The Seven Mile Bridge is perhaps the most famous bridge on the 113-mile-long Overseas Highway through the Florida Keys to Key West. The Florida East Coast Railway build the original bridge, initially known as the Knights Key-Pigeon Key-Moser Channel-Pacet Channel Bridge, from 1909 to 1912 as part of its Key West Extension, also known as the Overseas Railroad. Following the 1935 Labor Day hurricane, the railroad, financially unable to rebuild the route, sold the remaining bridges to the government, which reworked it as a highway. A newer bridge, constructed from 1978 to 1982, replaced the original span, which largely remains in place.
Seven Mile Bridge
The Seven Mile Bridge in the Florida Keys connects Knight’s Key in the Middle Keys to Little Duck Key in the Lower Keys. It is one of the longest bridges in the world, built as part of the Overseas Highway, a segment of the 2,369-mile U.S. Route 1. (Photo by Todd DeFeo/The DeFeo Groupe)