The Seven Mile Bridge is a 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 part of the Overseas Highway in the Keys, which is part of the U.S. Route 1. In 2014, the Florida Department of Transportation approved a $77 million plan to restore the old bridge. By 2017, the pedestrian section was closed for extensive repairs, and reopened in January 2022.

Engineering

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 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 or , and is shorter than the original. The bridge carries the Florida Keys aqueduct, supplying water to points west, as well as fiber optic cables, providing telecommunications to and from the lower Keys.

Each April, the bridge is closed for about 2.5 hours on a Saturday for the Seven Mile Bridge Run that commemorates 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 (who also engineered the much taller Sunshine Skyway Bridge). 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.

In fiction

The bridge has been featured in films and television series, such as Road House, Licence to Kill, True Lies, 2 Fast 2 Furious, Burn Notice, and is seen in the upcoming video game Grand Theft Auto VI.

Original bridge

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File:East Coast Railway train crossing Moser Channel on the Key West extension of the Overseas Railroad (12480734864).jpg|Illustration of FEC train crossing the bridge

File:Moser Channel Bridge, draw span partially open, no date (Kyle K-32). - Seven Mile Bridge, Linking Florida Keys, Marathon, Monroe County, FL HAER FLA,44-KNIKE,1-68.tif|Moser Channel swing span in the railroad-era

File:Pigeon Key from the Seven Mile Bridge, Florida Keys (8591385115).jpg|Approaching Pigeon Key post-highway conversion. Guardrails are made up of rails from the former railroad.

File:Seven Mile Bridge, Florida Keys (8592496566).jpg|1955 view of the bridge.

File:Traffic waiting for Moser Channel turnstile bridge.jpg|Traffic waiting for the open swing span over Moser Channel.

File:Pigeon Key FL old bridge02.jpg|Severed segment after the bridge was closed to traffic.

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Current bridge

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File:A324, Seven Mile Bridge, Florida Keys, USA, 2010.JPG|Current bridge

File:Seven miles bridge.jpg|Surface of the current bridge with original bridge and Pigeon Key in the background

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See also

  • List of bridges documented by the Historic American Engineering Record in Florida

References

  • Friends of Old Seven website
  • FIGG Seven Mile Bridge