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© St. Petersburg Times, published August 27, 2002
State highway officials are planning to close both southbound lanes of the Sunshine Skyway bridge from 9 tonight to 5 a.m. Wednesday. Rain or lightning could postpone closure until Wednesday night.
Engineers for the Florida Department of Transportation hope to stick to the schedule but acknowledge there is no guarantee. "We are strongly advising people to find another way around," said Marian Pscion, DOT spokeswoman.
The closure of the southbound lanes also disrupts northbound traffic. Northbound and southbound traffic will alternate across the bridge, with DOT and off-duty police cars leading the motorcades. After work on the southbound lanes is complete, it will begin in the northbound lanes. Engineers are replacing defective expansion joints, which let the bridge expand and contract with temperature changes.