Tomorrow, May 9th marks the 35th Anniversary of one of the most painful memories modern Florida has endured. The freighter MV Summit Venture crashed into the Sunshine Skyway Bridge over Tampa Bay killing 35 people. At the time the Skyway was a Cantilever Bridge with twin spans. After the disaster before the new Cable Stayed bridge was completed, traffic was reduced to one lane in each direction over the remanding span. My memories of crossing the span that survived while traveling next to the span with a missing portion over Tampa Bay was scary and reinforced a fear I had of big bridges when I was a child (a fear I no longer have).

The events of that day were best chronicled by the St Petersburg Times.