The Sunshine Speedway, located in Clearwater, Florida, operated for more than 40 years before closing in 2004. It hosted many Saturday night stock car races, and thousands of race fans have countless memories of car engines and go-kart screams.
The Sunshine Speedway closed when the State bought the land to build a road to connect the Bayside Bridge to I-275. But after years without funding for the road, State Senator Jack Latvala asked FDOT to lease out the property that has been being used by the Turnpike Authority to test toll equipment. Now that the Speedway is scheduled to reopen, the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) is now moving its equipment out and on to new homes.
Miami Transport brought the tollbooth over from the track, and placed it behind the main tollbooth building on the Pinellas Bay Way Causeway. They built a concrete slab as a permanent home for the structure, and that’s where Sims Crane & Equipment came in.
CCO Dylan Sherman, operating the Mary Helen – our 70 Linkbelt, used two splitter bars and a sling to lift the building and position it on the surface. Now that it’s in its permanent home, it can be used for multiple purposes, to help ensure the existing toll booths are run efficiently.
