Long Key Bridge facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Long Key Bridge |
|
|---|---|
Current structure with the original viaduct running parallel
|
|
| Coordinates | 24°47′49″N 80°52′05″W / 24.797°N 80.868°W |
| Carries |  US 1 (Overseas Highway) |
| Crosses | Long Key Channel |
| Locale | Layton, Florida |
| Official name | Dante B. Fascell Bridge |
| Maintained by | Florida Department of Transportation |
| ID number | 900092 |
| Characteristics | |
| Design | precast segmented box girder bridge |
| Total length | 2.3 miles |
| Clearance above | 25 feet |
| History | |
| Opened | 1982 |
The Long Key Bridge, also called the Dante B. Fascell Bridge, is a cool bridge in the Florida Keys. It connects Long Key and Conch Key. This spot is about halfway between the cities of Miami and Key West.
This bridge is almost two and a half miles long! That makes it the second longest bridge on the famous Overseas Highway. Only the Seven Mile Bridge is longer. The bridge we use today opened in 1982. It took the place of the older Long Key Viaduct. That viaduct was first built for a train in 1907 and was later used for cars.
The Modern Long Key Bridge
The bridge you see today opened in 1982. It was built to make the entire Overseas Highway better and safer. It replaced the older, historic bridges that were first made for the Overseas Railroad.
This modern bridge is made from strong concrete pieces. These pieces were made somewhere else and then put together like a giant puzzle. The bridge has 103 sections, called spans. Most of these spans are 118 feet long. Two of them are a bit shorter, at 117 feet. These sections are held up by V-shaped supports. Building it this way helped them put the main part of the bridge together in less than a year! Bridges built in the Florida Keys at this time were some of the first in North America to use this cool building method.
The bridge is officially named after U.S. Representative Dante Fascell. He was a politician who worked for Florida from 1955 to 1993. He is well-known for helping to create Biscayne National Park.
The Historic Long Key Viaduct
The modern Long Key Bridge was built to replace the Long Key Viaduct. This older structure still stands right next to the new bridge. The Long Key Viaduct was finished in 1907. It was part of Henry Flagler's amazing Overseas Railroad. This railroad was a huge project that aimed to connect Key West to the rest of Florida by train.
The viaduct was built with 186 concrete arches. This arch design was used for most of the railroad bridges in the Keys. The company that owned the railroad, the Florida East Coast Railway, often used pictures of the Long Key Viaduct to promote their new train route.
Train service on the viaduct stopped after a very strong storm, the Labor Day Hurricane of 1935, hit the area. The storm badly damaged the railroad in the upper Keys. Luckily, the viaduct itself was not too badly hurt. The railroad company then sold the land and bridges to the state of Florida.
The state then built the Overseas Highway along the old train route. To make room for cars, the train tracks on the viaduct were removed. A new, wider concrete surface was built for cars to drive on.
The Long Key Viaduct is a very important historical site. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1979. This happened along with the original Seven Mile Bridge and the Bahia Honda Rail Bridge. The viaduct was replaced by the current highway bridge just a few years later, in 1982.
After cars stopped using the viaduct, it was given a new purpose again! It became a path for bikes and a place for fishing. Most of the viaduct's deck was made narrower, back to its original size from the train days. There are several special platforms on both sides of the bridge for fishing. Today, the viaduct is part of the Florida Keys Overseas Heritage Trail. This is a path for bikes and walkers that will eventually go along the entire length of the Overseas Highway.
