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Sunshine Skyway Bridge
The golden cable-stayed span across Tampa Bay
The Sunshine Skyway Bridge carries Interstate 275 across the mouth of Tampa Bay in Florida, its roadway hung from a single line of yellow cables that fan down from twin towers. Opened in 1987, the cable-stayed main span rises high enough for ships to pass beneath and has become a landmark of the Gulf Coast.
It replaced an earlier bridge after a freighter struck a support pier in 1980 and dropped a section of roadway into the bay, killing 35 people. The current span was built with massive concrete "dolphins" to shield its piers from wayward ships.