The Sunshine Skyway Bridge is one of Florida's most striking pieces of infrastructure. Stretching nearly 6 miles across Tampa Bay and rising to a main span clearance of 193 feet, the cable-stayed bridge connects St. Petersburg to Terra Ceia and carries Interstate 275 over one of the most heavily trafficked waterways on the Gulf Coast. Since its completion in 1987, it has become an unmistakable landmark for both mariners navigating the bay and pilots flying the busy airspace that surrounds the Tampa area. Despite its real-world prominence, the bridge's representation in Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 had long been a disappointment — present as a point of interest in name, but absent in any meaningful visual form. Developer AirportMode has stepped in to address that gap with a purpose-built recreation of the structure built from scratch for MSFS 2024.
The add-on delivers a complete custom bridge model with accurate suspension geometry that reflects the cable-stayed design of the real structure. Custom PBR textures give the bridge a convincing material quality in both daylight and low-light conditions, while a thoughtful set of lighting features extends the experience into night flying. Two nighttime color schemes are available — a Red, White & Blue option and an Architectural White scheme — both based on real-world lighting configurations used on the actual bridge. FAA obstruction beacons flash at appropriate intervals along the structure, and navigation channel lighting is included to mark the shipping lanes that pass beneath the main span.
Beyond the bridge itself, the add-on includes the fishing piers that extend from the old bridge causeways on either side of the main span. Terrain transitions at the bridge approaches have been improved to reduce any jarring visual seams between the structure and the surrounding landscape. The road surface running across the bridge is driveable, meaning those who enjoy ground-level exploration in MSFS 2024 can cross it as they would from a vehicle.
For VFR flying in the Tampa Bay region, the Sunshine Skyway serves as a natural waypoint and reference landmark. Pilots departing or arriving at Tampa International (KTPA), St. Pete–Clearwater (KPIE), or Sarasota–Bradenton (KSRQ) will find the bridge visible from considerable distance and now worth seeking out rather than flying past.
Installation requires extracting the downloaded archive and choosing one of the two color schemes — only one should be placed in the Community Folder at a time, so take a moment to decide which lighting style suits your preference before copying the files across. The 🔗 Sunshine Skyway Bridge add-on by AirportMode is available as freeware on Flightsim.to. If you find it enhances your Tampa Bay flying, consider leaving a donation for the developer to support continued work of this kind.