Bob Sikes Bridge

USA / Florida / Gulf Breeze /
 bridge, road bridge, toll bridge
This bridge charges a $1 tool southbound only
Nearby cities:
Coordinates:   30°20'53"N   87°9'13"W

Comments

  • This bridge is most commonly refered to as the "toll bridge," as the fair to cross (to the beach, only) is 50 cents per axle, but is actually named the "Bob Sikes Bridge," after Robert Lee Fulton Sikes. According to Infoplease.com, Robert Lee Fulton Sikes was "a Representative from Florida; born in Isabella, near Sylvester, Worth County, Ga., June 3, 1906; attended the public schools; B.S., University of Georgia, Athens, Ga., 1927; MS., University of Florida, Gainesville, Fla., 1929; engaged in the publishing business at Crestview, Fla., 1933-1946; served in the State house of representatives 1936-1940; elected as a Democrat to the Seventy-seventh and Seventy-eighth Congresses and served from January 3, 1941, until his resignation on October 19, 1944, to enter the United States Army during the Second World War; delegate, Interparliamentary Conference in Warsaw, 1959; elected to the Seventy-ninth and to the sixteen succeeding Congresses (January 3, 1945-January 3, 1979); was not a candidate for reelection in 1978 to the Ninety-sixth Congress; was a resident of Crestview, Fla., until his death on September 28, 1994." (http://www.infoplease.com/biography/us/congress/sikes-robert-lee-fulton.html) Transponders (aka "sun passes") can be purchased at the toll office, or through the mail. More information is available at http://sria-fla.com/tollpassinfo.htm. Questions can be directed to: Bob Sikes Toll Bridge Office 415 Pensacola Beach Blvd. Pensacola Beach, FL 32561
  • With undieing support and thanks to Raymond C. Lemme, a one time "investigator" within the Florida DOT, who actually uncovered the associated scam of Florida's toll road system(s), traced the corruption "all the way to the top", then strangely, decided he just couldn't possibly bear the burden, of such an expose' and what it might do to "his country," and ended it all, in a sleazy Valdosta, Georgia motel room, just before his daughter's "white wedding." One might have thunk he would have been happy at this time in his life, with the potential of never ending wealth from media deals, such an expose' might have produced, but NO....you have been led to believe that Mr. Lemme was VERY distraught. But the after the "incident" evidence, suggests, precisely, otherwise. "All the way to the top?" INDEED.
  • Polygon by forrestgumprock
This article was last modified 12 years ago