Tampa had the same issue in 1978. A freighter hit the old Sunshine Skyway bridge in a squall, knocked it down, cars and a Greyhound bus dropped 100 feet, 30-ish killed. The replacement bridge was constructed with a long shallow area around the piers anchored by huge rebar enforced casements. A freighter would need to be doing 25 knots to get to those piers.
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