The southernmost stretch of U.S. Highway 1, running more than 110 miles from mainland Florida throughout the Keys to Key West, has earned many names over the years. It’s been called the Florida Keys Overseas Highway. The Highway That Goes to Sea. And 15 years ago it earned the right to be called an All-American Road, the highest national designation a roadway can receive.
Fifteen years ago, the Florida Keys Overseas Highway was designated an All-American Road. Here, the new sign is placed along the famed roadway. (Photo by Andy Newman, Florida Keys News Bureau)
But for those of us who love the Keys, whether as residents or regular visitors, the highway has a simpler and more elemental designation: it’s the road home.
Heading south from mainland Florida, the highway leads into a world of seemingly endless water and sky. On the left, the Atlantic Ocean unrolls to a blue horizon; on the right lies Florida Bay and, farther south, the Gulf of Mexico.
From the mainland to Key West, an astonishing 42 bridges leapfrog between islands. One of them, the Seven Mile Bridge at Marathon, stretches 6.79 miles across open water — the centerpiece of the route widely known as a “bucket-list” drive.
Yet the Seven Mile Bridge wasn’t always a highway bridge, and the Overseas Highway wasn’t always a road.
It began as a railroad, the brainchild of millionaire Henry Flagler, who envisioned a train route connecting all the Florida Keys and mainland Florida. Flagler inspired an army of men to spend seven years constructing the railroad’s bridges and land-based tracks, and in 1912 the first train pulled into Key West.
But after only two-plus decades of carrying freight and wealthy vacationers, much of the railroad was badly damaged in a 1935 hurricane. Three years later the Overseas Highway debuted, built on a foundation that incorporated some of the original railway spans.
The old railroad bridge at Bahia Honda State Park — a portion of it shown here — was once part of the Overseas Highway and is now listed on the National Register of Historic Places. (Photo by Andy Newman, Florida Keys News Bureau)
In 1982, 37 original bridges including the Seven Mile Bridge were replaced with wider ones (warmly welcomed by those of us with memories of driving the scarily narrow old spans). About a third of the original ones were removed during the project, but three of those remaining — the Long Key, Bahia Honda and Seven Mile bridges — are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Traveling down the Overseas Highway, drivers can see many of the old bridges running alongside the newer ones. And all of us who travel the road regularly have our favorite stretches and sights — talisman vistas that offer a welcome foretaste of home on the southward drive.
For example, when I reach Islamorada in the Upper Keys, I can’t help smiling as I pass a particularly beautiful cluster of contemporary oceanfront homes. Spotting the pocket-sized island of Pigeon Key, nestled beneath the Old Seven Mile Bridge, inspires daydreams about living in one of its tiny restored cottages.
Farther along the Old Seven Mile Bridge, defying natural logic, a group of scraggly bushes sprouted on the weather-beaten pavement years ago — and somehow managed to survive. For me, they’ve become mascots (especially the largest, locally known as Fred).
Fred and his companion tree flourish on the Old Seven Mile Bridge, a welcome sight to drivers navigating the Florida Keys Overseas Highway. (Photo courtesy of Howard Livingston)
In fact, every time I cross the newer bridge, I glance anxiously over at Fred and each of his shrub-like cohorts to make sure they’re still hanging on.
Just before Big Pine lies another of the highway’s prime vistas. At Bahia Honda State Park, a portion of the old Bahia Honda Bridge arches up against the sky, a stark and throat-catchingly beautiful reminder of the Keys’ past glories.
To earn All-American Road status under the National Scenic Byways program, a road must have nationally significant archeological, cultural, historic, natural, recreational and/or scenic qualities — and must possess features that don’t exist anywhere else, making it a visitor destination in itself.
The Overseas Highway certainly fits the bill. It was the first Florida road to achieve All-American status, and the designation was — and remains today — prestigious indeed.
But no matter how impressive that honor, it can’t eclipse the status the Overseas Highway already possesses in the hearts of Keys residents and those who wish they were. It’s our highway, our connection to each other and the outside world — and always, our road home.
