I like the shape of the piers below the bridge deck but I have trouble with the stick-like appearance of the towers above the deck. Of course, they couldn't continue that shape above the deck without blocking the roadway. Still, they could have made the transition a little more attractive (there was no architect).
This is a completely concrete bridge and the superstructure is state-of-the-art (for the 1980s). This is one of the first bridges that used match cast construction of precast girders. The girders were gantry-launched and post tensioned after they were in place. The stiff concrete box girder main and side spans helps to stabilize the bridge against wind loads up to 240 mph and gusts up to 290 mph.
We'll take a closer look at this interesting bridge tomorrow.
Cable-Stayed Bridges - Sunshine Skyway Bridge (2) by Mark Yashinsky is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.
This kind of design with slender towers above deck and heavy piers below deck is fairly common on cable-stayed bridges, with the QEII crossing in England being another example. It never looks good - compare the Millau Viaduct for a better example (with architect involved!)
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