By Andy Newman
Florida Keys News Bureau

The bridge is part of a new 18-Mile Stretch connecting South Florida with the Keys.

Construction of a new road from the South Florida mainland (Florida City) to the Florida Keys is on schedule and the Keys portion of the $300 million project is set to open to traffic May 22, according to transportation officials. The opening is to be a major milestone in the 18-Mile Stretch project.

By that date, the 1.4-mile-long, 65-foot-high concrete and steel bridge over Jewfish Creek in Key Largo is expected to be ready to accommodate one lane of traffic in each direction, as is the entire section of road from the Miami-Dade County/Monroe County border at mile marker 113 to the bridge.

The new 18-Mile Stretch is designed to enhance vehicular safety as well as benefit the environment.

When completed, it is to feature one travel lane in each direction, divided by a concrete median barrier to prevent head-on collisions. Other enhancements include shoulders, outside shoulders and berms for stormwater treatment; wildlife box culvert crossings and elimination of a land causeway section over Lake Surprise to restore natural water flow.

The new 65-foot-high fixed bridge over Jewfish Creek is to replace the outdated, 1944-built drawbridge there and eliminate the need to stop traffic for bridge openings for marine traffic.

By Josie Gulliksen
Florida Keys News Bureau

From Key Largo to Key West, the Florida Keys offer an appealing variety of environmentally oriented eco-attractions.

Photo by Andy Newman/FKNB

The Florida Keys Wild Bird Center houses wild hawks, ospreys, spoonbills, egrets and more.

The facility’s primary purpose is to rescue, rehabilitate and release ill, injured and orphaned wild birds. A boardwalk that offers a breathtaking water view at its halfway point winds through cages that house wild hawks, ospreys, spoonbills, egrets and more. Some are there to recuperate and will later be released, while others would be unable to survive in the wild on their own and have become lifelong inhabitants.

For more information, visit www.fkwbc.org.

Dolphin Research Center, at MM 59 bayside in Grassy Key, is a research and educational facility that’s home to a family of Atlantic bottlenose dolphins and California sea lions.

Visitors to the center can participate in enjoyable and educational programs that provide knowledge and insights about dolphins, their environment and their remarkable abilities.

For more information, visit www.dolphins.org.

Photo by Andy Newman/FKNB

The Turtle Hospital treats injured sea turtles and, when possible, returns them to the wild.

Just a few miles from Dolphin Research Center is the Turtle Hospital, MM 48.5 bayside, the only facility of its kind in the world. At the hospital, opened in 1986, founder Richie Moretti and his staff treat injured sea turtles and, when possible, return them to the wild.

Educational tours of the facility are offered to introduce visitors to the resident sea turtles and to the hospital’s curative programs for loggerhead, green, hawksbill and Kemp’s ridley turtles.

For more information, visit www.turtlehospital.org.

The Lower Keys are home to the National Key Deer Refuge, down Key Deer Boulevard off U.S. Highway 1 at MM 30.5 bayside on Big Pine Key. The refuge was established in 1957 to protect the endangered Key deer — a subspecies of the Virginia white-tailed deer that ranges in size from 45 to 80 pounds fully grown — and its habitat. Visitors can learn about the Key deer and their environment at the refuge’s visitor center, located in the Winn Dixie Shopping Center, 701 Key Deer Blvd.

For more information, visit www.fws.gov/nationalkeydeer.

The newest eco-attraction in Key West, at the southwestern tip of the Keys, is the Florida Keys Eco-Discovery Center, which opened its doors in January 2007. Located on the Key West waterfront at Truman Annex, the 6,400-square-foot center showcases the underwater and upland habitats that characterize the Keys, with an emphasis on continental America's only living contiguous barrier coral reef that parallels the island chain.

For more information, visit www.floridakeys.noaa.gov/eco_discovery.html.

By Carol Shaughnessy
Florida Keys News Bureau

KeysKash coupons feature value-added offers for Keys vacations.

More than 100 value-added Florida Keys & Key West vacation offers are now available on the Keys tourism council’s official Web site at www.fla-keys.com. Coupons can be downloaded and printed from any personal computer.

KeysKash values are being offered by historic and nature attractions, museums, water sports operators, dive and snorkel centers, restaurants and bars, bed-and-breakfast accommodations, resorts and other enterprises throughout the Keys.

Offerings range from additional nights at lodging properties to reduced prices on parasail adventures. Unique among them are free admission to a popular drag cabaret performance and a romantic summer elopement package from a Keys wedding specialist.

The KeysKash program was designed to help visitors maximize their spring and summer vacation dollars — as well as their enjoyment of the Florida Keys & Key West.

By Nancy Lucas
Florida Keys News Bureau

Visitors just might go bananas over the trees and fruit, like mounds of bountiful tree-ripened mangoes, available at the Florida Keys Tropical Fruit Fiesta Saturday, June 28, in Marathon. The event is set for 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Marathon Garden Club, mile marker 50 bayside.

Fun awaits the whole family — kids can plant a pineapple top, parents can learn about growing tropical fruit and everyone can sample fruits and fruit products. Tropical fruit trees such as Key lime, avocado, mango, lychee, tamarind and more are to be on display and for sale.

Also planned are lectures, a fruit auction, children’s activities and more than 20 fruit–related retail and educational booths. Admission to the Tropical Fruit Fiesta is free. For more information, click here.

By Josie Gulliksen
Florida Keys News Bureau

A bird's eye view of Islamorada. Video frame grab by Florida Keys News Bureau/ABC

The beauty, sportfishing and ecological attributes of Islamorada were recently highlighted on a “Good Morning America Weekend Window” segment that aired nationally on ABC.

Broadcast in high-definition, the “Weekend Window” segment showcased Islamorada as the “Sportfishing Capital of the World,” as well as spotlighting the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary and ecological offerings such as Lignumvitae State Park.

“Weekend Window” segments are featured each Sunday on “Good Morning America.” Previous “Weekend Windows” have covered Key Largo, Key West and Fort Jefferson in Dry Tortugas National Park.

To view the segment, click here.

For more travel information on the Florida Keys:
www.fla-keys.com