Mathews Bridge

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Mathews Bridge

Official name	John E. Mathews Bridge
Carries	four general purpose lanes
Crosses	St. Johns River
Locale	Jacksonville, Florida
Maintained by	Florida Department of Transportation
ID number	720076
Design	steel through truss bridge
Longest span	246.9 meters (810 feet)
Total length	2248.2 meters (7736 feet)
Width	17.7 meters (58 feet)
Vertical clearance	6.80 meters (22.3 feet)
Clearance below	46.3 meters (152 feet)
Opening date	1953
Maps and aerial photos Street map from Google Maps or Yahoo! Maps Topographic map from TopoZone Aerial image or topographic map from TerraServer-USA Satellite image from Google Maps or Microsoft Virtual Earth

The Mathews Bridge in Jacksonville, Florida spans the St. Johns River, bringing traffic along Arlington Expressway between Arlington and Downtown. It was named after John E. Mathews, a Florida state legislator and Chief Justice of the 1955 Florida Supreme Court who helped gather funding for the bridge's construction. [1]

1 Deck Replacement
2 Accidents
3 Trivia
4 External links

[edit] Deck Replacement

This 12.9 million dollar project, set to begin on or about mid January, 2007, will replace the existing open grate bridge deck currently on Mathews Bridge with an "Exodermic Deck" resulting in a concrete riding surface.

[edit] Accidents

The bridge has a notoriously problematic grating in the center span. After the previous grating wore out, a new one was installed, causing drivers to complain that the replacement was slippery and difficult to cross. That grating was replaced with a new, "state of the art" grating, which has also provoked controversy causing citizens to pressure the Jacksonville City Council to act again concerning the grating. The only actions taken to date had been reducing the speed limit and roughing up the grating. Currently the bridge is under construction to replace the open grating over the center span with a concrete riding surface.

[edit] Trivia

On the Limp Bizkit song My Generation, Fred Durst makes a reference to the bridge saying "John Otto, take 'em to the Mathews Bridge." The song can be found on the album Chocolate Starfish and the Hotdog Flavored Water.

[edit] External links

St. Johns River crossings in the Jacksonville, Florida area
Upriver from Downtown Jax	Shands Bridge (to be replaced or supplemented) - Buckman Bridge - Timuquana Bridge (never built)
Downtown Jax	Fuller Warren Bridge - FEC Strauss Trunnion Bascule Bridge - Acosta Bridge - Main Street Bridge - Hart Bridge - Mathews Bridge - 20th Street Extension (never built)
Downriver from Downtown Jax	Dames Point Bridge - Florida State Road 113A (never built) - Mayport Ferry