A clearing sky and an evil twin

Earlier this evening I was in my kitchen preparing dinner and the weather forecast came on. I listened intently, especially for the seven day outlook. And then the weatherman said the phrase I’ve been wanting to hear. He said the rain would be coming in “late Sunday”! Yes! I did a tiny jump for joy, and I could feel a huge grin spreading across my face. The chance of me getting to do something I’ve been wanting to do for more than two decades now is better than ever. I will get to walk upon that span, that great steel sentinel that has graced the Chesapeake Bay since the 1950’s. I was telling my mom about this walk again today, and she warned me about the bridge moving. Well, I guess I will just have to wait and see…

In the mean time, I am still pondering what it is about the Sunshine Skyway Bridge that makes it so notorious. Considering my position of living in an area with a very large bridge that also crosses a substantial body of water, I can make a comparison between these two bridges. The Sunshine Skyway and the Chesapeake Bay Bridge actually have a lot in common, despite their radically different appearance. Both span a large, shallow bay (although the Chesapeake is technically an estuary that was formed under vastly different circumstances as opposed to typical bays). Both are roughly four and one half miles long, give or take, with the Skyway being the slightly longer of the two. Both are similar in height, with the Bay Bridge at 185 feet (as measured from the underside of the main span to the water surface) and the Skyway slightly less. The southern span of the Bay Bridge was built around the same time as original Skyway, in the 1950’s. The first iteration of the Skyway also had twin spans and these were of the steel truss type. Both bridges are for vehicles only and do not include pedestrian access. The land area around them has some recreational public spaces, and both are popular areas for fishing and boating. Both are located fairly close to areas with large populations. These are the similarities. The differences are far fewer, and of course the main one is the way in which they were constructed and the resulting appearance of each. A double span suspension and truss bridge verses a single span cable stayed bridge. The Bay Bridge has two separate spans for the passage of boats and ships, while the Skyway has only one. The Bay Bridge has no shoulder lanes, while the Skyway does. There are also other less significant differences that really don’t bear mentioning.

So then why has the Skyway been such a magnet for jumpers? The original Skyway saw some jumpers, but no where near the frequency of the current bridge. The Bay Bridge has seen more than a few over its many decades of existence, but again, it falls short of the current Skyway. Then there is the question as to what is the source of the creepiness of the Skyway and why does it exert such a strong effect on so many people. Whatever that mysterious power is, the Bay Bridge is lacking in it. It seems hard to believe that appearance alone could be the deciding factor here. But the first version of the Skyway was fashioned very much like the Bay Bridge, and that span also lacked the mesmerizing aura of the current Skyway. The problems did not start until the Skyway 2.0 was erected and completed. From that point on, more than a few people came under its spell, for better or for worse. And whatever sort of dark magic that is, it has also worked on me, even though I’ve never even seen this bridge in person. It seems that the Skyway is indeed the Bay Bridge’s evil twin.