The Bob Graham Sunshine Skyway Bridge , known locally as Sunshine Skyway Bridge or more casually Skyway, is a bridge that includes Tampa Bay, Florida, with the main fixed-wire range, and the total length of 21,877 feet (4.1434Ã, mi; 6,668 km). It is part of Interstate 275 (I-275) and US Route 19 (US 19), connects St. Petersburg in Pinellas County and Terra Ceia in Manatee County, Florida, passing through the waters of Pinellas County, Hillsborough County and Manatee County, Florida. The current bridge construction began in 1982, and the bridge was completed on 7 February 1987. The new bridge cost $ 244 million, and opened for traffic on April 20, 1987. The bridge replaced the older bridge built in the year 1954, which was partially destroyed in a collision in 1980.
It is made of steel and concrete. Steel cables wrapped in 84 9 inch (230 mm) (42 per pylon) steel tube along the centerline of the bridge support the main range. It was designed by Figg & amp; Muller Engineering Group (which also designed the famous Seven Mile Bridge and FIU Pedestrian Bridge), and built by the American Bridge Company.
In 2005, the legislative action of Florida officially named the current bridge of Bob Graham Sunshine Skyway Bridge, after former Florida Governor and then US Senator who led the design and most of its construction. According to sources, he was inspired to suggest his current design with a visit to France, where he saw the same cable bridge, the Brotonne Bridge. The original bridge is dedicated to the state engineer William E. Dean, as noted on the plaque shown in the resting area at the southern end of the bridge.
Travel Channel rated Sunshine Skyway number 3 specifically for "Top 10 Bridges" in the World. The bridge is considered a "flag bridge" Florida.
Due to its height above the emerald-green bay waters, long continuous travels, locations in warm weather countries, and modern architectural designs, this place is popular for shooting car ads.
The main problem with the Sunshine Skyway Bridge is the corrosion of steel in precast concrete segmental columns at a high-level approach. As the segments were pierced, workers could enter the bridge superstructure in 2003 and 2004 to strengthen rusty bridge sections, ensuring their future safety. Another problem arose around 2005-06 when some news agencies reported paint painting on bridge cables. These spots and patches of paint are the result of a touch made over the years but have begun to appear over the last few years. In 2008, the Florida Department of Transport (FDOT) began improvements including repainting the overall cable (instead of touching) and rehabilitating the bridge lighting system at the top of the bridge.
A 2014 FDOT study noted that the Skyway low bridge permit prevented larger ships from using the Port Tampa Bay terminal, but made no recommendations about options because the new aircraft cruise plan exceeded most of the bridge height limit at 180 feet (55 m).
Video Sunshine Skyway Bridge
Original bridge
This bridge replaces steel cantilever bridge of the same name. The original two-lane bridge built by the Virginia Bridge Company opened for traffic on September 6, 1954, with a similar structure built parallel and to its west in 1969 to make it a four-lane bridge and take it to the Interstate Highway. standard. The opening of the newer ranges was postponed until 1971 to strengthen the main south pier, which had been cracked due to the lack of supporting stakes. The second range is used for all south traffic, while the original range is converted to bring traffic to the north.
The old bridge replaces the ferry from Point Pinellas to Piney Point. US 19 extended from St. Petersburg to the north end at this time.
The remnants of the approach to the old cantilever bridge are still used as Skyway Fishing Pier State Park.
The original Sunshine Skyway Bridge was the site of a number of tragic events, including the collision of the US Coast Guard Blackthorn and the capricorn carrier in 1980 claiming 23 Coast Guards alive, and the collapse structural forces caused by collisions with bridge support by the Summit Venture in 1980 that killed 35 people and eventually ended the bridge's useful life.
1980 collapsed
The southern range (opened in 1971) from the original bridge was destroyed at 7:33 am on May 9, 1980, when the MV cargo ship Summit Venture collided with the dock (supporting column) during a blinding thunderstorm. , sending over 1,200 ft (370 m) bridge crashed into Tampa Bay. The collision caused six Greyhound cars, trucks and buses to fall 150 feet (46 m) into the water, killing 35 people.
One man, Wesley MacIntire, survived the fall when his Ford Courier pickup truck landed on the Summit Venture deck before falling into the bay. He sued the company that owns the ship, and paid $ 175,000 in 1984. MacIntire will be the last person to drive in the original southern landscape. The pilot ship, John Lerro, was cleansed of mistakes by the state grand jury and Coast Guard investigation.
The main south pier (which needs reinforcement before it finishes) resisted the attack of the ship without significant damage. It was the second dock to the south of which was destroyed, a secondary dock not designed to withstand a large ship's attack.
After the Summit Venture disaster, the southern landscape is used as a temporary fishing dock and the northern landscape is converted back to carry one lane in both directions until the bridge is now open. Before the old bridge was destroyed and transported by barge, MacIntire (the only survivor in the collapse) was the last person to drive it. He was accompanied by his wife, and when they reached the top of the bridge, they dropped white carnations into the water, one for every person who died in the disaster. The two main spans of the intact northern bridge and the damaged southern bridge were destroyed in 1993 and the approach to both old spans was made to Skyway Fishing Pier State Park. This approach sits 1 / 2 miles (800 m) to the south and west of the current bridge. The 1950 range approach was destroyed in 2008.
Graham's Governor's idea for the current bridge design wins over other proposals, including tunnels (considered impractical due to the high Florida water table) and simple reconstruction of damaged parts of old bridges that will not improve the delivery conditions. The main range of the new bridge is 50% wider than the old bridge. The main span dock and approach for the / 4 miles (400 m) in both directions are surrounded by large concrete barriers, called "Dolphins "which can protect the bridge dock from collisions by larger vessels from Summit Ventries such as tankers, container ships, and cruise ships. 1993 disassembly
In 1990, FDOT won a winning bid to Hardaway Company to destroy all the steel and concrete parts of the Sunshine Skyway Bridge. The scope of the project requires all the underwater piles and docks, and the road surface, the main beam, and the beam are dismantled. Particular care must be taken to eliminate underwater bridge elements near the delivery channel. In addition, concrete materials, deck parts, poles and steel beams must be collected for deployment offshore and along the remaining bridge approaching becoming artificial reef for the newly planned state fishery park. The main bridge range should be removed intact so as not to block the main shipping channel leading to Tampa Harbor.
During the demolition work of bridge structural steel members, some difficult technical challenges must be solved: sequence of demolition, safe methods to blow up accusations on concrete and steel members in open and difficult-to-control areas such as Tampa Bay, and development of a safe methodology for removal in one part of the main span of the bridge and the concrete pier.
After extensive research, the engineering team developed a 4 ÃÆ'â € "1:16 pulley system ratio in which each of the four corners of the range is connected to two 25-ton cranes (bolted to the deck walkway). This crane controls a major decrease of 360 feet (110 m), 608 tonnes span to a 150 ft (46 m) barge below. As part of the project design, the engineering team developed real-time, computerized, synchronized time-reduction and control calculator programs to help each of the two winch management teams ensure that all winch machines are synchronized at 30 feet (9.1 m) minute offspring. This operation was successfully implemented in 2 1 / 2 clock despite adverse weather conditions. Maps Sunshine Skyway Bridge
Suicide bridge
According to a compilation of various media reports in 2009, at least 207 people have committed suicide by jumping from the center range into the waters of Tampa Bay since the opening of a new bridge in 1987, and an estimated 34 others have tried, but survived. A Rottweiler named Shasta survived after following or taken to the edge by his owner, who died. 51 others ended their lives from the old Sunshine Skyway from 1954 to 1987. A 23-year-old man, Michael Luciano, Plezia from Cleveland, was forced to jump at gunpoint in 1981, after being abducted, beaten, tortured, and stabbed. ; another, a 24-year-old Sarasota carpenter, hung himself from a bridge on Saturday morning, July 4, 1992. Several other missing people were alleged to have jumped off the bridge, but their deaths could not be confirmed because no bodies were found..
In response to the high number of suicide attempts from the bridge, the state of Florida installed six crisis hotline phones throughout the center span in 1999, and embarked on a 24-hour patrol. In 2003, the call center at Crisis Center of Tampa Bay received 18 calls from jumper candidates, all of whom survived, according to St. Petersburg Times reported. However, the total number of jumpers has not decreased significantly since the introduction of this safeguard.
On April 27, 1997, a group of amateur brave, led by bartender and stuntman Steve Trotter and composed of a mixture of male and female participants, conducted guerrilla "pendulum swings" without notice bungee jumping from the bridge, where they plan to swing back and forth on an artificial bungee cable made of steel cable attached to the exhaust point. Upon stretching the limousine, the group suddenly stopped at the top of the bridge, quickly hooked up their wires, tethered themselves there with straps, and jumped over the edges. This action fails when the plastic casing on the steel cord, unable to handle the increased force provided by the initial pendulum swing, is cut off and allows the connecting clamp to slide freely from the cable, cram jumper 60 feet (18 m) into the water, causing fractures and neck injury. The whole accident was caught on several video cameras that had been set up to record the achievements.
When later interviewed for a television video program, Trotter stated that all components were assessed to handle the combined weight of the participants, and, at that time, he thought the assembly was safe. Subsequent research has shown that the design fails to account for the increase in g-load caused by the leaping pendulum action, exceeding the rank on the component and causing catastrophic failure of the structural integrity of the bungee cable. Since the accident, no other group has attempted a stunt jump from the bridge. The incident was broadcast on the television program Destroyed in Seconds , on March 2, 2009.
In 2006, a feature film titled Loren Cass was released, which depicts a suicidal jump from the Sunshine Skyway. Two years later, second filmmaker, Sean Michael Davis of Rhino Productions, was inspired by the haunting experience of watching a woman jump off the bridge so fast that nobody could intervene, to make a nonprofit movie entitled Skyway Down . The goal: to block out other potential jumpers by "hitting their faces" with interviews with survivors and family members ", to give them" hope and try to undermine the romance of the bridge ", in part by telling people who have" contemplated the leap to know about the bloody and battered consequences. "
Corporal Gary Schluter of the Florida State Highway PatrolÃ, who has "seen the number of suicides, and attempts, rises steadily over the past few years" on the Sunshine Skyway Bridge, and persuaded some of the suicide candidates on the site to live - suggested: "People people look at the water and think it's very quiet, easy way to die... [but]... it's more like hitting a concrete. " When he and other troops explain to Rick Bragg's reporter The Rick Bragg, "Jumper tends to die badly [...] The fall, less than four seconds, ends with a broken bone, an organ-traumatized, but some jumpers do not lose consciousness, and are drowned in suffering. "Schluter elaborates:" We take corpses, they are distorted, crushed. "
On October 12, 2009, a corpse was found in the boot of a burning car on the Sunshine Skyway bridge. The witness saw a man carrying a can of gasoline near the car. A Florida Highway Patrol cop then saw the man jump from the bridge to his death. After investigation, the authorities regarded the death as a murder-suicide. Jumper, Robert Cecil Laird, shot his ex-wife Sheryl Laird (39), several times at his home in Lakeland before depositing his body in the trunk of his vehicle and driving about 60 miles (97 km) to the bridge, where he set the car on fire and jumped to his death.
Stops on bridges for emergencies, including streets, is prohibited. As part of the access-control highway, pedestrians and bicycles are also prohibited. Traffic on this bridge is monitored remotely by the Florida Highway Patrol, and stop vehicles, cyclists or pedestrians will provoke police shipments.
Skyway 10K
On January 11, 1987, Skyway Bridge opened up to 10,000 runners, joggers and pedestrians before the bridge was opened for motor vehicle traffic the following week. Runners participated in four races that ran simultaneously across the bridge, with two races heading south and two races directed to the north.
On March 4, 2018, in partnership with the Armed Forces Family Foundation, the Skyway Bridge was closed for the 10K Skyway Confirmation. Unlike the one-time race in 1987, Skyway 10K is planned to be held every year.
In popular culture
The original Sunshine Skyway Bridge is featured in the ancient radio series I Respect, Johnny Dollar in the episode "The Fancy Bridgework Matter" (November 22, 1959).
In the opening credits for the 1988 Superboy television series, it shows the hero (Superboy {who is Superman in his college days as a teenager}) flies over the broken original range and then spins to see the new bridge being built.
Sunshine Skyway Bridge has been providing arrangements for several movies over the years, both credited and unaccredited, for example. , Loren Cass and The Punisher
In Dennis Lehane's 1997 novel Sacred, Sunshine Skyway Bridge is a car chase and crash site shortly after the main character discusses the bridge's "curse."
In the novel Ben Bova 2005 Powersat , the Sunshine Skyway Bridge, along with the Brooklyn Bridge and Golden Gate Bridge were destroyed in a coordinated terrorist attack against the United States.
In 2012, the US Postal Service features a bridge on postage stamp "Priority Post" US $ 5.15. Carl T. Hermann painted it, and digital illustrations were made by artist Dan Cosgrove.
Bill DeYoung's fictional non-fiction book 2013, Skyway: The Real Story of the Tampa Bay and Humanity Signature Bridge That Takes It Down is a detailed record of the 1980 Summit Venture tragedy and its aftermath.
Gallery
Destruction of the old bridge
Bridge now
See also
- Bridge portal
- Florida Portal
- Skyway Fishing Pier State Park
- Millau Viaduct, France, a more recent similar design
- The suicide bridge
References
External links
- The original Sunshine Skyway Bridge at Structurae
- Sunshine Skyway Bridge at Structurae
- Sunshine Skyway Bridge 1986
- Skyway Bridge Page on Interstate 275 Florida
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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