Stamp 'Bridges' Florida Communities

The U.S. Postal Service recognized the 25th anniversary of Florida’s Sunshine Skyway Bridge by issuing the $5.15 Sunshine Skyway Bridge Priority Mail stamp yesterday.  In the stamp artwork, the bridge rises from Tampa Bay’s vivid blue water and is silhouetted against an orange sky. Tiny vehicles on the roadbed reveal the massive scale of this engineering marvel.

“The Sunshine Skyway Bridge links the Gulf Coast communities surrounding St. Petersburg and Bradenton,” said U.S. Postal Service A/Suncoast District Manager Nancy Rittenhouse. “And, now the bridge will link people around the nation with family members, loved ones, friends and businesses when they use the stamp to send Priority Mail.”

Unable to attend, former Florida Governor Bob Graham provided the following statement. “The new Sunshine Skyway bridge started with a disaster and concluded with the world’s most beautiful bridge. The collision and loss of life which occurred on May 9, 1980, created an opportunity to build a new bridge which memorialized the 35 people who lost their lives that day; engaged state of the art design, engineering and construction and unified the Tampa Bay communities to create what is now the signature of Tampa Bay.”

Construction began on the new bridge began two years after the tragedy. The new bridge featured on the stamp is one of the first major concrete-and-steel, cable-stayed bridges in the United States. Completed in 1987, the main bridge and approach spans stretch more than four miles across Tampa Bay and link the Gulf Coast communities surrounding St. Petersburg and Bradenton.