The Bahia Honda Rail Bridge is a derelict railroad bridge in the lower Florida Keys connecting

Bahia Honda Key Bahia Honda (meaning ''deep bay'', in Spanish, locally pronounced: BAY-ah HON-da , also pronounced : Bah-EE-ah OWN-dah ) is an island in the lower Florida Keys. U.S. 1 (the Overseas Highway) crosses the key at approximately mile markers 36-38 ...

with Spanish Harbor Key. It was originally part of the Overseas Railway, but the state of

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

purchased it from the Florida East Coast Railway (FEC) after the

1935 Labor Day Hurricane The Great Labor Day Hurricane of 1935 was the most intense Atlantic hurricane to make landfall on record by pressure, with winds of up to 185 mph (297 km/h). The fourth tropical cyclone, third tropical storm, second hurricane, and sec ...

and converted it for automobile use as part of the

Overseas Highway The Overseas Highway is a highway carrying U.S. Route 1 (US 1) through the Florida Keys to Key West. Large parts of it were built on the former right-of-way of the Overseas Railroad, the Key West Extension of the Florida East Coast Rail ...

in 1938.KeysHistory.org
Wilkinson, J. History of the overseas highway. Retrieved from http://www.keyshistory.org/osh.html After a replacement Bahia Honda Bridge was opened in 1972, two spans of the old bridge were removed for the safety of boat traffic and to prevent pedestrian access to unsafe parts of the bridge.

History

The Bahia Honda railroad bridge was originally built by Henry Flagler as part of the FEC's

Overseas Railroad The Overseas Railroad (also known as Florida Overseas Railroad, the Overseas Extension, and Flagler's Folly) was an extension of the Florida East Coast Railway to Key West, a city located beyond the end of the Florida peninsula. Work on the line ...

. Opened in 1912, Flagler funded the railway construction between Miami and Key West using his own personal funds. The

Labor Day Hurricane of 1935 The Great Labor Day Hurricane of 1935 was the most intense Atlantic hurricane to make landfall on record by pressure, with winds of up to 185 mph (297 km/h). The fourth tropical cyclone, third tropical storm, second hurricane, and sec ...

destroyed much of the line, and FEC sought abandonment. It was purchased by the state of Florida and converted for highway use in 1938.
Collingwood Publications. (2010). Bahia Honda State Park. Retrieved from http://www.key-largo-sunsets.com/bahia-honda.html Rather than rebuilding the bridge, the top of the structure was redecked for use as the

(the existing deck inside the truss was too narrow for vehicular traffic). A new four-lane bridge was built and opened in 1972, a few hundred yards north of the old bridge, replacing the former route of U.S. Route 1 in Florida, U.S. 1. Two of the truss spans have been removed. One near the east end to allow boat traffic to pass through Bahia Honda Channel without the danger of falling debris from the old bridge; the other at the westernmost end to prevent pedestrians from accessing unsafe parts of the bridge. It is a misconception the trusses were removed in order to facilitate traffic for boats needing higher vertical clearance, as the new bridge has roughly the same vertical clearance of about . The original bridge has fallen into a state of disrepair; signs have been posted on the bridge warning boat traffic to watch for falling debris, but all of the sections have remained standing (not counting the two that were removed). The easternmost section remains open to pedestrian traffic and is maintained by Bahia Honda State Park. The bridge provides a scenic overview of the area for tourists.

Structural design

Before being reused as a highway bridge, the Bahia Honda Rail Bridge carried a single track of FEC across Big Spanish Channel from

to Spanish Harbor Key. Unlike other bridges on the Overseas Railway, the Bahia Honda has a steel truss construction. This was a necessary difference from the predominant concrete arch form of the other bridges of the Overseas Railroad, as the channel is the deepest of those spanned, at . The central span is a

Parker truss A truss bridge is a bridge whose load-bearing superstructure is composed of a truss, a structure of connected elements, usually forming triangular units. The connected elements (typically straight) may be stressed from tension, compression, or ...

with a span of . This is surrounded by 13

Pratt truss A truss bridge is a bridge whose load-bearing superstructure is composed of a truss, a structure of connected elements, usually forming triangular units. The connected elements (typically straight) may be stressed from tension, compression, or ...

sections spanning on either side, and 13 smaller Pratt trusses each spanning outside those. Nine

plate girder A plate girder bridge is a bridge supported by two or more plate girders. Overview In a plate girder bridge, the plate girders are typically I-beams made up from separate structural steel plates (rather than rolled as a single cross-section), ...

sections were used for the western approach, for a total length of . The smaller Pratt trusses have riveted connections, but the larger Pratt and Parker trusses use pinned connections, making the Bahia Honda Rail Bridge the longest pin-connected truss bridge in the U.S. The original construction of the bridge was carried out by William Krome and Joseph Meredith, and the vehicular conversion was undertaken by B.M. Duncan.

Gallery

File:Parker deck-trussed span of Bahia Honda Rail Bridge.jpg, Parker deck-trussed span File:Bahia Honda Rail Bridge.jpg, Bridge seen from Spanish Harbor Key File:Old Bahia Honda Rail Bridge.jpeg, View underneath at Bahia Honda Key File:Plate girder sections of Bahia Honda Rail Bridge.jpg, Plate girder sections on Spanish Harbor Key side File:Bahia Honda Bridge roadway.jpg, View from the bridge in 1961

References

{{Florida Keys Bridges in Monroe County, Florida Former railway bridges in the United States Railroad bridges in Florida Florida East Coast Railway Steel bridges in the United States Bridges completed in 1912 1912 establishments in Florida Landmarks in Florida Road bridges in Florida Former road bridges in the United States U.S. Route 1 1972 disestablishments in Florida Plate girder bridges in the United States Pratt truss bridges in the United States Florida Keys

History

Structural design

Gallery

See also

References