ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - Drivers wanting to cross the Sunshine Skyway Bridge from Manatee County into Pinellas County early Sunday morning need to make other arrangements. The northbound lanes of the bridge will be closed from 3 – 11 a.m. Sunday morning as thousands of runners and walkers take part in the third annual Skyway 10K. The southbound direction of the Sunshine Skyway will remain open in the southbound direction only.
The Sunshine Skyway Bridge fishing piers will also be closed from midnight until 11 a.m. Sunday morning for the race. Plus, 4th Avenue South near Tropicana Field will be closed for public access between Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. St. and 16th Street South from 3 a.m. - 11 a.m. as traffic flow is reversed for busing.
Busses will begin loading participants around 4:30 a.m. to take them to the starting line. Race organizers ask runners to arrive an hour before their scheduled departure at Tropicana Field to board buses and travel to Skyway Bridge. There will be no other access to the start or finish line.
Opening ceremonies for the race begin at 6:10 a.m. with the presentation of colors and singing of the national anthem followed by the firing of a blank howitzer artillery shell and a Coast Guard flyover at 6:25 a.m. Then runners and walkers can begin the 6.2-mile journey from the south rest area of the bridge to the north rest area on the other side.
According to race organizers, any runner that is not past the southern base of the incline of the Skyway Bridge at 9:30 a.m. will be escorted onto a trail bus, and any participant that is still on any other part of the bridge at 10:30 a.m. will also be escorted onto a trail bus, taken off the bridge and driven to Tropicana Field.
All proceeds from the Skyway 10K go to support the Armed Forces Families Foundation, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that provides 100 percent of the funds they raise back to projects to help military families.
The Skyway 10K race organizers are reimbursing the state for all lost tolls and revenue to the fishing piers due to the temporary closure.