Bayside Bridge (Pinellas County, Florida)
Pinellas County Bayside Bridge | |
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| Coordinates | 27°56′47″N 82°42′19″W / 27.9464°N 82.7053°W |
| Carries | Pinellas County Road 611, 49th St North |
| Crosses | Old Tampa Bay |
| Locale | Clearwater, FL to Largo, FL |
| History | |
| Opened | June 2, 1993 |
| Statistics | |
| Daily traffic | 68,807[1] |
| Location | |
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The Bayside Bridge crosses over the northwesternmost end of Tampa Bay, connecting Clearwater, Florida and Largo, Florida. Construction began in the early 1990s and was completed in Summer of 1993, officially opening for traffic on June 2 of that year. Originally conceived in the 1970s as the 49th Street Bridge, a toll-levied part of the 12-mile (19 km) Pinellas Parkway, the current six-lane twin-span bridge provides direct, unmitigated access from eastern Clearwater to St. Petersburg/Clearwater International Airport by connecting McMullen Booth Road to 49th Street North and also serves as a bypass for heavily-congested US-19. The speed limit is 55 mph (or about 88 km/h) until you reach McMullen Booth. It features a SPUI interchange at State Road 60 and a diamond interchange on the south end of the bridge.
In 1991, Pinellas County administrator Fred Marquis argued that the cost of the bridge could be funded by a 10 year extension of gasoline taxes. This eliminated the need for a planned $2.5 million, 16-lane toll booth that would have had to been build on sensitive marshlands.[2] Cost of construction is estimated at $71 million.
The original plan called for the Bayside Bridge to connect to nearby Interstate 275 via a limited access freeway that has yet to be built.
Gallery
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Photo on Bayside bridge, going southbound, approaching "the hump"
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Photo on Bayside bridge, going southbound heading towards 49th St, N.
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Aerial photo of the Bayside Bridge
References
- ^ 2006 Average Annual Daily Traffic Counts in Pinellas County (A.A.D.T.) (PDF) (Map). Pinellas County Metropolitan Planning Organization. Retrieved 2008-01-13.
- ^ Keep Tolls off the Bayside Bridge St. Petersburg Times, May 28, 1991
External links
- County Road 296 Connection Project at Tampa Bay Interstates site
Crossings of the Tampa Bay | ||||
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