says it is illegal to breakdown on it :lol:
Only in America

:lol: :laugh:

[Stewart]

Did that in a 3lt Convertable when we did the (for gods sake lets not go to a theme park today) day off the parks. loved some of the houses with the boats.

Great pic.

[AndyP & Lenore]

Did that in a 3lt Convertable when we did the (for gods sake lets not go to a theme park today) day off the parks. loved some of the houses with the boats.

Great pic.

We had a Mustang Convertible which was really nice - second year in a row we've had the Mustang. Had the option of upgrading to a Camero convertible in yellow - BUMBLEBEE!!) but we coughed at the $600 upgrade fee!

The Mustang we had was probably 3l or so. Gutless and thirsty. I don't know how the Americans do it so well.

A.

[Stewart]

Mustang Convertible as well for the second week, first we had the cheapest we car you could get as all it was doing was sitting in Theme park car parks. We got the Mustang to tour about the main one being seeing the shuttle on the pad ready for launch and Coco Beach that I wanted to see.