Overseas Highway

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The Lower Matecumbe Key toll booth on June 21, 1938.

A toll booth being removed on April 15, 1954. Note the short-lived name: pressure from the Key's residents caused a change to the name that is used today, the Overseas Highway

The Overseas Highway carries U.S. Route 1 through the Florida Keys. Large parts of it were built on the former alignment of the Overseas Railroad, the Key West Extension of the Florida East Coast Railway. Completed in 1912, the Overseas Railroad was heavily damaged and partially destroyed in the Labor Day Hurricane of 1935. The Florida East Coast Railway was financially unable to rebuild the destroyed sections, so the roadbed and remaining bridges were sold to the State of Florida for $640,000.[Florida State University]

The original construction of the Overseas Highway used many of the bridges of the former railroad, including truss bridges, where the roadway was built on top of the trusses. Most of these older bridges built for railroads have been replaced by more modern bridges that are able to accommodate more than two lanes of traffic. The highway included the Seven Mile Bridge, the Bahia Honda Bridge and the Long Key Bridge (although these three original bridges are no longer open to vehicular traffic, except for part of Seven Mile Bridge, they are listed on the National Register of Historic Places and are currently used as fishing piers).

From its opening on March 29, 1938, until the destruction by fire of the Card Sound Bridge in 1944, the Overseas Highway also had the signed designation Florida State Road 4A; after the realignment in 1945 to its current entry onto Key Largo along the old railroad right-of-way (the new segment of Overseas Highway, from Florida City to Key Largo is known locally as "the 18 Mile Stretch"), it received the unsigned designation Florida State Road 5, the same as the entirety of US 1 south of Jacksonville at that time.

Portions of the road were tolled until April 15, 1954; toll booths were located on Big Pine Key and Lower Matecumbe Key. Pigeon Key, roughly the midway point of the Seven Mile Bridge, served as the headquarters for the "Overseas Road and Toll District."[Pigeon Key HQ Toll District 1952] The toll for automobiles was one dollar, plus 25 cents per passenger.[Keyshistory.Org]

The entire roadway of the Overseas Highway was substantially rebuilt in the 1980s. In recent years, Pigeon Key was used by the University of Miami as an oceanography laboratory, but current efforts to restore the buildings on the island have resulted in the establishment of a railroad museum there. The newer Seven Mile Bridge does not have direct access to Pigeon Key; people going there must walk on 2.2 miles of the original Seven Mile Bridge from its northern end on Knights Key, or take a shuttle bus, to reach the island.

References

[Edit] Florida Keys
Biscayne keys Soldier's Key, Ragged Keys, Boca Chita Key, Sands Key, Elliott Key, Adams Key, Old Rhodes Key
Upper keys Key Largo, Islamorada, Tavernier, Plantation Key, Upper Matecumbe Key, Lower Matecumbe Key
Middle keys Craig Key, Fiesta Key, Long Key, Layton, Conch Key, Duck Key, Grassy Key, Deer Key, Key Vaca, Marathon, Key Colony Beach, Boot Key,
Lower keys Bahia Honda, West Summerland Key, No Name Key, Big Pine Key, Torch Key, Little Torch Key, Ramrod Key, Summerland Key, Cudjoe Key, Sugarloaf Key, Saddlebunch Keys, Big Coppitt Key, Boca Chica Key, Key Haven, Stock Island, Key West
Outlying islands Dry Tortugas, Marquesas Keys
Areas Florida Bay, Dry Tortugas National Park, Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary, National Key Deer Sanctuary, John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park, Biscayne Bay, Biscayne National Park, Key West National Wildlife Refuge
Other topics Monroe County, Overseas Highway, Overseas Railway, Card Sound Bridge, Seven Mile Bridge, Bahia Honda Bridge, Theater of the Sea, Hurricane Georges, Labor Day Hurricane of 1935, Key Deer, Ocean Reef Club

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[Edit]	Florida Keys
Biscayne keys	Soldier's Key, Ragged Keys, Boca Chita Key, Sands Key, Elliott Key, Adams Key, Old Rhodes Key
Upper keys	Key Largo, Islamorada, Tavernier, Plantation Key, Upper Matecumbe Key, Lower Matecumbe Key
Middle keys	Craig Key, Fiesta Key, Long Key, Layton, Conch Key, Duck Key, Grassy Key, Deer Key, Key Vaca, Marathon, Key Colony Beach, Boot Key,
Lower keys	Bahia Honda, West Summerland Key, No Name Key, Big Pine Key, Torch Key, Little Torch Key, Ramrod Key, Summerland Key, Cudjoe Key, Sugarloaf Key, Saddlebunch Keys, Big Coppitt Key, Boca Chica Key, Key Haven, Stock Island, Key West
Outlying islands	Dry Tortugas, Marquesas Keys
Areas	Florida Bay, Dry Tortugas National Park, Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary, National Key Deer Sanctuary, John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park, Biscayne Bay, Biscayne National Park, Key West National Wildlife Refuge
Other topics	Monroe County, Overseas Highway, Overseas Railway, Card Sound Bridge, Seven Mile Bridge, Bahia Honda Bridge, Theater of the Sea, Hurricane Georges, Labor Day Hurricane of 1935, Key Deer, Ocean Reef Club