St. Johns River Veterans Memorial Bridge

The original St. Johns River Bridge was a four-lane concrete-and-steel causeway bridge constructed over the St. Johns River at the west outlet of Lake Monroe. It is a part of Interstate 4, and spans the border between Seminole and Volusia Counties in Florida, United States. On the Seminole side is Sanford and on the Volusia side is DeBary.

St. Johns River Veterans Memorial Bridge
St. Johns River Veterans Memorial Bridge
Coordinates	28.8358°N 81.3192°W / 28.8358; -81.3192
Carries	I-4
Crosses	St. Johns River at Lake Monroe and US 17/US 92 (SR 15/SR 600)
Locale	Sanford, Florida and DeBary, Florida
Official name	St. Johns River Veterans Memorial Bridge
Maintained by	Florida Department of Transportation
ID number	790940
Characteristics
Design	prestressed concrete stringer/multi-beam or girder bridge
Total length	808.9 meters (2654 feet)
Width	18.8 meters (62 feet)
Longest span	39.6 meters (130 feet)
Clearance above	N/A
Clearance below	13.7 meters (45 feet)
History
Opened	1960 (first bridge) 2004 (second bridge)
Location

The bridge's design, which lacked shoulders for disabled or wrecked vehicles to pull out of the flow of traffic, made it a severe bottleneck for commuters going to the Orlando Area beginning in the 1980s. A series of fatal traffic collisions on it and similarly-designed bridges statewide, most notably the Interstate 75 Lake Panasoffkee Bridge, led to a move in 2000 to use state emergency bridge funds similar to the contingency funds used to rebuild the Sunshine Skyway Bridge to begin planned reconstruction. Work began in 2001, and a new dual structure consisting of two three-lane spans, each with wide shoulders on either side, was fully opened in May 2004.[1] The old bridge was dismantled over the next few months. Upon completion, the new structure was officially renamed the St. Johns River Veterans Memorial Bridge.