It's History

Why Florida's Overseas Highway Turned From Dream to Disaster (8x90)

: 02, 2022

The Florida Keys have the Seven Mile Bridge, a part of the 110-mile long Ocean Highway that connects the remote Keys to the mainland. On this drive, you will travel over a truly incredible feat of engineering that, at one point, was the longest continuous concrete bridge in the world. This Bridge has been through a lot. The original bridge, or what the locals like to call the “Old Seven,” consisted of precast concrete and steel girders that enabled it to be constructed within marshland and the sea. However, a series of hurricanes, storms, and saltwater led to its destruction, thus necessitating certain repairs. For this reason, a new and modern bridge had to be constructed to weather the previous engineering faults and meet the increasing vehicular needs of the Keys. Its construction was described as an engineering milestone that has encouraged bridge-building.