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| Florida City, The beginning of the Overseas Highway |
The outbreak of World War II signaled the
importance of Key West militarily to the U.S. Navy. The existing
Overseas Highway had many wooden bridges and sharp turns make it difficult for
trucks carrying military equipment to reach Key West. The Navy presence in Key West required
stronger bridges to support its operations and security patrols. Authorities at that point chose to utilize
the entire route of the previous Florida East Coast railroad right of way, shortening
the road by about 14 miles.
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| The Stretch Connecting Florida City with Key Largo |
In the Upper Keys, a used drawbridge was
installed at Jewfish Creek and the rail bed converted into a new highway from
Key Largo to Florida City, bypassing Card Sound. The Navy paved and upgraded the bridges to
handle the very heavy loads of vehicles supplying parts and supplies to the Key
West Base. The Lower Keys faced similar
problems and from Sugarloaf Key along the coastline to Stock Island was
bypassed for the same reasons as the other areas, the new highway would run for
the most part along the original railroad route. Some
of the remains of this route are still visible. This new route did however pass
through the Boca Chica Naval Base, these were eventually rerouted to the outer
perimeters of the base. By creating the
two bypasses, travel along the Overseas Highway was shortened by 17 miles, but at
a cost of $5 million, authorized in February 1942.
Travel reasons were not the only considerations, the railroad bed through the Everglades was almost a direct route to the mainland, and a fresh water pipeline along with power and light transmission lines were built alongside Overseas Highway.
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| The New and the Old Bahia Honda Bridge |
The railroad maintenance village on
Pigeon Key served as headquarters for the Toll and Bridge Commission. All construction, maintenance and operations
were directed from this small island. Tolls were one dollar for the vehicle and
driver, plus 25 cents for each passenger. A increased
pressure to drop the tolls resulted in the road tolls being lifted completely
on April 15, 1954.  |
| The New and the Old Seven Mile Bridge |
1944
to 1978 was mostly a period of maintenance period except for a few significant changes
in the Upper Keys. The road was widened
to four lanes on the Island of Key Largo, Tavernier in 1966, then to Rock
Harbor to Lake Surprise in 1971 - 1972 and finally the Tavernier to Rock Harbor
section was completed. In addition there
was $1.1 million spent to repair the Long Key Bridge in 1966. In
fact, all the bridges were deteriorating from relatively heavy use in an
extremely harsh salt-water environment. The beginning of the end was signaled when
chunks of concrete began falling off of the 1938 built Bahia Honda Bridge
overhead concrete slab. In 1968, it was
announced that two two-lane concrete spans would replace the old elevated
railroad bridge at a cost of $7.9 million in July 1969. Dedication ceremonies were held in August of
1972 when a 1901 Oldsmobile replica was the first car to pass over the new
bridge which lies alongside the original double decked bridge. One by one, most of the old rail bridge
crossings have been replaced.
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| Key West at the End of the Road |
Today
the road is being maintained with a few up grades here and there, but for the
most part it is how it is going to be for quite some time. It is
a road that took over a hundred years to come about and one of the engineering
wonders of the world, but more important it provides the keys with a reliable
means of coming and going to the mainland.
