St. George Island Bridge, Highway bridge in Franklin County, Florida.
The St. George Island Bridge, officially the Bryant Patton Memorial Bridge, carries State Road 300 for 4 miles (6.4 km) from US 98/US 319 at Eastpoint across Apalachicola Bay to St. George Island. Its long, pale concrete deck rests on many closely spaced vertical pilings and curves gently before bending right toward the far shore, with low concrete barriers along both edges.
The first bridges to St. George Island opened in 1965, before which a ferry carried visitors across; the span was split by an island in the middle. Judged unsafe with age, they were replaced by a single 4-mile (6.4 km) crossing that opened on February 27, 2004, bypassing the middle island. It was officially named the Bryant Patton Memorial Bridge.
The bridge carries the name Bryant Patton Memorial Bridge, honoring a local figure and serving as the primary gateway to St. George Island and the surrounding Gulf Coast region. For residents and visitors, crossing it marks the transition from the mainland to island life.
State Road 300 runs the full length of the bridge, from US 98/US 319 in Eastpoint on the mainland to St. George Island. The crossing is 4 miles (6.4 km) with no stopping places, and the deck curves gently before bending right toward the far shore.
The bridge's official name honours Bryant Patton, and its state designation, SR 300, is unusual: it is one of only two x00 routes in Florida that do not follow the numbering system, the other being SR 800 in Boca Raton. The road was first designated State Road G1A, a Gulf-coast counterpart to the Atlantic's SR A1A.
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