{"id":223133,"date":"2026-04-08T08:51:36","date_gmt":"2026-04-08T08:51:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/223133\/"},"modified":"2026-04-08T08:51:36","modified_gmt":"2026-04-08T08:51:36","slug":"the-sunshine-skyway-bridge-is-going-cashless","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/223133\/","title":{"rendered":"The Sunshine Skyway Bridge is going cashless"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-114624\" class=\"wp-image-114624\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Skyway-tolls-1954-300x233.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"420\" height=\"326\"  \/><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-114624\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Tolls, 1954. Photo: Florida Archives.<\/p>\n<p>Over the decades, toll rates for the Sunshine Skyway Bridge have gone up and down like rolling storm waves on Tampa Bay. The current crossing cost for a two-axle vehicle is $1.75, the same toll that was in place when the first cars rolled across the two-lane concrete Skyway when it opened in September 1954.<\/p>\n<p>Beginning April 12, motorists won\u2019t be able to use cash or coins, an idea that would have been unthinkable in 1954, or any time in the era of human toll-takers and plastic coin-catching baskets. The Florida Department of Transportation is turning the Skyway into an entirely cashless bridge.<\/p>\n<p>According to a statement from FDOT, the use of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sunpass.com\/en\/home\/index.shtml\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">SunPass<\/a>, or other accepted electronic transponders including E-Pass, E-ZPass and Peach Pass \u201cis safer and more efficient \u2026 allowing drivers to keep a steady pace, and eliminates the need to stop and pay for tolls.\u201d Vehicles without electronic transponders will be subject to toll-by-plate billing.<\/p>\n<p>Tolls, the organization said, generate more than $28 million annually; the funds are used for bridge infrastructure and structural protection.<\/p>\n<p>SunPass, which is owned by FDOT, says customers save an average of 25% compared to cash or toll-by-plate billing (SunPass bills approximately $1.16 for each crossing).<\/p>\n<p>The cashless tolls also apply to those wishing to access the fishing piers on the north or south sides of the bridge, and recreational areas.<\/p>\n<p>The four-lane Bob Graham Sunshine Skyway Bridge was dedicated in 1987. It replaced a two-lane southbound span that collapsed when a freighter struck it during a violent storm in May, 1980.<\/p>\n<p>The original span, which was then dedicated to northbound traffic, was closed when the 1987 replacement bridge opened.<\/p>\n<p>It was demolished, along with the remainder of the damaged \u201971 span, in 1992. The northern and southern fishing piers were created from sections of the original bridge lanes.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-114626\" class=\"wp-image-114626\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Sunshine-Skyway-vintage--300x173.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"289\"  \/><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-114626\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Looking south, circa 1981. The southbound span (right) is closed to traffic, following its partial collapse in 1980. File photo.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Tolls, 1954. Photo: Florida Archives. Over the decades, toll rates for the Sunshine Skyway Bridge have gone up&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":223134,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[202,204,203,199,201,200],"class_list":["post-223133","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\/223133","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=223133"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/223133\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/223134"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=223133"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=223133"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=223133"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}