| Acosta Bridge
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| Official name | St. Elmo W. Acosta Bridge
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| Carries | six general purpose lanes, two monorail tracks and two sidewalks
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| Crosses | St. Johns River
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| Locale | Jacksonville, Florida
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| Maintained by | Florida Department of Transportation
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| ID number | 720570 southbound
720571 northbound
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| Design | continuous prestressed concrete segmental box girder bridge
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| Longest span | 192.0 meters (630 feet)
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| Total length | 501.4 meters (1645 feet)
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| Width | 23.0 meters (75 feet) per direction
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| Vertical clearance | N/A
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| Clearance below | 22.8 meters (75 feet)
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| Opening date | 1994
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The original Acosta Bridge with the adjacent railroad bridge. A 1992 map of the Acosta Bridge (the middle one), before its replacement. Looking north at the north end of the Acosta Bridge. Looking south at the south end of the Acosta Bridge, with the Jacksonville Skyway in the median. The Acosta Bridge spans the St. Johns River in Jacksonville, Florida on a fixed span, named for City Councilman St. Elmo W. Acosta, who convinced voters to approve a $950,000 bond issue for the original bridge. It carries SR 13 (six lanes) with the two-track Jacksonville Skyway in the median. Prior to its replacement in 1994, the Acosta Bridge, originally the St. Johns River Bridge, carried three lanes (center one reversible) on a lift bridge opened in 1921. Tolls were charged until 1940, earning more than $4 million for the City of Jacksonville. At some time in 1992, the original bridge was closed to allow construction of the new one to proceed.
Despite being a freeway, bicycles are permitted on the main lanes of the bridge.
Just to the southwest, parallel to the Acosta Bridge, is the Florida East Coast Railway, with two tracks on its own bridge, a drawbridge completed in the mid-1990s to replace a 1925 single-track drawbridge. That bridge replaced an even older swing bridge, opened on January 5, 1890.
North (downtown) approach
The original north approach was a T-shaped viaduct, with the bridge ending at Riverside Avenue (US 17/SR 15 (Pre-1945 SR 3)). Just southwest of the Acosta Bridge, Riverside Avenue passed over the adjacent Florida East Coast Railway bridge approach.
When the bridge was rebuilt, the intersection was rebuilt as a semi-directional T interchange. Direct high-speed connections were provided between the bridge and both directions on Riverside Avenue, as well as a direct ramp from the bridge to the intersection of Broad Street and Bay Street (Riverside Avenue splits into a one-way pair of Broad Street and Jefferson Street north of the bridge).
South approach
The bridge originally emptied out on Miami Road (now Prudential Drive) just west of San Marco Boulevard, with a continuation, at least southbound, to San Marco Boulevard. SR 13 went south on San Marco Boulevard, and was later changed to go east on Miami Road.
Around 1958, a system of freeways was built in Jacksonville. This system included an eastern approach for the recently-opened Fuller Warren Bridge, along with the older Acosta Bridge and Main Street Bridge, carrying traffic to the Phillips Highway (US 1 (SR 5)) and Atlantic Boulevard (US 90 (SR 10)). A new approach to the Acosta Bridge was built, splitting from the old one two blocks north of Miami Road, and passing over the intersection of Miami Road and San Marco Boulevard before merging with the other bridge approaches. The old approach became southbound only, and northbound access was provided at Mary Street, two blocks north of Miami Road. A northbound exit was also provided at Mary Street for traffic coming from the south and east. No southbound entrance was provided, but the adjacent Main Street Bridge approach provided access in that direction.
When the bridge was rebuilt, the south approach was kept almost identical. The only real difference was a new northbound onramp from Museum Circle, one block north of Mary Street.
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