Flashback
Photo: An Aerial View of the John Ringling Causeway, 1946
A look back on a bridge that changed Sarasota's keys—and has been rebuilt twice since its first construction in 1926.
John Ringling Causeway Bridge, 1946.
Image: Joseph Janney Steinmetz
Construction of the first Ringling Causeway was completed in 1926. The Czecho-Slovakian National Band celebrated with several performances on the causeway's opening day, Feb. 7, for the crowds traveling the bridge for the first time.
In 1959, the bridge was replaced with a four-lane drawbridge due to traffic demands. Then, in 2000, the same traffic problems occurred with the drawbridge and by 2003, the high-span bridge we see today, set in lights by night, opened.
Throughout June, head out to Bay Park or Bayfront Park to see the bridge set in spectacular rainbow colors in celebration of Pride month.
