Courtney Campbell Causeway

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Courtney Campbell Causeway
Carries	Four lanes of FL 60
Crosses	Old Tampa Bay
Locale	Clearwater to Tampa, Florida
Maintained by	Florida Department of Transportation
Opening date	1934
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The Courtney Campbell Causeway is the northernmost bridge across Old Tampa Bay, carrying State Road 60 between Clearwater and Tampa.

[edit] History

The Causeway was commisioned by the owner of a local dredging company, Ben T. Davis, in the late 1920s to provide a more direct link between Tampa and Clearwater. The only current land route at that time required travelling over 30 miles around the northern shore of Tampa Bay. His proposal was granted and work began in earnest in 1927 and continued off and on as Davis' dredging company ran out of other work to do. During construction, one of the original bridge spans was destroyed by a hurricane.

Costing $900,000 in total, the first cross-bay route (then known as the Davis Causeway) was opened on January 28, 1934 with a $.25 toll per car. In 1944, the federal government seized the Davis Causeway as part of America's war effort, paying its previous owners $1.1 million and transferring ownership to the state of Florida.

In 1948, the Davis Causeway was renamed for Courtney W. Campbell, a Clearwater Beach resident, U.S. Representative, and member of the Florida Road Board who spearheaded efforts to ensure needed repairs and beautification of the Causeway was completed.

In 2005, the Causeway was designated as an official Scenic Highway by the state of Florida.

[edit] Today

In its current form, the Courtney Campbell Causeway stretches approximately 9.9 miles from eastern Clearwater to Tampa's Rocky Point island and subsequently to the mainland of western Tampa. The topographical causeway is broken by two elevated spans that allow watercraft access to and from Old Tampa Bay. According to the Florida DOT, approximately 50,000 vehicles use the Causeway on a daily basis. On the weekends (Saturday mainly) Local street races are held at both boat ramps on either side of the causeway and illegal street racing is preformed.

There are two beaches along the Causeway - Ben T Davis Municipal Beach at the east end and an unnamed beach owned by the DOT on the west end. Frontage roads accessible at several points along the route run alongside the main four-lane road and are broken up by the bridge spans. A public boat ramp exists on the northern side just east of the largest bridge span.

Because of its lower capacity, lower posted speed limits, and lack of elevation coupled with the numerous palm and mangrove vegetation along the route, the Causeway offers some of the most picturesque views of any major road in the Tampa Bay area.

As of 2007, the Florida DOT is conducting a study to further enhance the Causeway with the addition of a recreational trail, likely supplanting the less-used frontage road on the north side.