Beautiful pic ... but I don’t see any bumper pylons on either side of the piers. I thought they were mandatory on bridges built after the 90s ...
A Frontpage column said the bridge was built in 1977, so....
When the South Padre bridge was taken out, they rebuilt and put bumper pylons to protect it in the rebuild. It was taken out by a barge in the ICW. Eight people were killed.
https://www.ksat.com/news/national/2024/03/26/key-bridge-collapse-brings-haunting-memories-of-queen-isabella-causeway-tragedy-in-texas/
It took 2 weeks to recover the bodies, and it was a lot smaller. Cars continued to drive in the water after it collapsed.