{{Use mdy dates|date=April 2025}} {{Use American English|date=January 2025}} {{Infobox Bridge | bridge_name = Gordon Persons Bridge | image = Gordon Persons Bridge 06May2010 01.JPG | caption = View of the bridge from SR-193. | official_name = | also_known_as = Dauphin Island Bridge | carries = 2 lanes of {{jct|state=AL|AL|193}} | crosses = Gulf Intracoastal Waterway | locale = Dauphin Island, Alabama | maint = | id = | design = FIGG Bridge Engineers | mainspan = {{convert|400|ft|m|0}}<ref name="Figg">{{cite web|title=Dauphin Island Bridge|work="Figg Engineering Group"|url=http://www.figgbridge.com/cgi-bin/WebObjects/IRMAProjectSite.woa/wa/view?site=Figg%20Engineering%20Group§ion=Bridge%20Gallery&page=Dauphin|accessdate=2007-12-28|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927012642/http://www.figgbridge.com/cgi-bin/WebObjects/IRMAProjectSite.woa/wa/view?site=Figg%20Engineering%20Group§ion=Bridge%20Gallery&page=Dauphin|archive-date=2007-09-27|url-status=dead}}</ref> | length = {{convert|17814|ft|m|0}}<ref name="Figg"/> | width = | clearance = | below = {{convert|83|ft|m|0}} | traffic = | open = 1982 | closed = | toll = | map_cue = | map_image = | map_text = | map_width = | coordinates = {{coord|30.2921|N|88.1300|W|scale:50000}} }}
thumb|right|On the way to Dauphin Island crossing the Dauphin Island Bridge. The '''Dauphin Island Bridge''', formally the '''Gordon Persons Bridge''', carries a {{convert|3|mi|km|1|adj=on}}, two-lane section of Alabama State Route 193 from mainland Mobile County, Alabama across the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway to Dauphin Island. The natural channel followed by the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway at this location is Pass Aux Herons. The bridge separates the Mississippi Sound on the west from Mobile Bay on the east. It was named in honor of Seth Gordon Persons, the 46th governor of Alabama.
==History== The original bridge opened on July 2, 1955.<ref name="Alcom">{{cite web|title=Press Register story|work="AL.com website"|url=http://www.al.com/news/mobileregister/index.ssf?/base/news/112029573632230.xml&coll=3|accessdate=2007-12-28|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070930014454/http://www.al.com/news/mobileregister/index.ssf?%2Fbase%2Fnews%2F112029573632230.xml&coll=3|archive-date=2007-09-30|url-status=dead}}</ref> It was destroyed by Hurricane Frederic in 1979 and was replaced by a fixed precast concrete segmental bridge in 1982. The central main span was the first use of a {{convert|400|ft|m|0|adj=on}} span on a precast concrete segmental bridge.<ref name="Figg"/>
January 7, 2008, Vietnamese immigrant Lam Luong tossed his four children to their deaths from the bridge. In March 2009, a jury in Mobile County convicted him of capital murder for the act.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/03/20/alabama.jury.bridge/index.html|work=CNN|title=Jury convicts Alabama dad of throwing 4 kids off bridge — CNN.com|date=March 20, 2009|accessdate=May 1, 2010}}</ref> He was sentenced to death April 30, 2009.<ref>{{cite news|title=Man who threw kids off bridge gets death|url=https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna30500905|website=NBC News|date=April 30, 2009}}</ref> His death sentence was reduced to life without parole October 15, 2018; a ruling said he was intellectually impaired and had an IQ too low for execution.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Moseley|first1=Brandon|title=Death sentence for man who threw his four children off Dauphin Island Bridge death reduced to life|url=https://www.alreporter.com/2018/10/16/death-sentence-for-man-who-threw-his-four-children-off-dauphin-island-bridge-death-reduced-to-life/|website=Alabama Political Reporter|date=October 16, 2018}}</ref>
==References== {{commons category|Gordon Persons Bridge}} {{reflist}}
==External links== * [https://www.al.com/live/2009/03/witnesses_saw_lam_luong_at_top.html Jeff Coolidge] * [http://www.figgbridge.com/dauphin_island_bridge.html Figg Engineering] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180331204449/http://www.figgbridge.com/dauphin_island_bridge.html |date=March 31, 2018 }} * [https://web.archive.org/web/20070930014454/http://www.al.com/news/mobileregister/index.ssf?%2Fbase%2Fnews%2F112029573632230.xml&coll=3 Dauphin Island celebrates 50 history changing years] * [https://maps.google.com/maps?ll=30.287383,-88.129148&spn=0.068861,0.090345&hl=en Google map of bridge] * [http://map.marineplanner.com/mapping/chart/chart.cfm?typ=LL&txt=30%2E2912559012%2C%20%2D88%2E1329602495&mxschartid=18650 Nautical chart of bridge area]
{{coord|30.2921|N|88.1300|W|type:landmark_scale:50000|display=title}}
Category:Bridges in Mobile County, Alabama Category:Gulf of Mexico Category:Bridges completed in 1955 Category:Bridges completed in 1982 Category:Road bridges in Alabama Category:1955 establishments in Alabama Category:Concrete bridges in the United States Category:Dauphin Island, Alabama