Monitoring a Bridge's Pulse

The Sunshine Skyway Bridge, which collapsed in 1980, is being replaced by the Florida Department of Transportation. The new Sunshine Skyway Bridge, which spans Tampa Bay between Bradenton and St. Petersburg, will be a cable-stayed bridge. The bridge will be monitored closely both during and after construction. Strain gages and temperature sensors are being permanently imbedded in the structure. Engineers hope to receive data for quality assurance during fabrication of the precast bridge segments and other construction phases. Engineers hope to see how their design assumptions compare with the actual conditions; to be able to adjust the bridge before opening; to develop correlations between in-place shrinkage and creep as compared to lab tests for those conditions; and to see that the bridge would function as designed.