Comparsions to the Sunshine Skyway distaster of 1980 (Tampa, St. Petersburg: elementary school, inspection)

[FireballFL]

We went out to the Melting Pot last night and little did we realize that at that time, our neighbors to the north were dealing with a similar event that happened to us in 1980. The Sunshine Skyway Bridge was hit over 27 years ago and the impact was devastating to Tampa and St. Petersburg. In Minneapolis, the bridge that connects Minneapolis to their capital city of St. Paul went down in a matter of no time. People described the bridge as "violently shaking and then the bottom fell out". Fortunately, this was not an act of domestic terrorism, according to the Department of Homeland Security, but I am sure some of our long time residents of the Bay area can certainly understand what Minneapolis and St. Paul residents are going through today.

baynews9.com - News: Authorities seeking victims, answers in bridge collapse (http://www.baynews9.com/content/36/2007/8/2/277221.html?title=Authorities+seeking+victims,+ans wers+in+bridge+collapse - broken link)

[athorson710]

Hey everyone - I live in Minneapolis and it's really chaotic up here. It definitely has put things in perspective. Please keep your thoughts and prayers with the families of people affected. I can't even account for everyone I know because they haven't released the names of the injured, missing, or dead. From what I've seen on TV and read online, the bridge had "fatigue cracks" and was "structural deficient" from a inspection just last year. I used to be on the bridge at least once a week when I lived downtown for a few years (just moved out to the 'burbs a few months ago). And I was just on the bridge this past Saturday. I feel really lucky.

FireballFL - Can you explain more with what happened in 1980 with the Sunshine Skyway Bridge? I'd like to hear some more about it.

[tonynorie]

I'm one of those that remembers that morning.........and the weather here in Tampa this morning is eirily reminiscent to that morning when the Skyway was hit and fell.......dense overcast with rain coming in from the Gulf.

I will be praying for the people in Minneapolis......

[FireballFL]

Originally Posted by athorson710

Hey everyone - I live in Minneapolis and it's really chaotic up here. It definitely has put things in perspective. Please keep your thoughts and prayers with the families of people affected. I can't even account for everyone I know because they haven't released the names of the injured, missing, or dead. From what I've seen on TV and read online, the bridge had "fatigue cracks" and was "structural deficient" from a inspection just last year. I used to be on the bridge at least once a week when I lived downtown for a few years (just moved out to the 'burbs a few months ago). And I was just on the bridge this past Saturday. I feel really lucky.

FireballFL - Can you explain more with what happened in 1980 with the Sunshine Skyway Bridge? I'd like to hear some more about it.

The Sunshine Skyway Bridge is just south of St Petersburg. Today, we have an elevated, Sunshine Skyway Bridge that allows large cruise ships, barges, and other sorts of larger boats to pass through. But prior to 1980, the bridge was not elevated and it was a bridge, similar to the one that connected St. Paul and Minneapolis. On a day of bad weather, one of the barges was coming up to the bridge. Unfortunately, the barge's captain misjudged where the ship was headed and rammed into the bridge. This caused a good portion of the bridge to collaspe. Just like the recent event in Minneapolis, there was a bus, full of passengers, that was traveling across the Sunshine Skyway at this time and it caused the entire bus to go into the water. To my knowledge, everyone perished in that and there were several other cars that this happened to as well. Fortunately, in Minneapolis, history did not repeat itself in this scenario.

I have lived in Tampa for only 4 years, but I think some of the people here could explain it better. The Skyway Bridge links St. Petersburg to Manatee County. However, when traveling over the Bridge, you go over some of the water that is owned by Hillsborough County (which Tampa is in). It is the only bridge I know of that you can go over three different counties in the state on just one bridge.

[athorson710]

Here are some pictures.

Collapse

[FireballFL]

Originally Posted by athorson710

Here are some pictures.

Collapse

Thank you for providing those pictures. It is rather traumatic to see them.

[kmadewell]

this reminded me of the exact same thing
its so sad.

[SunnyRT]

I was in elementary school when the Skyway was knocked down. Our science teacher was late for work. We eventually found out that he stopped 3 cars back from the edge of the bridge. I remember seeing it on the news. They talked about how the Greyhound bus had broken in half. They showed the lone survivor's truck resting on top of the ship that knocked down the bridge. They showed the car that stopped with his front tires in the bent rebar. That man it's reported was driving slow as there was zero visibility that day, as was often the case on that bridge. He said something about seeing rebar, anyways he got out and ran towards the traffic waving his arms.

That bridge was a nightmare. It was so steep and just two tight lanes in each direction (2 bridges, 1 for each direction). If it was foggy you couldn't see anything. I got a thrill going over it IF it was daylight. I remember riding over the other span which they converted to a two way bridge while they worked on building the new bridge. Looking over at the missing span of the bridge was terrifying.

They knocked down most of the old bridge and portions of both are still there serving as fishing piers.