Qualla: Gandy Bridge: Five Bridges Across One Bay

Gandy Bridge: Five Bridges Across One Bay: Introduction

Mon, 23 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Averette (compilation), CC BY-SA 3.0. "The bridge is built!" George S. Gandy Sr. kept his opening ceremony speech to four words. After fourteen years of setbacks - a partner buyout, World War I regulations that killed his financing, a complete route change from Ninth Street to Fourth Street - the steel-and-concrete span opened on November 20, 1924, carrying automobiles two and a half miles across Old Tampa Bay between St. Petersburg and Tampa. Sixteen visiting state governors and several foreign dignitaries attended. The bridge cost $1.932 million and was, at the time, the longest automobile toll bridge in the world. Gandy had every right to be brief. The structure spoke for itself.

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Image: Averette (compilation) | CC BY-SA 3.0

Gandy Bridge: Five Bridges Across One Bay: One Man's Stubborn Crossing

Mon, 23 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Originally uploaded by Divinek (Transferred by Gyrobo), CC BY 3.0. The idea started in 1910, when H. Walter Fuller drew a map with a proposed bridge following Ninth Street North in St. Petersburg across upper Tampa Bay. George Gandy was president of three companies Fuller directed, and the two partnered to make it happen. Survey crews shifted th...

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Image: Originally uploaded by Divinek (Transferred by Gyrobo) | CC BY 3.0

Gandy Bridge: Five Bridges Across One Bay: Tolls, Seizure, and the Government Check

Mon, 23 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Mmcknight4, CC BY-SA 4.0. Crossing the Gandy Bridge originally cost 75 cents for a car and driver, plus a dime for each additional passenger. The toll funded Gandy's investment until April 27, 1944, when the Roosevelt administration seized the bridge as a war necessity, eliminating the toll. Gandy's compa...

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Image: Mmcknight4 | CC BY-SA 4.0

Gandy Bridge: Five Bridges Across One Bay: The Bridge That Kept Replacing Itself

Mon, 23 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Andrew Heneen, CC BY 4.0. The Gandy Bridge has been built, rebuilt, duplicated, replaced, and demolished in overlapping waves that challenge even locals to keep straight. A second fixed span went up in 1956 for westbound traffic. A third span opened in 1975 along the south side, replacing the original 192...

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Image: Andrew Heneen | CC BY 4.0

Gandy Bridge: Five Bridges Across One Bay: The Friendship Trail's Rise and Fall

Mon, 23 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Mmcknight4, Public domain. When the 1956 span lost its traffic role in 1997, it was reborn as the Friendship Trail Bridge - a pedestrian and cycling path across Tampa Bay. For eleven years, walkers and cyclists could cross open water on the old roadbed, a beloved recreational corridor. Then a 2008 state in...

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Image: Mmcknight4 | Public domain

Gandy Bridge: Five Bridges Across One Bay: Barges, Shrimp Boats, and the Next Span

Mon, 23 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Andrew Heneen, CC BY 4.0. The Gandy Bridge has a colorful history of being struck by watercraft. In 1970, a barge hit the drawbridge when it failed to open in time. In 1985, Hurricane Elena broke two barges from their moorings and smashed them into the southernmost span. In 2006, the 285-foot steel barge ...

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Image: Andrew Heneen | CC BY 4.0