Seven Mile Bridge

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Seven Mile Bridge
File:Seven mile bridge.jpg
Seven Mile Bridge with the original in the foreground
Coordinates Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
Carries 2 lanes of US 1
Crosses Moser Channel
Locale Florida Keys, Monroe County, Florida
Maintained by Florida Department of Transportation
ID number 900101
Characteristics
Design precast segmented box girder bridge
Total length 10887.5 meters (6.765 miles)
Width 11.58 meters (38 ft)
Longest span 41.15 meters (135 ft)
Clearance below 19.81 meters (65 ft)
History
Construction cost $45 million [1]
Opened May 24, 1982
File:FLMap Seven Mile Bridge.png
Location in Florida

The Seven Mile Bridge is a famous bridge in the Florida Keys, in Monroe County, Florida, United States. It connects Knight's Key (part of the city of Marathon, Florida) in the Middle Keys to Little Duck Key in the Lower Keys. Among the longest bridges in existence when it was built, it is one of the bridges on US 1 in the Keys, where the road is called the Overseas Highway.

There are two bridges in this location. The modern bridge is open to vehicular traffic, whereas the older bridge is only open to pedestrians and cyclists. The older bridge, originally known as the Knights Key-Pigeon Key-Moser Channel-Pacet Channel Bridge, was constructed from 1909 to 1912 under the direction of Henry Flagler as part of the Florida East Coast Railway's Key West Extension, also known as the Overseas Railroad.

History

Old Seven Mile Bridge, with ramp on the left connecting it to Pigeon Key
Old Seven Mile Bridge, with ramp on the left connecting it to Pigeon Key
File:TZ5 pics (16)edited.jpg
Entrance Plaque

After the railroad was damaged by the Labor Day Hurricane of 1935, the line was sold to the United States government, which refurbished Seven Mile Bridge for automobile use. Unsupported sections were added in 1935 to widen it for vehicular traffic. Dismantled trackage was recycled, painted white, and used as guardrails. It had a swing span to allow passage of boats in the Moser Channel of the Intracoastal Waterway, near where the bridge crosses Pigeon Key, a small island that held a work camp for Flagler's railroad. Hurricane Donna in 1960 caused further damage.

File:TZ5 pics (10)edited.jpg
The original railroad tracks were reused as guardrails when the bridge was converted for vehicular traffic.

The current road bridge was constructed from 1978 to 1982.

The vast majority of the original bridge still exists, although the swing span has been removed. The 2.2-mile section to Pigeon Key, used as a fishing pier and long open to motorized vehicles to give access to the key, was closed to motorized traffic in 2008 after the unsupported sections began to sag. As of 2015, the section remains open to pedestrians and bicyclists.[2][3] In 2014, Florida Department of Transportation approved a $77 million plan to restore the old bridge.[4]

Engineering

The full span of the Seven Mile Bridge as seen from the east shore of Ohio Key. The arc over Moser Channel can be seen to the right and Knight's Key can be seen to the extreme right.
The full span of the Seven Mile Bridge as seen from the east shore of Ohio Key. The arc over Moser Channel can be seen to the right and Knight's Key can be seen to the extreme right.

The new bridge is a box-girder structure built from precast, prestressed concrete sections, comprising 440 spans. Near the center, the bridge rises in an arc to provide 65-foot (20 m)-high clearance for boat passage. The remainder of the bridge is considerably closer to the water surface. The new bridge does not cross Pigeon Key.

The total length of the new bridge is actually 35,862 ft (10,931 m) or 6.79 miles (10.93 km), and is shorter than the original. Each April the bridge is closed for approximately 2.5 hours on a Saturday and a "fun run," known as the Seven Mile Bridge Run, of 1,500 runners is held commemorating the Florida Keys bridge rebuilding project. The event began in 1982 to commemorate the completion of a federally funded bridge building program that replaced spans that oil tycoon Henry Flagler constructed in the early 1900s to serve as a foundation for his Overseas Railroad.

The Seven Mile Bridge was engineered by Figg & Muller Engineers. The structure was completed six months ahead of schedule and has earned eight awards, including an Exceptional Award for Cost Savings Innovation from the Federal Highway Administration.[5]

In fiction

The Bridge has been featured in the films and television series Licence to Kill, True Lies, The Haunted Mansion, 2 Fast 2 Furious, Mission Impossible III, I Am Number Four and Leverage.

References

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External links

Gallery

  • View from the arc over Moser Channel, looking northeast towards Knight's Key (Marathon). Tiny Pigeon Key can be seen on the left, between the old and new bridges.

  • Seven Mile Bridge.jpg

    View of the new bridge from the old bridge.

  • Seven mile bridge.JPG

    View of Seven Mile Bridge.

  • The new and old Seven Mile bridges Florida Keys.jpg

    New and old bridges

  1. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.[dead link]
  2. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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