Why Florida's Overseas Highway Turned From Dream to Disaster

Published 2022-07-02

The Florida Keys have the Seven Mile Bridge, a part of the 110-mile long Ocean Highway that connects the remote Keys to the mainland. On this drive, you will travel over a truly incredible feat of engineering that, at one point, was the longest continuous concrete bridge in the world. This Bridge has been through a lot. The original bridge, or what the locals like to call the “Old Seven,” consisted of precast concrete and steel girders that enabled it to be constructed within marshland and the sea. However, a series of hurricanes, storms, and saltwater led to its destruction, thus necessitating certain repairs. For this reason, a new and modern bridge had to be constructed to weather the previous engineering faults and meet the increasing vehicular needs of the Keys. Its construction was described as an engineering milestone that has encouraged bridge-building.

Chapters:
00:00 The History of the 7-mile bridge
00:39 The history of the Florida Keys
02:52 Who envisioned the 7-mile bridge?
03:59 The plan to bring trains into Key West
04:27 The Construction of the 7-mile bridge
05:30 How the 7-mile bridge was destroyed by hurricanes
07:01 Rebuilding the 7-mile bridge for cars
11:12 The restoration process of the Old Seven Mile bridge.

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IT’S HISTORY - Weekly tales of American Urban Decay as presented by your host Ryan Socash.

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