A few months ago I had car trouble right in the middle of the Howard Frankland Bridge esstbound to Tampa. And so it was that I obtained a view few have ever seen from my vantage point, standing precariously at the edge of the tall bridge with only the tiniest of shoulders to pull off into. I bet there's some amazing snook fishing to be had here, casting a line down alongside the bridge's pillars...
I've always been a great enthusiast of bridges - not only are they beautiful feats of engineering, but more importantly, they get you where you wanna go. But when I encountered the Sunshine Skyway Bridge I must admit I actually had a twinge of anxiety about crossing it. When you see it in the distance, it almost seems to make the automobiles defy gravity as they cross it, making what seems an insanely steep climb in the center.
But once you get out there, the perspective changes and it's no big deal. Special relativity in action. The Travel Channel rated the Sunshine Skyway #3 in its "Top 10 Bridges in the World" special, and it's easy to see why - it is majestic, if frighteningly so.
And if you're in Bradenton and you want to get to Tampa or St. Pete, you pretty much have to take it if you don't want to take the looooong way going around and up I-75. The Sunshine Skyway Bridge connects Palmetto (a town just north of Bradenton) with St. Petersburg, by way of crossing Terra Ceia Island.
