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View Full Version : re-naming the Ringling Causeway Bridge



07-26-2008, 04:40 PM
I WISH IT WAS NAMED THE FRED ATKINS BRIDGE :shock:

SARASOTA - City commissioners gave the green light to re-naming the Ringling Causeway Bridge this week. It is now known as the Gil Waters Bridge.

The bridge connects downtown Sarasota to the beaches and St. Armands Circle.

Long-time Sarasota resident Gil Waters never thought the bridge in his back yard would be renamed after him. "I'm such an old timer here, and I'm really very infrastructure-sensitive; That's not a very popular position in town."

He was in the minority when several local leaders thought the old drawbridge should be replaced with a new drawbridge years ago. Waters fought for the fixed span. He helped convince elected officials and construction was completed in 2003.

Total cost of the fixed span bridge: close to $70 million.

We spoke with a few people who fish out here and spend time walking over the bridge and many have differing views on the name change.

"Isn't that kind of bad luck, like a boat? It's going to bring back luck when you change the name?" asks fisherman Sandison Quackenbush.

"I'll still be calling it the Ringling. It's been history, it's in the history books," says Alejo Abru.

"Just so long as I can get across that bridge to fish out here, that's all I care about. As long as I don't have to swim," says Tracy Druelle.

From his condo rooftop, Waters tells us he never expected the bridge hundreds of people drive, bike and walk over daily to bear his name. "I'm glad I'm not dead. I'm glad I can enjoy it. I wake up every morning and it's right outside my bedroom window."