Dauphin Island Bridge

The Dauphin Island Bridge, formally the Gordon Persons Bridge, carries a 3-mile (4.8 km), two-lane section of Alabama State Route 193 from mainland Mobile County, Alabama across the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway to Dauphin Island. The natural channel followed by the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway at this location is Pass Aux Herons. The bridge separates the Mississippi Sound on the west from Mobile Bay on the east. It was named in honor of Seth Gordon Persons, the 46th governor of Alabama.

Gordon Persons Bridge
View of the bridge from SR-193.
Coordinates30.2921°N 88.1300°W / 30.2921; -88.1300
Carries2 lanes of SR 193
CrossesGulf Intracoastal Waterway
LocaleDauphin Island, Alabama
Other name(s)Dauphin Island Bridge
Characteristics
Total length17,814 feet (5,430 m)[1]
Longest span400 feet (122 m)[1]
Clearance below83 feet (25 m)
History
Opened1982
Location
On the way to Dauphin Island crossing the Dauphin Island Bridge.

History

The original bridge opened on July 2, 1955.[2] It was destroyed by Hurricane Frederic in 1979 and was replaced by a fixed precast concrete segmental bridge in 1982. The central main span was the first use of a 400-foot (122 m) span on a precast concrete segmental bridge.[1]

On January 7, 2008, Vietnamese immigrant Lam Luong tossed four children, including three of his own, to their deaths off of the bridge. In March 2009, a jury in Mobile County convicted him of capital murder for the act.[3] He was sentenced to death on April 30, 2009.[4] His death sentence was reduce to life without parole on October 15, 2018, as it was ruled he was intellectually impaired and had an IQ too low for execution.[5]

References
  1. "Dauphin Island Bridge". "Figg Engineering Group". Archived from the original on 2007-09-27. Retrieved 2007-12-28.
  2. "Press Register story". "AL.com website". Archived from the original on 2007-09-30. Retrieved 2007-12-28.
  3. "Jury convicts Alabama dad of throwing 4 kids off bridge — CNN.com". CNN. March 20, 2009. Retrieved May 1, 2010.
  4. "Man who threw kids off bridge gets death". NBC News. April 30, 2009.
  5. Moseley, Brandon (October 16, 2018). "Death sentence for man who threw his four children off Dauphin Island Bridge death reduced to life". Alabama Political Reporter.

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