The Sunshine Skyway Bridge is the world's largest bridge system. The super bridge spans Tampa Bay and covers 5.5 miles of Interstate Highway 275. The 244 million dollar bridge, made of concrete and steel, took the American Bridge Company five years to build, opening in 1987.
     Past experiences lead designers to construct a protective system around the bridge piers to ward off any misguided freighters and tankers that move in and out of the bay. The original bay bridge opened in 1954 and collapsed on the morning of May 9th, 1980 during high winds and rain. The freighter Summit Venture ran into the south pier, taking out 1,260 feet of the center span, in one of the worst bridge disasters in history.
     This view of Tampa Bay looks out over the immense natural harbor from Mullet Key. The bay is surrounded by three of Florida's prominent cities, Tampa, St. Petersburg and Clearwater, with a population of more than four million people.