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  • Building the Overseas Highway
  • Marathon, FL

  1. October 16, 2009

    Thank you for providing this historical footage. Can’t believe you ever found it.

    Lillian Van Hest
  2. November 20, 2009

    Very COOL! I am old enough to remember the toll road, but not old enough to remember the RR!

    Pat Curry
  3. July 12, 2012

    How the was car able to run on the railroad tracks he mention what it was I can make out what he said?

    Kurt Webster
  4. July 12, 2012

    Knee Action suspension I got it.

    Kurt Webster
  5. August 20, 2012

    Can I just say what a relief to find seoomne who actually knows what theyre talking about on the internet. You definitely know how to bring an issue to light and make it important. More people need to read this and understand this side of the story. I cant believe youre not more popular because you definitely have the gift.

    Lorvens
  6. February 13, 2014

    Great footage! Does anyone happen to know the year this aired?

    Kristin Hazen
  7. April 17, 2014

    Hi! Quick question that’s eneirtly off topic. Do you know how to make your site mobile friendly? My blog looks weird when browsing from my iphone. I’m trying to find a template or plugin that might be able to fix this issue. If you have any recommendations, please share. Appreciate it!

    Alina
  8. June 8, 2014

    Great Video and was instrumental in teaching my grandchildren how the road was built. Just vacationed in the keys.

    Dave Lane

Building the Overseas Highway

The Overseas Highway is a 127.5-mile (205.2 km) long road carrying U.S. Route 1 through the Florida Keys. It has just been awarded the All-American Road designation. The All-American Road designation will bring status to us with international and domestic visitors, so that they know driving U.S. 1 from Key Largo to Key West is a one-of-a-kind driving experience," said Judy Hull, president of the Florida Keys Scenic Corridor Alliance, which spearheaded a multiyear effort to achieve the distinction. "It should help us with tourism and future highway grant funding." Large parts of it were built on the former right-of-way of the Overseas Railroad, the Key West Extension of the Florida East Coast Railway. Completed in 1912, the Overseas Railroad was heavily damaged and partially destroyed in the Labor Day Hurricane of 1935. The Florida East Coast Railway was financially unable to rebuild the destroyed sections, so the roadbed and remaining bridges were sold to the State of Florida for $640,000. The original construction of the Overseas Highway used many of the bridges of the former railroad, including truss bridges, where the roadway was built on top of the trusses. Most of these older bridges built for railroads have been replaced by more modern bridges that are able to accommodate more than two lanes of traffic. The highway included the Seven Mile Bridge, the Bahia Honda Bridge and the Long Key Bridge (although these three original bridges are no longer open to vehicular traffic, except for part of Seven Mile Bridge, they are listed on the National Register of Historic Places and are currently used as fishing piers). From its opening on March 29, 1938, until the destruction by fire of the Card Sound Bridge in 1944, the Overseas Highway also had the signed designation State Road 4A; after the realignment in 1945 to its current entry onto Key Largo along the old railroad right-of-way (the new segment of Overseas Highway, from Florida City to Key Largo is known locally as "the 18 Mile Stretch"), it received the unsigned designation State Road 5, the same as the entirety of US 1 south of Jacksonville at that time.   Aerial view of the Overseas Highway between Florida City and Key LargoPortions of the road were tolled until April 15, 1954; toll booths were located on Big Pine Key and Lower Matecumbe Key. Pigeon Key, roughly the midway point of the Seven Mile Bridge, served as the headquarters for the "Overseas Road and Toll District." The toll for automobiles was $1, plus 25 cents per passenger. The entire roadway of the Overseas Highway was substantially rebuilt in the 1980s. In recent years, Pigeon Key was used by the University of Miami as an oceanography laboratory, but current efforts to restore the buildings on the island have resulted in the establishment of a railroad museum there. The newer Seven Mile Bridge does not have direct access to Pigeon Key; people going there must walk on 2.2 miles (3.5 km) of the original Seven Mile Bridge from its northern end on Knight's Key, or take a shuttle bus, to reach the island.

  • Building the Overseas Highway
  • Marathon, FL

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