John Ringling Causeway (also known as Ringling Bridge or Gil Waters Bridge[3]) is a causeway that extends past the Sarasota Bay, from Sarasota to St. Armands Key and Lido Key.

[4] The causeway and its original bridge were built in 1925 by John Ringling, who owned large tracts of land on both Lido and Longboat Keys.

It was labeled "one of the greatest engineering accomplishments in the South” by the Sarasota Herald, which also proclaimed, “There are no words adequate with which to express our appreciation.”[4][7] The original bridge began at the south end of Golden Gate Point in Sarasota.

In 1951, the State Road Department opted to replace the original bridge with a four-lane drawbridge, which was completed and opened to traffic in 1959.

With the drawbridge opening as many as 18 times a day, it was unable to handle increasing amounts of traffic to the islands.