FDOT: Bay area bridges will be closed at some point Wednesday

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — As of Wednesday morning, all four of the major bridges in the Tampa Bay area remain open.

That will change Wednesday as the Florida Department of Transportation said it expects to close all of the bridges as weather conditions deteriorate today ahead of Hurricane Milton.

The Sunshine Skyway Bridge, Howard Frankland Bridge, Gandy Bridge and Courtney Campbell Causeway are all anticipated to close this afternoon.

Traffic officials said there will be enough people and equipment on site to close the bridges quickly once the call is made.

That’s different from what happened during Hurricane Helene last month.

Traffic, though light, was still on the Howard Frankland a few hours before the peak of Helene impacted the area (see below). Drivers that crossed the bridge braved crashing waves that swamped the roadway.

FDOT officials said they made the call to close around 3 in the afternoon, but it took another 45 minutes to actually shut the bridge down.