On the morning of May 9th, 1980, the freighter Summit Venture hit the Sunshine Skyway Bridge spanning Tampa Bay and ripped out 1,260 feet of roadway. In the next few seconds, several cars and a Greyhound bus sped over the edge and plunged 150 feet into the water. George Mair has interviewed relatives of the victims, the one survivor, and others connected with the dramatic event. He has also investigated bridge safety around the nation, and what emerges is a story of stupidity, conflict, tragedy, and lurking danger. While the Sunshine Skyway disaster is the worst of its kind, there are thousands of others like it waiting to happen all over America- thousands of unsafe bridges which carry millions of people every day, posing an enormous hazard most public officials choose to ignore. This book also features lists of 450 "killer bridges in America," including the most dangerous bridges in each state. "In the United States, there are 564,000 bridges, approximately 1 out of 5, or 105,000 bridges, are structurally deficient or functionally obsolete." "Thirteen of New York City's 51 bridges over bodies of water are listed in poor condition." "The beautiful Golden Gate Bridge is not as pretty as it looks at sunset from the top of the Mark Hopkins Hotel...The roadbed is falling apart, it is full of holes where chunks of concrete have deteriorated and fallen off...In fact, in some places, the steel supports for the roadbed are rusted out and not there anymore."