Jacksonville Jaguars Fan Forums

May 9th marked the 39th anniversary of the original Sunshine Skyway Bridge collapse (connecting Tampa & St Pete).  The collapse happened when a cargo ship hit a pillar, resulting in 8 cars driving off the edge of the bridge; ultimately killing 35 people.

https://www.jacksonville.com/photogaller...09987/PH/1

I remember the day that happened. I lived in St. Petersburg at the time. Our teacher told us about it that morning. I always wondered how they decided to handle that considering they couldn't have known if anyone's parents may have been involved. Going over that bridge was frightening enough, but doing so after the crash was just spooky seeing that collapsed span. The harbor pilot responsible took all kinds of undue abuse due to this crash, including having his dog stolen and tortured. It was interesting watching the current one being built. Now that's become a top suicide spot in the country. The amount of people that have died in that bit of water is staggering, including the crew of a Coast Guard boat that sunk after a collision right there. Here's a site that tracks the Skyway suicides. Tough read.

http://www.skywaybridge.com/2019.htm

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And for the record, the bridge doesn't connect Tampa and St. Pete (that's the Howard Frankland). The Skyway connects St. Pete to Bradenton.

Holy Crap, that suicide website is crazy. I had no idea there were that many jumpers committing suicide on that bridge. I always knew the Golden Gate was a popular suicide bridge but this is all new to me. I lived in Pittsburgh back when the Skyway collapsed and never even heard of that until the read the article that I posted. That is interesting that you were in St Pete at the time and learned about it from your teacher. Glad your family wasn't impacted.

I had never heard of it...I'm only 40, that's crazy.

And that suicide site is crazy!!