'43 Bridge proposal between Tampa and St. Petersburg, Florida (Clearwater, Brandon: real estate, insurance)

[Aconite]

Originally Posted by Ross Nicholson

The drive time in the Tampa Bay area is long compared to other cities of similar size. This is because of our paucity of bridges. This is not an error. Glance at a map.

No.
Traffic and drive times are insane (though it's no moreso than in DC or Boston) because of a number of things: urban sprawl, badly planned roads, and lack of viable public transportation being a few of them. A bridge between the Crosstown and downtown St. Pete is of little help getting from, say, Ozona to Carrollwood, Clearwater Beach to Safety Harbor, Brandon to New Port Richey, or New Tampa to...well, pretty much anywhere.

And honestly, in this time of national financial stress, I don't really see shaving 14 minutes of a small number of folks' drive as a huge priority. Somehow, CW "Bill the Pork Barrel King" Young's name has to've be involved.

[Aconite]

Originally Posted by Ross Nicholson

Ability to eat lunch in St. Petersburg if you work in downtown Tampa and vice versa.

LOL! Yes, because this makes it ALL worthwhile.

[Aconite]

Originally Posted by Mike Peterson

I was wondering why something this old was popping up again and then I saw who wrote it.
Didn't this idea die back in 2002?

Mike, the article I found on the web referring to the idea dates back to 2002:

Tampabay: Another Tampa Bay bridge?

[Mike1306]

Good find.

I like the quotes "This is way out in left field", "This is the twilight zone.", "I feel like I'm in Alice in Wonderland at Mad Hatter's tea party. What's going on here?"

[Aconite]

Originally Posted by Mike Peterson

Good find.

I like the quotes "This is way out in left field", "This is the twilight zone.", "I feel like I'm in Alice in Wonderland at Mad Hatter's tea party. What's going on here?"

I generally find the old Tourist Board slogan of "Florida: the rules are different here!" covers a multitude of situations, including probably this one.

[vaughanwilliams]

There will be flying cars before this bridge is built.

[TB Fla]

If we are going to build another bridge, we should take one down, prefurably Gandy and rebuild it. 3 bridges over Old Tampa Bay, 4 including bayside, is enough. Im more conserned over the aesthetics of the bay. I already hate how the bay is devided into sections by these tacky causeways. Its ugly and a pain for boaters im sure. I know there is a need for transportation and these bridges are essencial but why not destroy the old, out of date Gandy and rebuild it bigger and better. If we keep adding bridges, why not just pave over the whole thing.

[mph101]

Originally Posted by Ross Nicholson

TRANSPORTAION CONSTRUCTION PROJECT FOR TAMPA AND ST PETERSBURGE FLORIDA


South St. Petersburg residents, largely African-Americans, will be trapped like rats in a cat 4 or category 5 hurricane because the southern escape Sunshine Skyway Bridge is always blocked off due to wind. We have all seen the projections. South St. Petersburg is the most dangerously hurricane-exposed large population on the Gulf of Mexico, exceeding even New Orleans.

See: Could Tampa Bay be the next New Orleans? (http://www.palmbeachpost.com/storm/content/state/epaper/2006/07/09/m1a_TAMPA_CANE_0709.html - broken link)

And

Palm Beach Post - If a storm surge hit Tampa (http://www.palmbeachpost.com/storm/content/storm/multimedia/flash/tampa_bay.html - broken link)

Very interesting. but not fact.

[Ross Nicholson]

Hi. The 'water taxi' was my idea. The 'floating riverwalk' was my idea. The frequent fireworks in tourist season and 'Lights On! Tampa!" building illumination art/design/contest were my ideas, too. Trust success.

Will you be so concerned about the aesthetics of the bay when there are bodies of human children dangling from mangrove branches after the next big hurricane? Look at the natural erosion patters on the bottom of the estuary. They explain the behavior of the computerized storm surge modeling. It is so obvious a child could see it. Every so often, a category 5 hurricane strikes Tampa Bay. It might be why the indigenous people built high mounds here for their villages. We in our ignorance tore them down.
Your first concern should be for the children who cannot swim who live in South St. Petersburg. The bridge will save 50,000 lives. Those are 50,000 of your friends and neighbors.
This is a city, not a nature preserve, but if the '43 bridge is built as I designed it, nature would be preserved around it. Bridges are not pollution, built properly, bridges can reduce pollution.
7 minutes X 50,000 cars and trucks per day = 2,130,000 fewer hours of automotive travel than otherwise. This community can use those two million hours every year for something better than waiting around driving in traffic. The saving of seven minutes a trip is without traffic, by the way, so it's a minimal estimate.
The trouble here is that we have not built a bridge in a generation. Everybody forgets the benefits of being connected together. Look. Hillsborough Bay has got no bridges across it yet. None.

[TB Fla]

Originally Posted by Ross Nicholson

Hi. The 'water taxi' was my idea. The 'floating riverwalk' was my idea. The frequent fireworks in tourist season and 'Lights On! Tampa!" building illumination art/design/contest were my ideas, too. Trust success.

Will you be so concerned about the aesthetics of the bay when there are bodies of human children dangling from mangrove branches after the next big hurricane? Look at the natural erosion patters on the bottom of the estuary. They explain the behavior of the computerized storm surge modeling. It is so obvious a child could see it. Every so often, a category 5 hurricane strikes Tampa Bay. It might be why the indigenous people built high mounds here for their villages. We in our ignorance tore them down.
Your first concern should be for the children who cannot swim who live in South St. Petersburg. The bridge will save 50,000 lives. Those are 50,000 of your friends and neighbors.
This is a city, not a nature preserve, but if the '43 bridge is built as I designed it, nature would be preserved around it. Bridges are not pollution, built properly, bridges can reduce pollution.
7 minutes X 50,000 cars and trucks per day = 2,130,000 fewer hours of automotive travel than otherwise. This community can use those two million hours every year for something better than waiting around driving in traffic. The saving of seven minutes a trip is without traffic, by the way, so it's a minimal estimate.
The trouble here is that we have not built a bridge in a generation. Everybody forgets the benefits of being connected together. Look. Hillsborough Bay has got no bridges across it yet. None.

Hello mister ego trip. we dont need another bridge, just a better gandy. Reduce the present one to a large artificial reef and build a super bridge in its place. Sure, we could build it in your design, since you ideas are so amazing . Plus, I dont believe a bridge can reduce pollution. And I care about how the bay looks, because I live here, and I love the bay. I care more about it then Tampa being the next Miami, god forbid. We dont need to sacrifice beauty for Transportation. We can have both. And if we build a bridge over the Hillsbrough bay, It would have to be as tall as the Skyway, and couldnt go through Macdill, plus the south tampa residents would fight it the the end, and probably win.