By now the newly revamped Interstate275Florida.com is up and running! It didn't take long to upload the new site albeit a few minor glitches along the way, especially when it came to deleting the old website files in order to make way for the new and revamped website.
Haven't you checked out the newly revamped Interstate275Florida.com? I have organized the website into three general sections, St. Petersburg, Tampa and Manatee County. From there it is organized into individual exits based on the location of the exit.
All of the photos have been revised in order to keep the content fresh and up to date as time permits. In fact, there are new pictures of the segment of Interstate 275 in Tampa from Exit 39 (FL 60/Kennedy Blvd./Tampa Airport) to the Hillsborough river just west of Exit 44 (Ashley Drive) thanks to the mega-reconstruction project that has taken place.
Another new feature I have added is a Tampa Bay Transit: The Justification for Rail Based Mass Transit in the Tampa Bay region page. This page was badly needed, as we have the resources to support rail based mass transit in the Tampa Bay region and one of those resources is the wide median in the newly reconstructed Interstate 275 in Tampa. Just why does Miami and Orlando have alternative modes of transportation yet the Tampa Bay region has very limited choices? It's well worth a read!
Please feel free to check out the newly revamped Interstate275Florida.com! Like I said from a previous blog entry just before I uploaded the new site if you have pages that link to Interstate275Florida.com check the links to make sure that they work and update as needed. For example, the web pages used to end in .htm but now they end in .html, so you'll want to check that. Additionally, if you happen to find a broken link anywhere on Interstate275Florida.com please feel free to contact me (you can even post a reply to this blog entry) along with the URL in question and I will take a look at it.
Now with the newly revamped Interstate275Florida.com up and running, today (7 February 2017) is the new Sunshine Skyway's 30th birthday! Dedicated on Saturday, 7 February 1987 it was a gloomy day but the sun peeked out a few times for an awesome dedication ceremony. A major highlight of the day was that pedestrians were allowed on the new bridge only once - I made the hike to the hump of the new span and back! I call that quite a workout!
Another highlight of the day is the actual dedication with many important dignitaries in attendance. The new Sunshine Skyway dedication is a day I'll never forget - in fact, it seems like if it was yesterday even though it was 30 years earlier!
On 30 April 1987, traffic was stopped while workers set up barricades blocking access to the old Sunshine Skyway. It would be no more cantilever through truss with steel grid deck span that we were used to since the first Sunshine Skyway opened in 1954. The old Sunshine Skyway served the Tampa Bay region well, both in triumph and in tragedy especially on 9 May 1980 when the Sunshine Skyway's southbound span was hit by the Summit Venture, resulting in the tragic loss of 35 lives. Shortly after the barricades went up on the old Sunshine Skyway, it was time to take down the barricades and open up a new chapter in the history of the Tampa Bay region: The opening of the new Sunshine Skyway Bridge.
In fact, I have even revamped the Sunshine Skyway page as part of the newly revamped Interstate275Florida.com and it has pictures from the dedication ceremony on 7 February 1987. Come by and check it out!
After all, the new Sunshine Skyway is not only just an icon of what the Tampa Bay region is all about. The new Sunshine Skyway is a signature icon of our great Sunshine State of Florida, similar to what the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco being a signature icon of the Golden State of California.
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