Jewfish Creek Bridge

Coordinates: 25°10′53″N 80°23′00″W / 25.1813°N 80.3834°W / 25.1813; -80.3834

Jewfish Creek Bridge

Carries	US 1 (Overseas Highway)
Crosses	Jewfish Creek Lake Surprise
Locale	Key Largo, Florida
Official name	Jewfish Creek Bridge
Maintained by	Florida Department of Transportation
Characteristics
Design	Concrete Girder Bridge
Clearance above	65 Feet
History
Opened	1944 (original bridge) May 22, 2008 (current bridge)
Statistics
Toll	None

The Jewfish Creek Bridge is a beam bridge in the Florida Keys. Spanning both Jewfish Creek and Lake Surprise, it carries the Overseas Highway (U.S. Route 1) between the Florida Keys and the Florida mainland. The bridge is 65 feet (20 m) tall and opened in 2008, replacing a small drawbridge.

History

The original Jewfish Creek beam bridge opened for traffic in 1944 along with the current stretch of the Overseas Highway between Florida City and Key Largo (locally known as the 18 Mile Stretch). Prior to this, the Overseas Highway was connected to the mainland via the nearby Card Sound Bridge (which at the time was also a small drawbridge). The current route was built along the original right of way of the Overseas Railroad, which shortened the driving distance between Florida City and Key Largo by nearly 14 miles. The United States Navy, which continues to have a large presence in Key West, sought an improved access to the mainland during World War II, which is the reason the Overseas Highway was rerouted onto the former railroad right of way.

The original Card Sound Bridge was closed to vehicular traffic after the completion of the Jewfish Creek Bridge and its remains were destroyed by a fire shortly afterward. The current Card Sound Bridge opened in 1969, restoring the original route and giving the Florida Keys two vehicular accesses to the mainland.^[1]

The Jewfish Creek drawbridge was replaced by the current bridge on May 22, 2008, as a part of larger $300 million project to reconstruct the entire stretch of U.S. 1 between Florida City and Key Largo. In addition to the drawbridge, the current bridge allowed for the removal of the Lake Surprise Causeway, which dated back to the days of the railroad, restoring the natural water flow into Florida Bay. The project also included the addition of a jersey barrier between the northbound and southbound lanes throughout, passing lanes in various locations, and the replacement of the non-functional C-111 canal drawbridge with a small fixed bridge.^[2]

Features

The current structure is 65 feet (20 m) tall. It carries two lanes separated by a Jersey barrier, and also features outside berms to prevent road pollutants from entering Florida Bay. Although the bridge bypasses the community of Jewfish, which is home to a marina and other businesses, exit ramps exist off of the main bridge provide access to Jewfish. The side and median barriers of the bridge are painted "Belize Blue," which was recommended by marine artist Robert Wyland.^[3]

Gallery

North side of the bridge
Top of the bridge
Exit ramps connecting area between Jewfish Creek and Lake Surprise

References

↑ History of Overseas Highway
↑ Bauer, Marilyn (2008-06-01). "Travel 411: New Jewfish Creek Bridge opens". TCPalm.
↑ New $330 Million Road to Florida Keys Completed

Florida Keys

Biscayne National Park	Soldier Ragged Boca Chita Sands Elliott Adams Caesar's Rock Meig's Rubicon Reid Porgy Totten Old Rhodes Islandia

Upper keys	Key Largo Island CDP North Tavernier Plantation Island former CDP Windley Upper Matecumbe Tea Table Indian Lignumvitae Lower Matecumbe Islamorada

Middle keys	Craig Fiesta Long Layton Conch Little Duck Key Island CDP Grassy Crawl Long Point Fat Deer Vaca Marathon Key Colony Beach Boot Knights

Lower keys	Pigeon Money Little Duck Missouri Ohio Sunshine Bahia Honda Spanish Harbor Scout (West Summerland) No Name Big Pine Torch Little Middle Big Ramrod Summerland Knockemdown Cudjoe Sugarloaf Park Lower Sugarloaf Saddlebunch Shark Geiger Big Coppitt Island CDP East Rockland Rockland Boca Chica Raccoon Stock Island Island CDP Key West Island City Sigsbee Fleming Sunset Wisteria

Outlying islands	Mule Keys Mule Crawfish Archer Joe Ingram Big Mullet Barracouta Cottrell Man Little Mullet Ballast Woman Boca Grande Marquesas Keys Dry Tortugas Tortugas Banks (submerged)

Areas	Florida Bay Dry Tortugas National Park Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary National Key Deer Refuge John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park Biscayne Bay Biscayne National Park Key West National Wildlife Refuge Great White Heron National Wildlife Refuge Crocodile Lake National Wildlife Refuge Florida Reef

Other topics	Monroe County Conch Republic Overseas Highway Overseas Railroad Card Sound Bridge Jewfish Creek Bridge Seven Mile Bridge Bahia Honda Rail Bridge Fort Jefferson Theater of the Sea Hurricane Wilma 1935 Labor Day hurricane Key Deer Key lime pie Florida Keys Keynoter Key West Citizen

Notable bridges and tunnels in Florida

Panhandle	Escambia Bay Garcon Point John Gorrie Mid-Bay Pensacola Bay St. George Island Trammell Victory

North	Acosta Bridge of Lions Main Street Buckman Dames Point Fuller Warren Hart Mathews Memorial Strauss Trunnion Thomas B. Manuel Blue Heron Flagler Memorial

West Central	Bayside Blackburn Point Bridge^‡ Clearwater Memorial Courtney Campbell Gandy Howard Frankland Pinellas Bayway Sunshine Skyway Treasure Island

East Central	A. Max Brewer Astor Bennett Bert Dosh Broadway Eau Gallie Granada Melbourne Merritt Island NASA Osteen Pineda Port Orange Roosevelt Sebastian Inlet Wabasso Merrill P. Barber Alma Lee Loy Whitehair

South	Broad Coral Springs^† Julia Tuttle John F. Kennedy Lehman MacArthur Rickenbacker Snow-Reed^‡ Venetian

Southwest	Boca Grande^‡ Bonita Beach Caloosahatchee Cape Coral Edison John Ringling Matanzas Pass Midpoint Sanibel S.S. Jolley

Keys	Bahia Honda Card Sound Jewfish Creek Long Key Overseas Highway Seven Mile

Tunnels	Henry E. Kinney Port of Miami

Ferries	Drayton Island Fort Gates Mayport

^† – Covered bridge ^‡ – Swing bridge See also: List of bridges in Florida

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 10/22/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.

Jewfish Creek Bridge

History

Features

Gallery

See also

References