St. Johns River Veterans Memorial Bridge

St. Johns River Veterans Memorial Bridge

St. Johns River Veterans Memorial Bridge
Coordinates 28°50′09″N 81°19′09″W / 28.8358°N 81.3192°W / 28.8358; -81.3192Coordinates: 28°50′09″N 81°19′09″W / 28.8358°N 81.3192°W / 28.8358; -81.3192
Carries I-4
Crosses St. Johns River at Lake Monroe and US 17/US 92 (SR 15/SR 600)
Locale Sanford, Florida and DeBary, Florida
Official name St. Johns River Veterans Memorial Bridge
Maintained by Florida Department of Transportation
ID number 790940
Characteristics
Design prestressed concrete stringer/multi-beam or girder bridge
Total length 808.9 meters (2654 feet)
Width 18.8 meters (62 feet)
Longest span 39.6 meters (130 feet)
Clearance above N/A
Clearance below 13.7 meters (45 feet)
History
Opened 1960 (First Bridge)
2004 (Second Bridge)

The original St. Johns River Bridge was a four-lane concrete-and-steel causeway bridge constructed over the St. Johns River at the west outlet of Lake Monroe. It is a part of Interstate 4, and spans the border between Seminole and Volusia Counties in Florida, United States. On the Seminole side is Sanford and on the Volusia side is DeBary.

The bridge's design, which lacked shoulders for disabled or wrecked vehicles to pull out of the flow of traffic, made it a severe bottleneck for commuters going to the Orlando Area beginning in the 1980s. A series of fatal traffic collisions on it and similarly-designed bridges statewide, most notably the Interstate 75 Lake Panasoffkee Bridge, led to a move in 2000 to use state emergency bridge funds similar to the contingency funds used to rebuild the Sunshine Skyway Bridge to begin planned reconstruction. Work began in 2001, and a new dual structure consisting of two three-lane spans, each with wide shoulders on either side, was fully opened in May 2004.[1] The old bridge was dismantled over the next few months. Upon completion, the new structure was officially renamed the St. Johns River Veterans Memorial Bridge.

See also

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to St. Johns River Veterans Memorial Bridge.


This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 6/22/2014. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.