There are dates that we never forget. My parents and I never forgot December 7 and what it stood for. Younger generations have 9/11. But something happened on the day, May 9th in 1980 that I will never forget.
On this day in 1980 I was driving to work listening to the radio when a man interrupted the program and announced the "Sunshine Sky" has been struck by a ship and a span is in Tampa Bay." At first I though it was just another "skyway joke". They were common because ships and boats had struck the bridge before and disc jockeys often said someday it is coming down. If you notice the photo below there were no "bumpers or protection" for the spans in the event a ship got off course. The bridge was not designed properly and it finally happened. So when the Chinese freighter slammed into it, down she came.
The weather was rough that day. High winds, high seas and heavy rain. When I arrived at work a co-worker came in and he was a mess. Shaking all over and looked like he was in shock. He lived in Bradenton and drove over the bridge every day to our office located at 34th St South in St Pete. He saw several cars go over and also the Greyhound Bus. The south bound span was the one hit and there was not any damage to the north bound span. Over 30 people lost their lives that day and the bridge was only open for the one span until the second bridge was constructed. Today what was left of the bridge is now a fishing pier. RIP
