The Sunshine SkyWay Bridge Disaster 1980 | Plainly Difficult Documentary

[@PlainlyDifficult]

Was the disaster inevitable? Here's the obligatory music promotion links: kzbin.info/door/TJKjPWNMe27wg5T7yk9OnQ open.spotify.com/track/1ib51WuCyDbAK9ULkaTp3c

[@carloschile1ඞ]

Probably

[@jasongeorgeoff4626]

I have driven over the skyway bridge many times since I live in the area. You see the remnants of the old skyway bridge every time. Love the videos John. Keep up the great work

[@P_RO_]

Yes inevitable. Ships can't turn or stop quickly, and where hazards like this exist we should not be allowing them to go at a speed higher than they can avoid a collision from. When visibility deteriorates , or shows that it might, they need to slow down. And piers need to be better marked with radar reflectors and high-intensity lighting. All of this is easily possible but gets fought by wealthy ship owners who might lose a thousand in profit per voyage, and governments who appease them instead of acting in the public interest.

[@WrathofArminius]

Hey, if you ever want some original music hit me up. I’m a huge fan of your channel and I make great music for whatever you need.

[@camelfilters3224]

When it was first built cars, boats etc where not as "large" as they are today. And a bridge once built can't really change with the times in the way of adapting to things getting bigger that pass over or under them. A bridge would basically have to be torn down and rebuilt ever couple decades to adjust to our advancements in technology. So no it couldn't be avoided, when building these things is impossible to predict people as people are random variables at best when building anything.

[@kbm2055]

It's hard to imagine how horrifying it would be to drive off the "cliff" of the broken bridge and fall hundreds of feet to the water below. RIP

[@PlainlyDifficult]

Pretty tragic

[@IHateBuns101]

Final Destination 5… sigh…

[@thedudeimbibes46]

A few years back, a pick up truck crossing the Coronado bridge was pushed by a tour bus onto the outside k-rail barrier sending the truck into a slide before it tipped over the side and falling some 100 foot down causing a fatality to driver. Always gave me a shiver while crossing bridge, knowing that poor driver had a delayed time till finality.

[@MadScientist267]

Like a really tall high dive... Which they got rid of for similar reasons...

[@i-_-am-_-g1467]

We need to find the one guy who survived, what a fucking story that'd be!!

[@bbug4841]

As a Floridian - I can confirm that it is absolutely the most terrifying drive over the current sunshine skyway bridge. The pitch of elevation is enough to to give the most confident of drivers a case of nervous exhaustion. There is no where to pull over on the bridge. You hold your breath as you drive onto the bridge and climb the arched elevation and you DO NOT look anywhere but straight ahead as there is no where to go but down in the case of lane departure or other drivers accidents. It’s enough to make you hold your breath the entire way over and you pray the entire way just to be sure.

[@rowkaz3510]

Very well said. It’s interesting how driving over this bridge affects people in different ways. For myself, I feel nauseous and grip the seat for dear life, whereas my husband had no issues and thinks of it as a fun ride.

[@d.n4203]

@@rowkaz3510 My family visited the area when I was a very young child a few years before moving there, so I've gone across it a few times. I recall the first time -- and it was nothing for a kid more interested in watching the clouds in the sky, whatever, no big-- and then the panic crept up on me and then burst over my head like a balloon. We were too high and too unprotected and yet somehow trapped. I hated traveling back to Miami because of that. I'd close my eyes and huddle down into the seat in a defensive ball until I was certain we were on the other side. There's just something about it that flips every alarm switch.

[@tailorforeman7082]

Same for me when I cross the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel

[@robeddy3722]

I've been over the new bridge several times. I'd call it "nervous trepidation" as you start up the front side of the bridge. Then like flying, when you crest and begin descent. I cannot imagine how it was going over the steel span that was there before. Especially if there was an accident and you needed to sit there with the wind blowing the thing all over the place.

[@amazingsupergirl7125]

It looks insanely steep like a Disney roller coaster ride.

[@kahnwolfe9548]

One major component to this story that is missed, it's shown on the diagram of the channel in the video, but not actually brought up, is that the channel itself was also an issue. Ships were required to make a turn, while simultaneously crossing under the bridge. This was also noted in reports as being a contributing factor to the accident as it again, increased the likelihood of collision. Which is why, the channel was re-routed as part of the redesign of the bridge so that the turn, and the bridge crossing are separate events. Everything about this situation was an accident waiting to happen, and worse yet, the previous collisions were clear warnings to these problems, that were dutifully ignored.

[@m0r73n]

Given enough time it is a 100% chance that a ship will crash with the bridge piers

[@jvccr7533]

Did no one consider this before the bridge was built?

[@Jonathan.D]

@@jvccr7533 The channel existed before the bridge did. The cross bay channel was used for ferry boats that took you across the bay but ended at the start of WWII. After this accident, they made a lot of desperately needed changes to the channels in and around the bay. Previously, the channels were too shallow and the ones by Egmont and mullet key would change slightly from one year to the next due to shifting sandbars. The three counties that control the bay and the USCG who builds and maintains the channels squabbled over the bridge and channels. You also have the St Pete port authority that built and operated the bridge making demands. It took them decades to get it all finished. Keep in mind that the request for the original bridge started way back in 1924. Before the interstate system was built it took hours to go the other way around over the Gandy Bridge and across Hillsborough County. Typically bureaucracy at its finest.

[@albatross5466]

@@jvccr7533 The size of ships also evolved making them less maneuverable, which was a major contributing factor.

[@futureshock7425]

This is the modus operandi of most of the state of Florida

[@lostvictims9769]

In remembrance to the victims: Michael Joseph Curtin Jr., 44 Duane Adderly, 21 Alphonso Blidge, 22 Myrtle Brown, 58 Willis Lionel Brown, 57 John Holton Callaway Jr., 19 Laverne Daniels, 20 Sandra L. Davis, 34 Sharon Dixon, 21 Brenda Green, 19 Robert D. Harding, 63 Gerda Hedquist, 92 Aubrey Reginald Hudson, 62 Phyllis Taylor Hudson, 58 Louise Taylor Johnson, 59 Yvonne Johnson, 22 Horace Vollie Lemmons, 47 Lillian Pondy Loucks, 69 Louis Lucas Jr., 62 Tawana McClendon, 20 MaNesha Yingko McGarrah, 7 months Wanda Smith McGarrath, 24 Marguerite Levy Mathison, 82 Anne Pondy, 57 Melborne Russell, 38 Woodrow Triplett, 31 John Carlson, 47 Doris Carlson, 42 Leslie J. Coleman Jr., 52 Charles L. Collins, 43 Hildred M. Dietch, 73 Harry E. Dietch, 68 James A. Pryor, 43 Delores E. Smith, 50 Robert S. Smith, 37

[@PureSniperWolf]

Gone but not forgotten. ❤️🧡💛💚💙💜💖

[@brittlyle3523]

John H. Callaway, Jr. was a member of the Tuskegee Institute tennis team and was on his way home for summer break. I was also on the team, but left in 1979, before he got there. The Tuskegee Tennis tournament was renamed in his honor to the John H. Callaway, Jr. Invitationals. R.I.P. Teammate....🎾🎾🎾

[@crlaw75]

Wow, so sad...a seven month old baby.

[@john564holloway]

Thank you for listing these victims.

[@sutpecna]

My condolences. May they rest in peace after such a tragic end.

[@bobraiola9864]

My partner and I were Florida Department of Transportation divers who responded to that event. My partner had five working days on the job.We we’re able to bring closure to some family members traveling in the greyhound bus. Our story has only recently been reported. We did what we could. It still sometimes effects me to this day. RIP …

[@km077]

Thank you for your service.

[@stargazer_stacey7415]

Thank you for your work ❤

[@MyLogHomeLife]

I read about your story not long ago. It might have been in Reader’s Digest, but I don’t recall specifically. I’m sure it never leaves you. My husband’s former baseball coach was on his way to work in Bradenton and was one who went over into the water. A secretary I worked with at the time in another city had her cousin and her baby go over on the Grayhound bus. Such a tragedy for so many.

[@CurrySoSpicy]

Thank you, Bob.

[@MinatheRaichu]

@@MyLogHomeLife somebody just posted the names and ages of the victims. It looks like you mean Wanda McGarrath and her baby MaNesha, who was only 7 months old. That's terrifying.

[@skeeterinnewjersey5256]

I also grew up in St. Pete, but I joined the Navy in '78 and was posted overseas when this happened. My sister, who still lives in St. Pete, developed a tremendous bridge phobia after this event. She had a near miss as a kid when a private plane crashed into a bridge in Ohio just before her school bus came onto the bridge. After this, I'm not sure how she ever crossed the bay again. The current bridge is a beautiful landmark now, but you can't help but look at the buttresses and remember why they are there.

[@jamessimms415]

Your sister isn’t the only one. I hate high bridges to this day & Im nearly 64

[@Tser]

My relative who lives in St. Pete also has a phobia of the skyway because of this event. I absolutely love the "new" skyway, it's such a gorgeous bridge and I love going over it, but I completely understand where she's coming from.

[@semidhimmi3184]

The skyway bridge managed to kill one other person: a motorcyclist tried to jump the gap in the bridge as a publicity stunt a few years after the incident. He didn't make the jump but died before impact with the water.

[@rkkzjj32]

This world is rapidly passing away and I hope that you repent and take time to change before all out disaster occurs! Belief in messiah alone is not enough to grant you salvation - Matthew 7:21-23, John 3:3, John 3:36 (ESV is the best translation for John 3:36) if you believed in Messiah you would be following His commands as best as you could. If you are not a follower of Messiah I would highly recommend becoming one. Call on the name of Jesus and pray for Him to intervene in your life - Revelation 3:20. Contemplate how the Roman Empire fulfilled the role of the beast from the sea in Revelation 13 over the course of 1260+ years. Revelation 17 confirms that the beast is in fact Rome. From this we can conclude that A) Jesus is the Son of God and can predict the future or make it happen, B) The world leaders/nations/governments etc have been conspiring together for the last 3000+ years going back to Babylon and before, C) History as we know it is fake. You don't really need to speculate once you start a relationship with God. Can't get a response from God? Fasting can help increase your perception and prayer can help initiate events. God will ignore you if your prayer does not align with His purpose (James 4:3) or if you are approaching Him when "unclean" (Isaiah 1:15, Isaiah 59:2, Micah 3:4). Stop eating food sacrificed to idols (McDonald's, Wendy's etc) stop glorifying yourself on social media or making other images of yourself (Second Commandment), stop gossiping about other people, stop watching obscene content etc. Have a blessed day!

[@chrisbrooks5635]

I moved to Sarasota in 2003 and would get really bad anxiety crossing the bridge.

[@josephmassaro]

I grew up in St.Pete and was eight when this happened. I went over the bridge many times. The car pictured at the edge of bridge in the video was the last one to approach the edge right after the bridge collapsed. The driver slammed on the brakes, stopping inches from the edge of the drop. It's a very surreal picture. I remember suggesting covering this one a while back. Glad to see you make a video on it. Excellent video!

[@soyuzsovietsky]

Was going over the metal grate at the top of it scary? I always imagined it would be

[@josephmassaro]

@@soyuzsovietsky Oh yeah. As a kid, it always freaked me out because you could hear the change in sound going from concrete to metal grate.

[@josephmassaro]

@@gusgreen3104 That's the story I recall. If it's been fleshed out or amended, I'm unaware. Still a very surreal image.

[@soyuzsovietsky]

@@josephmassaro oh no that's scary as hell!!!

[@Jonathan.D]

@@soyuzsovietsky I makes a very different sound than a solid surface does. Most draw bridges and swing bridges are made of the same material. The bigger issue was with the snowbirds and tourists would stop at the top to watch the sunset. They didn't even care about the signs. We used to fish near the middle but not on the incline. This required you to stop, drop your gear, go park, and finally walk back. That only required a few seconds. The traffic was lighter then and the speed limit was only 55. I wonder if any remembers the tale of the massive hammerhead shark that used to take people's stringers of fish. He even had a name but YT would probably block the comment if I said it. Good times.

[@MissMTurner]

I've lived in the Tampa Bay Area most of my life and I remember crossing the old bridge a few times as a kid. What was so terrifying was the two original bridges were twins, so you'd be driving along next to a mirror bridge, until suddenly, there simply was no bridge next to you. You're just going and going and still no bridge. The size of the gap was huge in person. And then, just as suddenly as it stopped, it picked right back up again as if nothing had happened. Really left an impression on me as a kid seeing that vast span of empty air right next to you.

[@JTA1961]

Great description

[@LadyintheGreenHat]

That had to be nerve wracking to drivers, especially the first time they drove it.

[@bonniemoerdyk9809]

May, I remember that! I'm from Indiana, but would vacation in St. Pete several times. In fact, my first time was just 2 months after the collision. Mom and I went down to check it out, but were too scared to go onto it and so we used the turn around before entering. The next time was a few years later with my new hubby and I was driving, I had no intention of going onto it, but missed the turn around. I was beyond terrified! I saw exactly what you described, yet I was so afraid to turn my head even the tiniest bit to look! My husband was laughing his butt off!🤨

[@roneichstaedt8853]

I was there the following Spring and crossed at dusk in light fog and saw exactly what you describe: first you see an empty bridge next to you...then empty sky. So spooky!

[@RetroReminiscing]

OH my god, that sounds scarey to drive and see ... sounds visually disturbing ha ha

[@maddielee7019]

Got a civil engineering degree in Tampa and this was talked about during some of the intro classes. The accident changed the way bridges were built and protected, it was also when I finally understood why bridges have the "crown" shape in their structure. Bridges were already being built with protection of the outer piers, but the powers that be decided not to do it for this one, the discussion put the majority of the blame on the design, not necessarily the ship

[@bhull242]

I can see why they put the majority of the blame on the bridge’s design and not the ship. Visibility was basically fine until essentially the last minute, and such a large ship would have had a lot of momentum to fight to change the ship’s velocity, so there wasn’t a whole lot the pilot could’ve done differently without the benefit of hindsight. By contrast, a bridge built with the expectation of having marine traffic passing under it semi-regularly should absolutely have had protections against far more than just wind pressure as it is absolutely foreseeable that a sizeable marine vessel might collide with one of the piers, and it is a lot easier to design a static structure to be able to handle future dynamic loads than it is to direct a large moving ship to avoid colliding with said structure, especially in poor visibility. Additionally, human error is far easier to mitigate when constructing a static structure than when steering a vessel. During construction, there is plenty of time to see and fix the results of human error long before a potential disaster occurs, but human error in terms of steering a vessel often has immediate (or near-immediate) consequences. It is far easier to prepare for the worst and mitigate the fallout from a mistake than it is to not make a mistake under time pressure. Really, there is no good excuse for not having _some_ protection against collisions to try to prevent complete failure of the bridge. It’s not like it was designed with no expectation of ships passing underneath it; on the contrary, it was explicitly designed to allow ships to pass through uninterrupted and without stopping traffic at any point. It’s also not a case where the bridge was built or designed before measures had been developed to mitigate problems with collisions; they simply didn’t implement them for some reason.

[@jaquigreenlees]

60% design fault, 40% to the ship captain. There should have been something to help mitigate collisions on the bridge, the captain should have kept the ship moving slower, as soon as the trainee pilot went to full ahead he should have taken control and brought it back down to slow. The weather events would have impacted when the ship was further from the bridge, giving those on board more time to react to the changes.

[@BlondieGurl1129]

USF?

[@tasa4904]

@@bhull242 Not that they both didn't cause the tragedy, but I get the feeling that it was broken down this way for a source of money for bereavement and a replacement. An entire state vs a shipping company...which is able to pay when neither can be completely assigned the blame.

[@GargeBarge]

@@BlondieGurl1129 United States of Florida?

[@grimmcreole44]

This is scarily similar to the Tjörn bridge catastrophe, on the 18th of January 1980. Tjörn is an island on the west coast of Sweden. A Norwegian bulk carrier, the "Star Clipper" crashed into the Tjörn bridge collapsing the roadway a foggy night at 01:30. The mainland side was stopped after 3 cars and 15 minutes. The Tjörn side took about an hour, and 3 cars and a truck were plunged into the dark icy water, as there was no police in service there.

[@PlainlyDifficult]

Thanks for telling me about it I’ll have a look

[@jamessimms415]

Add in the Hobart Tasmanian Bridge disaster

[@nthgth]

_Damn,_ that's terrible. And terrifying!

[@rdfox76]

You can actually see reference to that accident in the NTSB report shot talking about how properly protected bridges were surviving collisions; the next few points after the highlighted quote mention three unprotected bridge collision accidents, including specifically mentioning Star Clipper.

[@Mallowolf]

What a nightmare! Those poor people.

[@bassgee2938]

I lived and worked near the bridge when this happened. I plainly remember that day. It was the darkest storm cloud I’ve ever witnessed. It was as if nighttime was happening. No sunlight at all. The rain was really strong. Then we heard of the disaster. One of my high school classmates lost his father to that bridge. It was simply awful.

[@57msdeb]

Same here. It was a very dark, stormy day, and some people were very late to work. We found out they had to go around and use the HFB or Gandy.

[@harlech2]

My gran's aunt lived in St. Petersburg and we visited several times in the late `70's. She died in late `79 or early `1980 and I can remember us flying down to begin sorting her estate. School had been out for like a day when we flew down and this happened the day after we arrived. We had to stay in Tampa and cross the bridge. We had gone over the bridge just the evening before. I can remember laying in Aunt Maud's guest room and drawing pictures of X-Wings and Tie Fighters and giving them to her. She stuck them to her fridge and kept them and they were sti;; there when we closed out her estate. I still had those pics when my house burned in 2010. It's funny what memories a 13 year old brain can lock onto.

[@zachhatten261]

You wouldn't have crossed this bridge to go from Tampa to St. Pete. This bridge connects Bradenton in Manatee County with St. Pete in Pinellas County. Tampa is in Hillsborough and you would have crossed Gandy, Howard Franklin, or Courtney Campbell. Or you stayed somewhere in Manatee County

[@harlech2]

@@zachhatten261 It very well could have been Bradenton. I know we couldn't get a hotel in St. Petersburg and had to stay in a hotel that was 30 minute drive away from her house. It turned into a 3 hour drive and there were helicopters and dozens of boats.

[@southphillylilly]

@@zachhatten261 but you're wrong, you can cross the bridge and then go up through Tampa. Because when the bridge is closed, I have to take 75 which I can only get to by going into Tampa. Back then it very well may have been easier to take 75 and cross over the bridge into downtown Saint Pete

[@PaigeSharrow]

My family is from St. Pete. I never understood my mom’s paralyzing fear of bridges until learning about the original skyway collapse-she was 9 years old at the time.

[@hollymartins6913]

I'm your mom's age and grew up near Daytona. I think every kid around our age who grew up in Florida and had crossed the bridge, is still affected by it. It's the stuff of nightmares, complete with related ghost stories . The new one is scary, but nothing like the old one, with the metal grating that you could look straight down through the bridge as if it weren't even there. Just wrong.

[@christinecollins6648]

My family is NOT from St. Petersburg- but my Grandparents lived in several towns around it ( Fort Myers, Cape Coral and for a while St. Pete. )We would randomly book a resort motel near by- often St Pete. I watched the build of the double bridge- awaited use, then used it one year, came back and the half was gone and watched as the newer bridge was made, then used that. Born mid 60s- I asked my parents”why did they take down that new bridge- what a waste?” They were like” oh, don’t know- think they decided they needed a newer one”. My folks passed in their mid 80s- I wonder did they know and hide the story from me? So sad- RIP dear souls

[@FailSafe161]

I grew up in St. Pete in the early 00's, so my Sunshine Skyway has always been the new one. My mom has told me stories of driving across the un-collapsed half of the old bridge, seeing the wreckage of the other side and feeling a chill down her spine.

[@57msdeb]

I remember when there was no second bridge, just one two lane span that swayed in the breeze.

[@spvillano]

@@57msdeb well, they all sway in the breeze. They have to, otherwise the stresses would tear the bridge apart. But, even knowing that, it's unsettling. We had to stop a military convoy in the middle of the Baltimore Harbor bridge, yeah, feeling it rock was a uniquely unsettling experience, even knowing that it did and why.

[@Yezpahr]

13:17 Imagine reading the sign "NO stopping on bridge" and ahead of that sign is a missing bridge. Do any bridges exist with some alert system when a section goes out? Something that would turn a light on if a signal from one end of the bridge doesn't reach the other side. This would help dramatically as incoming traffic often can't see the peak of the bridge, or the drop comes too sudden because you're going up all the time and you can't see over your own head's elevation.

[@CantHandleThisCanYa]

No, bridges don’t have that. Bridges are not expected to collapse, therefore no alert system should exist. Alert systems are for things that can predictably go wrong. A bridge should never predictably collapse unless you’re demolishing it.

[@cavemaneca]

@@CantHandleThisCanYa but bridges can and do collapse. Bridges aren't built to be indestructible monoliths, they're built to withstand expected forces. That's not to say such a system would be viable, but rather than the assumption of a bridge never collapsing is a faulty one.

[@kaissner289]

I don't think so, it'd be easy to implement too, just fit a wire going through the entire bridge sending a electrical pulse every 30 seconds or so and if something happens it will cut the cable making an alarm sound

[@Yezpahr]

@@CantHandleThisCanYa I understand that they aren't expected to fall apart, but accidents happen, especially when spanning busy water ways with frequent (aka **expected**) low visibility.

[@nyoomi1483]

@@CantHandleThisCanYa So smoke alarms aren't needed either then? I mean, my house isn't expected to catch fire. Safety features that can save lives are always worthwhile no matter how low the chances of an incident occuring, acting as if a unexpected disaster can't happen ends in things like the "unsinkable" Titanic going down and thousands of lives being lost, had they put safety ahead of profits and costs many more people might've survived. A life is worth far more than any cost for a safety feature.

[@bridgettroberts2386]

Till this day, I remember the disaster as my family annually vacationed at “The Sands Motel” on Treasure Island, Florida. Before the original bridge was demolished, I took a picture of the “cut-off” while my dad was driving. Now, being older, than my dad was then, it doesn’t seem that long ago.😒 Thank you for sharing the story. 🙂

[@Mav12able]

Anyone reminded of this after the Francis Scott Key Bridge?

[@mattsisoler6125]

Literally my first thought was “oh my God, this must’ve been what it looked like when the Sunshine Skyway Bridge went down”

[@zaramikazuki8374]

You and me both. I'd learned about the Skyway bridge collapse last week and watched quite a few videos. Then I learned of the Key bridge collapse this morning and was shocked by how eerily similar the two incidents are.

[@lucrezaborgia]

Immediately came here to share the video as an example that people already knew that this is a major problem

[@Northern.Town.]

Here for this comment!

[@Nick77ab2]

I wasn't reminded, I was recommended by the KZbin algorithm. 💀

[@twocvbloke]

It's one of the scariest thoughts when crossing such a long spanned bridge, if you can't see clearly ahead, is the bridge still there?? Sadly those folk who went plunging into the water found out the horrific answer to that, absolutely awful thing to happen... :(

[@Jonathan.D]

On the new bridge, there was a huge pileup caused by fog. People fishing from the old bridge could hear the slamming into the pile one car after another. Some never hit their brakes because the fog was so bad.

[@Tindometari]

I've always found it unsettling when I'm on a long bridge and there's enough fog that I can't see either shore. Bonus if it's thick enough that I can't see the water either. Worst thing is that you *know* it'd be the smart thing to slow down, and you'd even like to pull over -- but you can't pull over on the bridge and you have to worry about the people driving behind you who might not catch on in time that you're slowing down. (That is after all exactly how those fog-driven massive pileups happen.)

[@101Volts]

@@Jonathan.D You might think that *after over 85 years of driving education,* we'd collectively know better than to just *dart off into fog like that.* People don't want to stick their face in something that'll explode (usually,) and yet they'll dart into fog where there could be a pole ready to impale their windshield and head.

[@Jonathan.D]

@@101Volts Or at least slow down. 😄 It's the modern-day version of survival of the fittest. Not smart enough to slow down or stop. 💥

[@ImperialJustinian]

During the similar Tasman Bridge disaster in 1975 (ore carrier slammed into supports causing a section to fall on a foggy night), four cars went over the edge. One car, seeing the lights go out and expecting an accident slowed down, and was able to slam the brakes on and end up hanging over the edge looking down at the water. The couple within got out carefully. On the other side, a car with a family of four within saw two cars ahead of them disappear, and slammed on the brakes, stopping inches before the drop. The car behind them then shunted their front wheels over the edge, but the family were also able to get out without overbalancing. The father than watched horrified as two cars ignored him trying to wave them down before going over the edge, with one even swerving around him before going over (He did manage to stop the loaded bus though). That stuck with me; 2-3 people (four cars went over, killing five) died because they ignored this guy trying to save them. What must have been the guy who swerved around him have thought in his last moments?

[@roneichstaedt8853]

The following March, I was down there for Spring Break (one of my buddies' parents retired to St. Pete so we stayed with them rather than one of the more traditional Break destinations). I was driving over the remaining span at night in light fog. That was creepy enough. Then, going up the incline, you could see the other span...then suddenly it was gone and you just saw empty space. Talk about a chill running down your spine.

[@boatlady5]

I was 16 when this happened. I'm born and raised in St. Petersburg. Live here today. Remember that day very well. My Mom was an LPN and worked in a Nursing home, but had to go over to Sarasota to get her checks, so that meant a trip across the Skyway. On that morning the storm was horrible, and we made it to where she worked in hopes maybe her check was there, but it wasn't. We waited there for a bit hoping it would let up. Finally Mom said she wasn't going. It was too bad out. Later that day we heard what happened. That was such a sad day.

[@Torchmanz]

For the longest time, as a kid growing up, we repeatedly were told that the "captain was drunk". It's amazing how things like this take on a story of their own, facts aside.

[@Igloo3471]

Yup, same urban rumour about Boleslaw Pelc, master of the SS Lake Illawarra that smashed into the Tasman Bridge in Hobart, Australia in 1975 killing 7. That rumour still gets parroted even 48 years after the accident even though Pelc was tested repeatedly at the time after being rescued and was found with no alcohol in his system.

[@101Volts]

That's what happens when people open their mouths to say things that "make sense" when they rightfully have no business commenting at all because they don't *really* know. At least it shows you whether or not they're dumb.

[@Torchmanz]

@@101Volts talk about timing. It's like a weird version of deja vu with the stuff in Baltimore.

[@BubbaThaumaturge]

Plenty of stories were told. I was in the navy several years after this. Half the senior cadre I met claimed they were there that day.

[@ronaldchase7037]

I remember this disaster, I was a paper carrier in Spokane Washington, this dominated the headlines for 9 days, that is until the eruption of Mt Saint Helens and my May 19th paper was so thick, that I had to break up my walking route into 6 sections, these two tragedies have always been in my memories

[@rustyshackle8000]

My dad was actually near that eruption! He was in Idaho, I believe? Close enough that his dad was able to scrape ash off the hood of their car and put it in a jar. II don't know what happened to the jar, as my grandfather passed in 2020 and a lot of his belongings were stolen by family

[@gwenreader6631]

I was a sophomore in high school and remember that morning. It was cold wet and dark, heavier rainfall than typical for that time of year. We got the announcement from the principal that there was a collision to the bridge and that the Southbound span had dropped into the bay. We were all stunned into silence. I never liked going over it because you couldn’t see the other side, you just keep traveling upwards. None of the other area bridges gave me that kind of apprehension. The memory of what happened to those travelers still gives me a knot in my stomach.

[@buffalosoldier19d42]

I was a junior in high school when this happened. My mother had actually driven across the bridge minutes before the Summit Venture hit it. When she got to her destination in Sarasota people greeted her with relief. She had no idea the bridge had been hit. The truck was a Chevy Luv. When they talk about the rain we're talking a torrential downpour. Buses couldn't make it into some neighborhoods to pick up students. I remember pushing cars up 5th Ave out of the flooded street in front of the school. Needless to say I didn't go back in to school that day.

[@CeltonHenderson]

The squall that impacted the summit venture also produced something called a microburst (an intense downdraft within a thunderstorm that is accompanied by extremely heavy precipitation and winds that can exceed 100mph) which I believe is what you mention when you said that strong winds from the stern contributed to the collision.

[@seraphina985]

The fast lateral winds you actually get outside of the microburst itself as that describes the rapidly falling column of air itself. The lateral winds are the inevitable result of said rapidly falling air with a lot of momentum meeting the ground which forcefully pushes back declaring that the area bellow is occupied. This of course results in a sharp pressure spike as the air pancakes into the ground and thus overcomes the lower pressure of the air around the microburst and violently blasts outwards. But yeah they are scary as hell especially in an aircraft, probably not much better for a ship though since although water being more viscous is affected less it would produce not insignificant wave action radiating out from the microburst. The increased pressure in the centre will depress the surface of the water somewhat with the excess being pushed outwards in a series of waves as again the pressure near the surface of the water near the middle will be higher than that of the air above it around the perimeter. Water will escape by pushing up and out around the edges to relive the pressure imbalance. So the ship would also be experiencing a slower moving but much denser fluid pushing away from the microburst too, one that is also more viscous so will drag more along the sides of the hull hydrodynamically pulling the ship along with it too.

[@jefferysmith3930]

I am from Sarasota and remember the tragedy well even though I did not live there at the time. My late uncle, Kim Tribble was a singer/song writer who lived and performed in the area at the time. He wrote a song about it “13 miles of bridge ahead” that got some local radio play at the time.

[@merc7105]

You always present these topics in such a respectful, yet engaging way. Thank you.

[@gailcaldwell1512]

The horror for those people in those vehicles and on that bus plunging into that cold water, knowing they were probably going to die….Dear GOD, what a terrible way to die! I am so sorry for all of them and their families and loved ones. And THIS COULD HAVE BEEN PREVENTED, EVEN BACK THEN! Without a DOUBT! Well done on telling the story!

[@Casper1tfg]

I crossed that bridge when I was about 4 or 5 years old back in the late 50's. I was on a Greyhound bus with my grandmother and she wanted me to look at us coming down the bridge. It looked like we were headed straight into the water and I was screaming because I was so scared. That was the only time I was ever on that bridge and if I had to go a hundred miles out of the way to get where I was going, that's what I would do before I ever crossed that bridge again.

[@AngelBolt]

I'm familiar with the area, and the sudden storms are a regular occurrence. You can see massive sheets of grey pouring from the clouds from miles away and just the other day there was a batch of rain so strong I heard it coming for a good 30 seconds before it arrived. They don't last very long, but in those conditions, your best bet is to be extra cautious, make yourself visible, and get to a safe stopping spot. The roads here are particularly frightening. They're massive 3 or 4 lanes either way, in long gentle curves. Drivers get so used to speeding along them at 60 to 70 miles per hour, and upwards of 80 on the highways. When inclement weather hits, for a lot of the drivers, muscle memory takes over, and they still speed and skid. And with some of the overpass bridge designs, I still fear the one time everything is going to ice over...

[@Jonathan.D]

I don't think people know how heavy the rain can get there. At times when driving the rain would get so heavy you can't see past the hood of your car at 25-35mph. I remember several times on my dad's tug we were going towards the Gandy and the rain made it impossible to see anything. That was pre-GPS and we had to use the compass and chart. It was a bit worrying but my dad made it look easy. In a giant ship that is blinded by rain, dealing with high winds and strong currents, it's a lot more difficult.

[@christyricker8736]

I used to be on this bridge, the old one, every weekend with my parents. My paternal grandfather was a patient at the Bay Pines Military Hospital and we would take my grandmother to see him. I honestly hated the bridge. I am an older autistic and the sound of that monstrosity still reverberates in my mind. I actually used to fear going over the side.... still do on the new one!! I went through a small bout of depression and had some bad days after this. Doctors did not understand Aspergers in the early 80's, so my parents dealt with it the best they could. The south and north end of the old bridge now sport fishing piers that is maintained and kept nice. They also have bait shops on either one, but I prefer the South Pier on the Manatee County side..... ummmmm, I want to go fishing now!!!

[@SmolAliens]

I live in FL and have driven this bridge, but I moved here long after this disaster. I can’t imagine. Thank you for covering it respectfully as always.

[@djmishadash]

Thank you. I commented a while back on another bridge disaster about this one. Being a child of the early 80s in Tampa, this collapse basically covered the news every day for years on end. Astonishingly, you also posted it on my birthday weekend. Unintentional and coincidental I'm sure, but I thank you regardless. I am a happy Misha today.

[@mjmooney6530]

Nice job on this event! An entire failure analysis documentary could be made on this subject as a reminder of what not to do and why. The new bridge would also go on to have a multi-vehicle pileup in heavy fog when the bridge operator failed to close it in a timely manner. It’s absolutely wicked going over it in high winds.

[@harambeyonce9427]

I live in Bradenton, on the south side of the bay, & have traveled over the current bridge countless times in my life & would remember this as a horror story of sorts. The remnants of the bridge are there today & serve as fishing piers.

[@chadhiggins8397]

I've been waiting for this one for a while, I live in Florida and as a very young child remember going over the remaining span, the collapse happened before I was one year old. I remember being fascinated by complexity of the old bridge when we were still using it. That 5-year-old version of myself would have gotten a kick out of knowing I would someday work on Bridges myself, although I started working for them, the company has actually worked on the new skyway. I actually remember being in Tampa watching on television as they demolished part of the old bridge. Although not part of the story of the actual collapse, there is a little more story surrounding the captain of the ship. It was blamed a lot more on him than was deserved for sure.

[@PKGangsta18]

This happened long before I moved to Tampa, but I actually ended up working for the guy that was the first to be called out and help pick the wreckage out of the water. He ran a electronics and Scrap Metal Recycling facility up until his death. He passed away last year 😞

[@jackpeters9349]

I used to cross that bridge when I was a kid with my parents. There was an area before the bridge where we would picnic than there was philipe just before the bridge. Old Florida was a good place to be a kid. Florida probably changed for the worst more than any other place in America.

[@RemoWilliams1227]

@@jackpeters9349 California would be 1a

[@amyprice3661]

Be safe in Tampa right now ❤

[@PKGangsta18]

@@amyprice3661 thanks, Amy

[@MissHannah2036]

that's the longest AF bridge I have ever seen. I cross the Sydney Harbour Bridge everyday but it is the most solid thing ever. That bridge looked like it would bounce.

[@Elkaygee320]

I was 9 when this happened, living in Tampa, with grandparents living in St. Pete, and we traveled the bridges all the time. Traveling the remaining bridge as a two-way and seeing the chunks of hanging concrete is pretty well seared into my memory, so much so that the only recurring nightmare I have is of plunging into water while driving, and I also fictionalized the incident and put it in a novel.

[@firstfromabove]

Except the remaining sections of the old bridge were not completely demolished. The sections that actually spanned the deeper channel were removed, but both ends where the new bridge connects, up to where the old bridge started rising away from the water, were left in place and now serve as fishing piers. Highly recommend if you're into fishing, it's excellent in that area.

[@lindabarrett5631]

I remember going over the bridge after the accident and looking over seeing the missing section and envisioning the terror and horror of driving off the end of it. Ever since then, I've been terrified of bridges.

[@sandreawhite7534]

I remember the day this happened. We live in Bradenton and traveled over this bridge countless times. My daddy called me and told me he just went over that bridge after picking up a friend from Tampa international airport when this happened. It was such a tragedy and will be embedded in my memory forever. It was so shocking.

[@cwavt8849]

I like it. Good illustrations, no overly dramatic voice, told plainly in common English that even young children can understand. Good job.

[@PlainlyDifficult]

Thank you

[@reversalmushroom]

0:54 I love how wide the lanes are. It's so...comfortable. You wouldn't see lanes that wide nowadays. They'd wanna cram in as many people as possible.

[@SimpleSaemple]

Spib

[@hothobart]

Wider lanes actually encourage unsafe driving habits, such as speeding.

[@P_RO_]

@@hothobart No, it's poor enforcement that leads to bad driving. Any idiot who would speed in a wide lane will speed in a narrow lane too. It the bad drivers (and poor enforcement) not the roads.

[@hothobart]

@@P_RO_ A quick google search turns up a whole page worth of studies that show otherwise. Here’s one with sources, which you don’t have: nacto.org/docs/usdg/review_lane_width_and_speed_parsons.pdf

[@erik_dk842]

@@hothobart Too low speed limits cause speeding

[@benmcreynolds8581]

Anytime I heard about a accident like this. I can't help but think? Why? Why didn't city planning have a system that helped guide the ships through the difficult channel crossing under the bridge and having floaties along the way so the boats could have been guided like a bowling ball in a lane with bumpers up. (Why did they just expect all these boats to never damage the bridge? ) They should have assumed boats would accidentally damage the bridge, especially with the tricky crossing under it as well. I think I heard the water channel was making large ships need to take weird approach routes to reach the bridge crossing. I just wish a guide system or even just a bunch of floaties around the pillars to protect at all until further things could have been done.. idk?

[@peterstickney7608]

There was, and is now, plenty of navigational markers that serve to get ships into the channel, and there was plenty of space in the channel for the ships to pass. The channel buoys have radar reflectors, (Tibetan Ghost Traps) and the bridge itself is a massive radar target. In conditions like those that occurred that morning, no additional markers or buoys would have been visible. This part of Florida (I'm a resident of the Tampa Bay area) is subject to sharp, short period torrential rains - several inches/hour - the area is also quite flat, and the clod cover will rarely extend to the horizon. With low sun reflecting off the rain and the spray that it kicks up, visibility can instantly drop from unlimited to less than 300' (100m). The rainfall had to be extraordinarily high for it to blank out the radar reflectors on the buoys, and the bridge itself - not unlike a combination of Noise Jamming and Chaff. Given the momentum of a moving ship, particularly a big Bulk Carrier, and its limited propulsion - they're typically pushed by a single screw, there's not much you can do in a situation like that. If they were more sure of where they were, then the starbord turn recommended in the NTSB report would have had them missing the bridge by turning out of the dredged portion of the channel and grounding in the shallows. Note that people driving on the bridge were also hampered by the poor visibility, not able to see that the bridge span was gone. The lack of dolphins or other protection is a problem - people tend to look at things in terms of "What has happened" versus "What can happen", and complacency results.

[@The_Modeling_Underdog]

@@peterstickney7608 I was thinking the same as Ben. Thanks for the insight, mate. Cheers.

[@rkkzjj32]

This world is rapidly passing away and I hope that you repent and take time to change before all out disaster occurs! Belief in messiah alone is not enough to grant you salvation - Matthew 7:21-23, John 3:3, John 3:36 (ESV is the best translation for John 3:36) if you believed in Messiah you would be following His commands as best as you could. If you are not a follower of Messiah I would highly recommend becoming one. Call on the name of Jesus and pray for Him to intervene in your life - Revelation 3:20. Contemplate how the Roman Empire fulfilled the role of the beast from the sea in Revelation 13 over the course of 1260+ years. Revelation 17 confirms that the beast is in fact Rome. From this we can conclude that A) Jesus is the Son of God and can predict the future or make it happen, B) The world leaders/nations/governments etc have been conspiring together for the last 3000+ years going back to Babylon and before, C) History as we know it is fake. You don't really need to speculate once you start a relationship with God. Can't get a response from God? Fasting can help increase your perception and prayer can help initiate events. God will ignore you if your prayer does not align with His purpose (James 4:3) or if you are approaching Him when "unclean" (Isaiah 1:15, Isaiah 59:2, Micah 3:4). Stop eating food sacrificed to idols (McDonald's, Wendy's etc) stop glorifying yourself on social media or making other images of yourself (Second Commandment), stop gossiping about other people, stop watching obscene content etc. Have a blessed day!

[@markmanz8897]

This was a very good synopsis. My grandparents lived in St. Petersburg and we would cross the Sunshine Skyway every time we visited. I went across before and after the disaster. Seeing the "missing bridge" was very freaky. Then they built the new one, which I have driven across a few times. Eek. That's a crazy bridge to drive over. On a side note: They recovered the Greyhound bus and transported it to the Greyhound maintenance facility in Chicago. MCI (Motor Coach Industries - the manufacturer of the bus), NTSB, and Greyhound, analyzed the coach in order to produce future buses for worst-case scenarios. Thankfully, buses are safe and nothing like this has occurred since.

[@thejudgmentalcat]

To those who wonder how this happened: tropical squalls form very quickly, move very quickly, and can have dangerous fog banks. Thanks for covering this John, I listen to your music when I have to drive across town 👍

[@mundanestuff]

And in Tampa, this happens almost every day. We visited a few weeks ago and two days in a row, mist, hard hard rain, limited visibility etc. For 30 minutes though, sounds like the storm they sailed in was longer lasting.

[@Rise2theTopAdam4ever]

As a older teen when this happened, which was horrifying to me at the time-and still is, when I had to drive over the new bridge a few years later to bring a friend's Mom to a specialized hospital for treatment, I was beyond terrified. I've only traveled this bridge once more since, and hope I never have to travel it again.

[@anw891]

Who else is getting this recommended after the Francis Scott Key Bridge incident? 😞

[@nancyvillines4552]

Me

[@ashleybrady4252]

Me! Along with industrial accidents and amusement park accidents ....went down the rabbit hole lol

[@thomasw9587]

Did you search for bridge info or read articles about the event? Ultimately you seed the algorithm so it’s not really surprising

[@kriscynical]

I went to college at Ringling in Sarasota ('03-'07), and every time I flew home for holidays or hurricane evacuations out of TPA I had to cross the Sunshine Skyway. It's only recently that I learned that this disaster even happened. Now the bridge is so high up that there are red emergency call boxes at the peaks that directly connect to the ☠️ Prevention Hotline.

[@tailorforeman7082]

Omggg that last part

[@joannamiller6613]

Ringling alumni here too (1998-2001) and was a longtime St. pete resident in the 2000s..I can confirm that this is one of the scariest bridges to drive over (not too mention it’s eery history). If a thunderstorm or worse yet, a hurricane hit, you could feel the bridge sway due to the wind..so they would shut the bridge down until the weather subsided. During my time as a Ringling student, if I ever had to drive over the bridge during bad weather/a storm, I’d pull over into the rest stop (right before the bridge) and wait for the rain/thunderstorm to ease up. It’s a beautiful bridge, but scary as hell. And seeing those red phones on the highest points of the bridge..surreal and sad knowing it’s history.

[@kaylakhoshnoodi8991]

The scary part about the Sunshine skyway disaster for my family, is that my grandpa had literally just been on it an hour before while driving to work

[@Aztec339]

Makes life feel kinda random right.

[@oldfarmer4700]

My brothers EX wife worked in Tampa and was crossing the bridge the morning it was struck. A few weeks later me and my family had a vacation planned to visit my brother and drove across the bridge that remained. It was scary looking at what was left hanging and missing of the destroyed part and decided the return trip we would take another route home.

[@Its-Just-Zip]

I've driven over the new bridge several times and it was fairly interesting to see the old crossing because they left The second part just sitting there with the broken span in it so you could see where that happened. I always wondered what had happened to that and now I know. Thanks, John

[@PlainlyDifficult]

Thank you

[@michaelb1478]

Actually I believe they converted a section of it into a fishing pier

[@brandon4291]

@@michaelb1478 They did. Been there a few times.

[@Jonathan.D]

@@michaelb1478 Some of the pieces they removed were placed in front of the pier to make a reef.

[@Its-Just-Zip]

@@michaelb1478 it must have been after my trip then. When I went it was uncovered

[@grapeshot]

I remember when it's incident happened. I also remember when they pulled that Greyhound bus out of the bay it looked like Godzilla had chewed it up and spit it out.

[@AlphaGatorDCS]

I grew up in Tampa, FL and had a boat in Tampa Bay growing up. We watched a cigarette boat smash into one of the pilons while we were fishing near the bridge. It was going probably 40 knots and lost control just as it was going under the bridge (not through the shipping lane, but narrower pilons on the St. Pete side). The boat burst into flames and the 2 passengers jumped overboard and were picked up by other fishing vessels.

[@JTA1961]

Cigarettes are Hazzardous to your health

[@phil4986]

Great video as usual. Building a bridge in a shipping lane without pier protection is like building a car with no brakes on it. Eventually there is going to be a very bad accident. It is insane the bridge was unprotected from shipping traffic. The new span shows the exact right way to do it. Ships ,even moving slowly , have massive momentum when they move and impact with millions of pounds of force. You have to start to stop them before they ever get near the bridge and build the stopping device so the effort is continuous and not just built on a singular impact idea. You never want the bridge itself to be used as a stopping device ever. The use of wood is hilariously inept and yet, I have seen wood pylons on bridge protection piers around bridges all over the east coast of the United States. These wood piers simply shatter like balsa wood after decades of water exposure. I hope we have learned better lessons because of this tragedy.

[@josephpadula2283]

I worked with the pilot , John was never the same and died very young.

[@whysosyria1]

Yea he contracted MS

[@breakfastsurreal5650]

Very sad.

[@Tser]

The remains of the old bridge, the approaches, were turned into a state park, becoming the world's longest fishing pier. I don't fish, but it's a beautiful site for photography and bird watching. The new Skyway is beautiful, and it's quite a view both from the new bridge and from the old bridge's approaches. There is a problem, however, with bird entanglement at the pier. The Tampa Audubon Society is working to reduce bird entanglements through educating fishermen and other means.

[@LK2972]

Thank you, I live in St. Petersburg and had no idea of the history of the Skyway Bridge. Thanks again and happy Nee Year!!!

[@tombrewsaugh1399]

I lived in Florida when this accident took place. My wife and I went to St. Pete to see a friend and had to cross over the now 2 lain bridge in a light fog. Looking to our left we could see the void left from the missing span and the section of roadway still hanging down. Actually brought a cold chill up my spine.

[@faecreature21]

This was my first introduction to disasters. I was 6, playing on some huge rocks on a beach during a cookout. I noticed the rocks looked different than any rocks I'd ever seen on the beach before, and I asked something like 'Is this part of a castle?' The adults got quiet and my dad said 'No kiddo. That's part of the old bridge. A ship ran into it about ten years back and it collapsed.' It's always haunted me a little. The collapse, what the drivers must have felt, what the captain must have felt. The Sunshine Skyway will never not be a little bit creepy to me.

[@fabulouswoman5068]

This story was so horrific when it happened that it has stayed with me to this day. I can only imagine the terror of a bridge suddenly disappearing before your eyes as you suddenly plunge to your death. That's a long fall down.

[@Tailwinds17]

I go over the new one whenever I visit my grandparents. It's really an incredible bridge but it's eerie you can see the old one off to the side. People fish on the old one now

[@houseofsolomon2440]

I'm local & this bridge has an astounding view of the Gulf. It's really beautiful. Unfortunately, it's the 3rd most popular suicide location in the U.S.

[@thee-wastegamer4044]

Was waiting for this one! Tampa resident. The modern bridge here is just absolutely cursed in so many ways, from this and, well, other reasons...

[@Bloodwhiner]

I was a photographer for The Bradenton Herald when the Skyway was rammed by the Summit Venture. It was my first job and was in my hometown. It was also the first major news event that I covered. To this day I remember the feel of the open steel grate under my feet, the emptiness where the bridge just stopped. Later that day I discovered that the second car away from the edge had been driven by a friend.

[@bobraiola9864]

I was the FDOT diver who responded that morning and photographed from above behind the rescue vessels featured in many photos. Looking for the photographer who took those pictures. Please consider contacting me… Thanks

[@Bloodwhiner]

@@bobraiola9864 That was taken by Dick Bell of the St. Petersburg Times (now Tampa Bay Times). He retired many years ago, prior to 1990 When I started working there. If you are looking for copies of the photo, contact the Times reprint desk. They still own the rights to the image.

[@bobraiola9864]

@@Bloodwhiner : Thanks for the quick response. Would ENJOY meeting him if anyway possible. Is he still with us?? I’m in LARGO Fl.👍🏻👍🏻

[@EKlicKKlacK3]

I've lived in the area now for over 20 years and have always heard about the accident but didn't know the full details. Thanks for making this video!

[@SRQmoviemaker]

I literally drove over the [replacement] skyway bridge twice today. Also my dad was a few minutes ahead of the collapse that day and was thankful he didnt stop for cigs that morning.

[@aceghost1074]

Normally there are a series of completely avoidable events that if people weren't complacent it could have been avoided. Now you could say that about the planning of the bridge for sure. But as for operators, I feel as if they did the best they could of the situation and were being cautious , it still happened. Typically there are multiple people making mistake after mistake, and carelessness for these things to happen. This is one of the rare times where I think this was actually an unavoidable tragedy.

[@matthewwilson5019]

i agree

[@rogerrendzak8055]

My parents sold our house in New Jersey, and moved to Florida in May, of '80. They decided to live in Seminole (Pinellas County), and when they first arrived in Pinellas County, they had to cross (as I wasn't with them), the Sunshine Skyway bridge, and did so a week before, the collision!!! For the next five years living there, that always haunted our family.

[@jlinkels]

I like the format of your documentary. Instead of showing a few historic pictures and interspersing it with numerous interviews in the present day. Just all historic material, a voiceover and animations where needed.

[@simongleaden2864]

Watching this video again the day after the Key Bridge disaster in Baltimore, there are some similarities in the story. The lack of large, robust concrete protectors around the main bridge piers is perhaps the most obvious.

[@Lethgar_Smith]

I grew up in the Tampa Bay area. I was in high school when this happened. I remember it well. You skipped over the story about the one car that managed to stop just a few feet from the edge and was left resting on that portion you see bent downwards. It's the car you see plainly in the thumbnail. The tragedy of the Greyhound bus though, it reportedly landed upside down and the entire roof was collapsed and crushed the people inside When the new bridge first opened there were a few accidents on it at night caused by cars stopping on the bridge to gawk at the cables which were dramatically lit at night. Unsuspecting cars would reach the summit or just over and find some idiot sitting practically still with his head sticking out the window staring up at the cables. The bridge is part of the Interstate Highway system so the speed limit is 65mph. People were being killed. They have since calmed the lighting down by quite a bit so it is not as distracting as it once was. It is quite striking the first time you cross over such a bridge especially at night and the New Sunshine Skyway bridge was one of the first of its kind in the world when it was built.

[@RCAvhstape]

Driving off a downed bridge in the dark or fog is some pretty good nightmare fuel.

[@PlainlyDifficult]

Very much so!

[@TheStuart-of-Cosby]

As always John thanks for all the hardwork you put into keeping the mass occupied. Can't wait for the next one

[@soyuzsovietsky]

I frequently have to go over the current bridge and let me tell you, I think about this the ENTIRE time I'm on it

[@oxcart4172]

Very brave!

[@joey.renaud]

Thank you for covering this. I lived in St Petersburg from 2003 to 2022. I saw the Skyway many times (you feel like an ant next to a pillar, underneath on a boat) and I know OF it's past but I never really looked into it. So tragic.

[@badkittynomilktonight3334]

Tragic that it was the very same lack of shipping lane protections that brought down the Key Bridge in Baltimore.

[@paulshelley8132]

Thanks!

[@1rmrider]

The strangest thing of the old bridge was, once you got near the top the road turned into a grate. So you could look down and see the water. Your car would kinda scoot around too because of the grate.

[@christinecollins6648]

And that humming sound tires on grates make

[@dustchip8060]

Oh yeah, I remember well. It was like a Disney ride.

[@clintonoxley]

I remember this like yesterday. I was getting ready for school and it broke on the radio. Mom immediately turned on TV and we saw the carnage. I drive across the new one from time to time and it still gives you a chill going across.

[@ouroboris]

You are awesome, John! Thanks for all the great work you do producing these fine videos 🤠

[@PlainlyDifficult]

I appreciate that!

[@vickiweber4718]

I'm originally from Bradenton, but was only 1 1/2 years old when this happened. I didn't start learning about it until a dozen or so years ago.

[@fredashay]

Wait! That guy at 7:05! He's an electrical engineer on an oil rig. He's a airplane mechanic, too! And a train driver for the London Underground! And now he's a boat pilot?!?!

[@MichaelRBaron]

And if you look closely, the guy on the sign driving the tractor is also the guy who drives the fire truck

[@mamapoch1915]

I vividly remember when this happened. I have many family members who live in Florida and to visit them, we crossed the Skyway bridge. The first time we went to Florida after the collapse, we had to drive on the one span since the other was, of course, not in use. As we crossed it, you could see the other span only went halfway across. Just seeing that to this day has made me fearful of crossing bridges. It is something I will never forget. I can't imagine what those people went through who drove off that bridge only to plummet a couple hundred feet into the water. It's something that haunts me to this day.

[@Xiroxys]

Imagine the sound and feeling that would make if you were on the bridge. I am curious to what those who drove off were thinking. I'm not saying it's their fault, but I am curious to know how ominous it must have felt in that fog, after that experience, and continuing to drive forward. Can't say I'd have done something different myself, just harrowing to consider.

[@HappyBeezerStudios]

I'm pretty sure they were thinking something along the lines of "I'm gonna drown"

[@insanimal2]

I love the way you always pause in the outro - "in a currently sunny! corner of south london"

[@pokerinthefrontliqueurinth4971]

I remember crossing the good bridge next to the broken old bridge and before you crested over the highest point the bridge next to you the wrecked side would just end. Very scary as a child

[@Sully_tG]

Im from louisiana but I grew up around St. Pete with my aunts uncles and cousins. My cousin Johnathan would take me fishing at the old sunshine skyway pier. They always told me it used to be a bridge and it collapsed so you could imagine my hesitation crossing the actual skyway lol. Was always a beautiful sight from Fort Desoto. Need to make a trip out of it. Haven't been there since 2004

[@Fiona2254]

I think this one accident is why I’ve always been so afraid of these types of bridges. They horrify me and every time I’ve had to drive one I’ve hated every millisecond of it.

[@gwtwvivien]

I LOVE the way you narrates the videos!!!! It's very clear and sometimes funny. Love it!!!

[@RockyMountains0721]

The collapse of the Sunshine Skyway is nothing like the collapse of the Key Bridge in Baltimore! The Skyway collision occurred during a sudden severe thunderstorm with winds over hurricane force. Those strong winds blew the Summit Venture out of the shipping lane and into the bridge. The official investigation of the Skyway collision partially attributed the collapse to a natural disaster. The collision in Baltimore occurred under perfectly calm conditions, and was not a natural disaster in any shape or form. That makes the Key Bridge collapse a completely different situation!

[@annacolleenetters4682]

Always informative. I recall being in the 2nd backseat of my mother's brand new station wagon, while my father drove over this much too long (in my 13 year old mind) crossing. I kept my head down, and my eyes closed. As an adult, in my own new station wagon, just crossing the Chesapeake Bay Bridge proved too scary, with my small children strapped in to their car seat. Luckily, on the CBB, there were driver's, who charged only $2 USD to relieve women like myself of this burden, back in 1986. I always considered it money well spent. If I kept track of that receipt, it cost only $1 USD, on the return trip.

[@handlesRdumb]

We have two bridges in Halifax, we mostly just call them the old bridge and the new bridge. The"new" bridge was built in 1970.

[@Florid-Aman]

How is this on my watched list. I've watched most of your content but this is the first time I've seen this. I only found it after searching "Sunshine Skyway bridge disaster". Thanks again, love the content, the episode is amazing. Being a native of St. Petersburg, it was cool to see part of our lore being told from across the pond.

[@cyb3rf0xx]

Finally a site of a Plainly Difficult video I have visited in person! (starts sweating in fear of the words i just said)

[@mommy2libras]

The Sunshine Skyway and the Rainbow Bridge (between Bridge City and Port Arthur, TX) are 2 of the scariest bridges I've ever been over. Oh, and the Cairo bridge in Illinois. I've been over that a few times and while it isn't high at all, it is extremely narrow and is used by large trucks frequently. I've seen 2 of them lose side mirrors because they were passing another large vehicle from the other direction and one would clip a mirror on the struts.

[@351linzdoctor]

Man this video brought back memories! I almost had this happen to me but in Savannah Ga. in the summer of 1983 when a ship with it's crane in the up position tore out a section of the bottom of the Talamage Bridge right before I drove over it a minute or two later along with a Greyhound bus the collison lucky push the road bed up and not tore it down or I wouldn't be making this comment! It was the same style of bridge as the Sunshine Skyway Bridge! The road deck had a hump in it about two feet high!

[@christinebeck1848]

When I was eight we moved to Sarasota FL from Oklahoma. The night we got to my uncles the radio was covering a story of a car that was crossing a bridge and saw a second cars headlights in their rear view mirror drop from view. They went back to find the bridge collapsed with the second car on it. I was was scared of bridges after that but the "Skyway" as mom and dad called it was terrifying. You traveled on a flat bridge over water for what felt like forever then started a climb that rivaled Rollercoaster and finally got to the top only to go across a grid of metal that rattled and was so high you could look through the grid and see ships (big ones) far, far below you. We moved back to Oklahoma in time for the I40 bridge disaster. I hate bridges.

[@hirisk761]

having heard about this disaster before, the mayday call from the captain still gets me everytime. I'm just hoping that the Brent Spence bridge in Cincinnati doesn't end up on here. it carries I71/75 and is functionality obsolete and way overdue for replacement!

[@BugnBuddysMom]

I HATE that bridge!! I'm in the Columbus area, and have only had reason to cross it a handful of times (picking up people from the airport, or doing dog rescue transports). I would feel safer putting my vehicle on surf boards and row it across the river!!

[@HC-iw4mm]

Oh, God. I have to cross that thing every day for work and I just know I'm probably taking my life in my own hands every time I cross it. The Western Viaduct and the Roebling Bridge nearby are also their own brands of terrifying.

[@rkkzjj32]

This world is rapidly passing away and I hope that you repent and take time to change before all out disaster occurs! Belief in messiah alone is not enough to grant you salvation - Matthew 7:21-23, John 3:3, John 3:36 (ESV is the best translation for John 3:36) if you believed in Messiah you would be following His commands as best as you could. If you are not a follower of Messiah I would highly recommend becoming one. Call on the name of Jesus and pray for Him to intervene in your life - Revelation 3:20. Contemplate how the Roman Empire fulfilled the role of the beast from the sea in Revelation 13 over the course of 1260+ years. Revelation 17 confirms that the beast is in fact Rome. From this we can conclude that A) Jesus is the Son of God and can predict the future or make it happen, B) The world leaders/nations/governments etc have been conspiring together for the last 3000+ years going back to Babylon and before, C) History as we know it is fake. You don't really need to speculate once you start a relationship with God. Can't get a response from God? Fasting can help increase your perception and prayer can help initiate events. God will ignore you if your prayer does not align with His purpose (James 4:3) or if you are approaching Him when "unclean" (Isaiah 1:15, Isaiah 59:2, Micah 3:4). Stop eating food sacrificed to idols (McDonald's, Wendy's etc) stop glorifying yourself on social media or making other images of yourself (Second Commandment), stop gossiping about other people, stop watching obscene content etc. Have a blessed day!

[@timj3590]

If it collapses after a Red's game all 3 people in attendance might be killed 😂🤣🤣😂🤣🤣