Bayside Bridge (Pinellas County, Florida)

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Pinellas County Bayside Bridge

Carries	Pinellas County Road 611, 49th St North
Crosses	Old Tampa Bay
Locale	Clearwater, FL to Largo, FL
AADT	68,807^[1]
Opening date	June 2, 1993

The Bayside Bridge crosses over the northwesternmost end of Tampa Bay, connecting Clearwater, Florida and Largo, Florida. Construction began in the early 1990s and was completed in Summer of 1993, officially opening for traffic on June 2nd of that year. Originally conceived in the 1970s as the 49th Street Bridge, a toll-levied part of the 12-mile (19 km) Pinellas Parkway, the current six-lane twin-span bridge provides direct, unmitigated access from eastern Clearwater to St. Petersburg/Clearwater International Airport by connecting McMullen Booth Road to 49th Street North and also serves as a bypass for heavily-congested US-19. The speed limit is 55 mph (or about 88 km/h) until you reach McMullen Booth. It features a SPUI interchange at State Road 60 and a diamond interchange on the south end of the bridge. Cost of construction is estimated at $71 million, virtually all of which funded by a gasoline surcharge tax, thus eliminating the need for toll collection on the span.

Currently there are plans to connect the Bayside Bridge to nearby Interstate 275 via a limited access freeway.