Howard Frankland Bridge
bridge in United States of America
The W. Howard Frankland Bridge is the central fixed-link bridge spanning Old Tampa Bay from St. Petersburg, Florida to Tampa, Florida. It is one of three bridges connecting Hillsborough County and Pinellas County; the others being Gandy Bridge and Courtney Campbell Causeway. The bridge carries Interstate 275 and is by far the most traveled of the bay's bridges.
Work began in fall 2020 to rebuild this bridge with separate pedestrian and bicycle lanes, it was completed, and the new southbound span opened, overnight on March 24th 2025. The new bridge span is north of the old bridge. The old southbound bridge was converted to northbound lanes, overnight on July 9th, 2025, taking all traffic off the oldest, and previously northbound span, permanently.
The bridge is often incorrectly referred to as the Howard Franklin Bridge.
History
Named for the man who proposed it, Tampa businessman William Howard Frankland, the bridge opened in April 1960 and carried four lanes (two lanes in each direction separated by a short, narrow barrier). The bridge and approaches cost $16 million.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Howard Frankland Bridge” as bridge in United States of America. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
Why this record matters
The subject matters to the places & architecture register because the source frames it as bridge in United States of America. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
The strongest evidence will usually combine a dated visual record with documents produced by the authority responsible for the place. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 8, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q5919677. The first chronological checks are 2020, 2025 and 1960.
Modern boundaries and familiar names can conceal earlier jurisdictions or structures that do not align with the present site. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.
- Historic place names
- Jurisdictional context
- Routes into maps and plans
Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Howard Frankland Bridge”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Howard Frankland Bridge primary sources, Howard Frankland Bridge archive and Howard research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Howard Frankland Bridge”?
- What physical evidence or contemporary plan supports the description?
- Which authority defined the place, boundary or structure at the relevant date?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Howard Frankland Bridge” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.