seven mile bridge, florida

The Seven Mile Bridge, in the Florida Keys, connects Vaca Key (the location of the town of Marathon, Florida) in the Middle Keys to Bahia Honda in the Lower Keys. There have been two bridges in this location. The first, originally known as the Knights Key-Pigeon Key-Moser Channel-Pacet Channel Bridge, was constructed from 1909-1912 under the direction of Henry Flagler as part of the Florida East Coast Railway. It was badly damaged by the Labor Day Hurricane of 1935, and subsequently refurbished by the United States Federal Government as an automobile highway. US 1 runs the length of the Keys, and is called the Overseas Highway there. Hurricane Donna in 1960 caused further damage. The present road bridge was constructed from 1979 to 1982. It is a box girder construction built of precast prestressed concrete sections, comprising 440 spans. The total length is actually 35,862 ft or 6.79 miles (10.93 km). Parts of the first bridge still exist alongside. The spectacular bridge has attracted many film makers. Its film 'credits' include scenes in True Lies, 2 Fast 2 Furious, Licence to Kill and Up Close & Personal.

Word Browser