Snake Creek Bridge is a bascule bridge in the village of

Islamorada Islamorada (also sometimes Islas Morada) is an incorporated village in Monroe County, Florida. It is located directly between Miami and Key West on five islands— Tea Table Key, Lower Matecumbe Key, Upper Matecumbe Key, Windley Key and Plant ...

in the

Florida Keys The Florida Keys are a coral cay archipelago located off the southern coast of Florida, forming the southernmost part of the continental United States. They begin at the southeastern coast of the Florida peninsula, about south of Miami, and e ...

. The single-leaf steel bascule bridge carries the Overseas Highway (

U.S. 1 U.S. Route 1 or U.S. Highway 1 (US 1) is a major north–south United States Numbered Highway System, United States Numbered Highway that serves the East Coast of the United States. It runs from Key West, Florida, north to Fort Kent, ...

) over Snake Creek, connecting Plantation Key and

Windley Key Windley Key is an island in the upper Florida Keys in Monroe County, Florida, United States. U.S. 1 (the Overseas Highway) crosses it at approximately mile markers 84–85.5, between Plantation Key and Upper Matecumbe Key. All of the key is within ...

. It is located near mile marker 86. The bridge was completed in 1981 when a number of new bridges were being built to modernize the Overseas Highway. It is the third bridge that has existed at this location. The first bridge, which carried the Overseas Railroad, was built in the early 1900s. A second bridge built in the 1920s next to the railroad bridge carried the first Overseas Highway (State Road 4A), though the highway would later be shifted to railroad bridge in the 1940s, which was retrofitted for automobile use.History of Overseas Highway
/ref> The Snake Creek Bridge is notable for being the only remaining

drawbridge A drawbridge or draw-bridge is a type of moveable bridge typically at the entrance to a castle or tower surrounded by a moat. In some forms of English, including American English, the word ''drawbridge'' commonly refers to all types of moveable ...

operating in the Florida Keys. It gained this distinction in the late 2000s, when the Overseas Highway's drawbridge over Jewfish Creek was replaced by the current Jewfish Creek Bridge in 2008, and the closure and abandonment of the Boot Key Harbor drawbridge in Marathon in 2009.

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*{{Commons category-inline, Snake Creek Bridge U.S. Route 1 Bridges completed in 1981 Bridges in Monroe County, Florida Bridges of the United States Numbered Highway System Road bridges in Florida 1981 establishments in Florida Bascule bridges in the United States

See also

References

External links