THE OVERSEAS HIGHWAY

FOR:  OUR WORLD  .    Thanks to the hosts.

 

We drove the Overseas Highway last week, without ever leaving the United States.   The 127 mile long highway is the portion of U.S. Route 1 that goes through the Florida Keys.  Most of it was built on the former right-of-way of the Overseas Railroad -- Overseas because it goes through the Florida Keys -- over the Atlantic/Gulf waters surrounding the Keys (islands).  

 

The Overseas Railroad was laid out by Henry Flagler, the nineteenth century oil baron who founded the cities of Miami and Key West and who built the railroad hoping to make the State more viable for commerce.  The railroad, sometimes known as Flagler's Folly, closed and the highway was built on most of it.    The railroad bridges were open to traffic for a while but now are closed.  Some of them are open for pedestrian traffic only, like this one in Bahia Honda State Park:

The historic Old Seven bridge goes from Knight's Key (where we stayed) to Pigeon Key, a distance of 2 miles.   It is in danger of being closed even to foot and bicycle traffic and you can see why in the collage below.  (The top shadow is mine as I walked it.)     

 

 There is a move to gather enough funds to save this historic bridge and I bought the T-Shirt.  But the more I look at this rust, the more I wonder whether it can be rescued.  (And the more I wonder what the heck I was doing walking there!).

 

 

 

Comments

[Kusum]

Bahia Honda State Park? Lovely!!! I had been there and lovely Florida Keys!

[Jenn Jilks]

Is this ever cool! Drive safely! :-)

[ladyfi]

Oh, how very lovely and warm it looks!

[Hazel]

Lovely diary to read and view the photos during my Winter!

[Boom & Gary]

Interesting history. Boom & Gary of the Vermilon River, Canada.

[Karen]

Gosh that's a longgggg bridge! What an adventure!

[Hildred]

Well, what would we do without Follies? They make life more interesting - don't like the look of that rust, though.

[Carver]

Beautiful shots. What a fun road trip to take.

[Mama Zen]

That first shot is so cool!

[Gail Dixon]

The is one SCARY looking bridge! Looks like it's just a matter of time before something tragic happens on it. Yikes! How neat to be on an "overseas" highway and not leave the U.S. Not many can boast of that! :)

[Colin Huggins]

An overseas holiday without the curse of immigration, customs and security, that is a big PLUS!
I went over a very long bridge in Louisana, wooden I recall.
1976 just outside New Orleans, something starting with "P"????
Looks like you had a great time with obviously great weather.
Cheers
Colin (Brisbane. Australia)

[Colin Huggins]

Again Sallie!
Well I wasn't going to let this bridge beat me, even if I had to go through my travel diaries and photo albums.
Wikipedia to the fore! Yippee.
It was this one: "The Lake Pontchartrain Causeway, or the Causeway, consists of two parallel bridges crossing Lake Pontchartrain in southern Louisiana, United States. The longer of the two bridges is 23.83 miles (38.35 km) long. Since 1969, it was listed by Guinness World Records as the longest bridge over water in the world; in 2011 in response to the opening of the allegedly longer Jiaozhou Bay Bridge in China, Guinness created two categories for bridges over water: continuous and aggregate lengths over water. Lake Pontchartrain Causeway then became the longest bridge over water (continuous),while Jiaozhou Bay Bridge the longest bridge over water (aggregate)."
Thanks for rejogging the "old" memory cells.
Colin

[Eileen]

The rust looks scary! The first shot looks like the road is going to end. Cool photos, thanks for sharing. Have a great evening.

[SandyCarlson]

Your photos bring back memories of being on this bridge with my parents and my father's mother when I was a little kid. What an adventure! It took us three attempts because we got flat tires the first two times. Not fun--though the memory is a hoot.

[Barb]

Wouldn't it be wonderful to have it become a pedestrian/bike path? But - that rust!

[Carletta]

I kinda like old rusty things. :)
I hope they find a way to preserve it but if that means changing it a lot then it wouldn't be the same.
Looking forward to seeing more of your trip.

[Clair Z.]

Yikes! Beautiful and a little scary!

[NatureFootstep Photo]

looks a little like our Öland bridge. But yours are older. I´m not too fond of driving over them they tend to be rather narrow. :(

[Kathy]

I've always wanted to drive through the Keys. Maybe someday I'll get to do that!

[Al]

That's a highway I'd love to drive, nice shots of it. But I fear what will happen when a major hurricane hits the area.

[Annie]

You are living too dangerously, Sallie !

[Riet]

Oh my gooddness I get somesick when I see your photo's, the oversees highway is our favorite highway in the world as we visited the Keys about 15 times and stayed in Key Islamorade. It is situated on the HIghway and oh my it is so beautiful there.
Thank you for showing.

[Pam]

Its a scenic ride. Great shots from a moving van Sallie.
I've crossed both the older and the newer Overseas bridges.. yes i'm that old!

[Rambling Woods]

I have never been to that area of Florida....

[prem]

I envy your travels Sallie. I am even wondering if I could see the world maybe not now but soon I would love to like you do.