{"id":199593,"date":"2026-03-20T19:58:08","date_gmt":"2026-03-20T19:58:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/199593\/"},"modified":"2026-03-20T19:58:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-20T19:58:08","slug":"sunshine-skyway-fishing-pier-to-be-rebuilt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/199593\/","title":{"rendered":"Sunshine Skyway fishing pier to be rebuilt"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has provided a massive update on Tampa Bay\u2019s Sunshine Skyway fishing pier.<\/p>\n<p>DeSantis on Thursday said the south pier will be replaced with a new structure built next to the damaged one. He added that the north pier will be improved to extend its lifespan by two decades.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis has been a major place for a lot of people,\u201d DeSantis said during a press conference to announce he signed a bill that blocks the building of a cruise ship terminal in Manatee County.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re aiming to have this project completed expeditiously so people can once again enjoy this great recreational attraction.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/stpetecatalyst.com\/vintage-st-pete-raising-the-sunshine-skyway-bridge-2\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">READ MORE: Vintage St. Pete: Raising the Sunshine Skyway Bridge<\/a><\/p>\n<p>The original Sunshine Skyway Bridge, which connects Pinellas County to Manatee County, was damaged, replaced, then converted into what the state advertises as the longest fishing pier in the world.<\/p>\n<p>But 2024\u2019s Hurricane Milton damaged the pier again, DeSantis said.<\/p>\n<p>While DeSantis said it draws troves of anglers, \u201cit\u2019s also a popular recreational spot for photography, kite boarding, kayaking and just enjoying the sights and sounds of Florida\u2019s beautiful Gulf Coast.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The fishing pier is technically broken into two pieces, with a north pier on the Pinellas County side and a south pier on the Manatee County side.<\/p>\n<p>Following a Florida Department of Transportation inspection, the state shut down a big chunk of the south pier last year. The Skyway Fishing Pier State Park is part of the state park system.<\/p>\n<p>He said work had already begun to enhance parking and widen seawall sidewalks. Demolition of the south pier and the north pier\u2019s unused, damaged portions will start later in the spring.<\/p>\n<p>Douglas Soule is a reporter for WUSF, the NPR station for the greater Tampa Bay Region. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has provided a massive update on Tampa Bay\u2019s Sunshine Skyway fishing pier. DeSantis on&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":199594,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[202,204,203,199,201,200],"class_list":["post-199593","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-st-petersburg","tag-st-pete","tag-st-pete-headlines","tag-st-pete-news","tag-st-petersburg","tag-st-petersburg-headlines","tag-st-petersburg-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/199593","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=199593"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/199593\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/199594"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=199593"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=199593"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=199593"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}