Gandy Bridge road could soon be called something new

Ivy Nyayieka, Tampa Bay Times
Updated ·2 min read
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A St. Petersburg lawmaker wants to designate the road across the Gandy Bridge in honor of a St. Petersburg Navy airman killed in 2019.

Democratic Rep. Michele Rayner has filed a bill to designate the road, also named Gandy, in honor of Mohammed “Mo” Sameh Haitham, who was killed trying to stop a gunman during a mass shooting at the Naval Air Station Pensacola.

“Airman Mohammed ‘Mo’ Sameh Haitham is a true hero. HB 841 will honor and mark his memory in Pinellas and Hillsborough counties,” Rayner said in an Instagram post in January.

The bill would designate the bridge as AWF3 Mohammed “Mo” Haitham Memorial Way. The House legislation has made it through two committees and has one more scheduled. Evelyn Brady, Haitham’s mother, spoke in front of the House Transportation & Modals Subcommittee in January in support of it. Sen. Jim Boyd, R-Bradenton, is sponsoring the companion bill in the Senate, which has one more committee to move through.

Haitham, a 19-year-old from St. Petersburg, was the youngest and the only Floridian among three sailors who died when a Saudi Air Force officer undergoing flight training at the base opened fire. Eight others were injured.

“Mohammed was a young man who made a choice to serve his country and made the ultimate sacrifice. Renaming the Gandy Bridge after him is the least we can do for his actions,” Brady, a U.S. Navy veteran herself, said in a statement.

She told lawmakers in January that the Gandy Bridge symbolized the link between Haitham’s military life and his home. After he was killed, Haitham’s casket was flown to MacDill Air Force Base, then driven across the Gandy Bridge to St. Petersburg.

The Gandy Bridge was named after its original builder, George “Dad” Gandy. At the time of its grand opening in 1924, the structure was the longest highway built over water in the world. The bridge cut the downtown St. Petersburg-Tampa trip from 43 to 19 miles. The original structure no longer stands, the bridge having been expanded and rebuilt over the years.

More than 37,000 vehicles used the bridge daily in 2020, according to Plan Hillsborough.