Can You Name All Pinellas County Bridges? I Can – Now

LARGO, FL -- I've lived in Tampa Bay for more than 30 years and I'd like to think I know the area pretty well. Nevertheless, Largo Patch reader Pattie Weaver Wanamaker was able to stump me.

Her question: "On here and on the news, they are always talking about the bridges from Largo to Tampa. Can you tell me the different names for each bridge going over the Bay?"

Off the top of my head, I can name the Sunshine Skyway Bridge, the Courtney Campbell Causeway, the Howard Frankland Bridge and the Gandy Bridge. But I know there are more and, for the life of me, I can't tell you what they are.

Fortunately, the Florida Department of Transportation came to my rescue. I'd missed a few, which wouldn't be a big deal except for the fact that knowing the bridges in Tampa Bay may help save your life if Pinellas County lies in the path of a hurricane. All of these bridges are part of state hurricane evacuation routes.

Here are Pinellas County's main bridges, according to the DOT:

* The Bayside Bridge, a girder bridger in Pinellas County, opened in 1993. It crosses over the northwestern-most end of Tampa Bay, connecting Clearwater and Largo.

* The Clearwater Memorial Causeway is a fixed-span bridge between downtown Clearwater and Clearwater Beach.

* The Treasure Island Causeway, part of County Road 150, is a series of three bridges (the outer ones fixed, the middle one a bascule drawbridge) crossing Boca Ciega Bay between Treasure Island and St. Petersburg. The bridge is owned and maintained by the City of Treasure Island, which charged all motorists a $1 toll until June, 2006, when the first span of the bridge was reopened with no toll booth.

* Perhaps the most well-known bridge is the Bob Graham Sunshine Skyway Bridge, renamed for the former governor of Florida in 2005. On May 9, 1980, the original bridge, which opened in 1954, became the site of one of the country's most notorious bridge disasters. At 7:33 on that day, the freighter MV Summit Venture collided with a pier during a thunderstorm, sending more than 1,200 feet of the bridge plummeting into Tampa Bay.

The collision caused six cars, a truck, and a Greyhound bus to fall 150 feet into the water, killing 35 people.

It was replaced by a cable-stayed main span bridge that took five years (from 1982 to 1987) to complete. The bridge is more than four miles long, linking Terra Ceia in Manatee County with St. Petersburg.

* The Gandy Bridge spanning Old Tampa Bay from Tampa to St. Petersburg opened in 1924 and was the first bridge over Tampa Bay.

* The Howard Frankland Bridge also links Tampa to St. Pete over Old Tampa Bay. It opened in 1960.

* The Courtney Campell Causeway was opened in 1934. It links Tampa to Clearwater.

Image via FDOT