Sunshine Skyway traffic was snarled for hours due to ‘police activity’ atop the bridge

Beginning at about 10:30 a.m. Friday morning, northbound traffic on I-275, originating from atop the Sunshine Skyway Bridge, began to back up for miles.

Florida traffic officials reported that “police activity” atop the bridge had closed the right hand lane and traffic was forced to merge into left-hand lane.

A witness who declined to be named, described the scene as what appeared to be a single abandoned vehicle and at least three law enforcement vehicles were on scene.

While traffic officials did not immediately update the situation by Friday afternoon, traffic cameras indicated that the right hand lane had opened and traffic was again flowing normally beginning at around 1:15 p.m.

Traffic cameras originally showed motorists continuing to back up from atop the bridge well south into Manatee County and the witness said the traffic jam was miles long.

There was no other information immediately available from authorities.

This story will be updated.

This story was originally published December 4, 2020 at 1:08 PM.