Bahia Honda Key Favorite Tips by grandmaR

Old Route 1 Highway

Favorite thing: When they build the Bahia Honda Bridge, it was even more of an engineering problem than the Seven Mile Bridge because of the depth of the channel and the current. So this bridge was a swing bridge with the typical erector set construction, and high because of the possibility of tidal surge through the channel.

The third picture is a sign about the building of the bridge. It had to cross water thirty feet deep. Steel spans, resting on concrete piers, supported the railway bed of the 5,055 foot (1.541 m) long bridge. There is a picture of the railroad bridge from the railroad tracks on this sign.

Fondest memory: When it was converted to a highway bridge, therefore, they couldn't just stick the sides of the highway over the side like they did for 7 mile bridge because the girders were in the way. SO.... They put the new highway on TOP of the old railroad bridge.

Picture #5 shows the sign on the end of the old bridge. It says: "Old Bahia Honda Bridge. This bridge spanning the 5055 foot Bahia Honda Channel was constructed over the old East Coast Railway which was built by oil mogul Henry Flagler. Sometimes called Flagler's Folly the railway was started in 1905 and completed in 1912."

If you were driving on it back then, you totally didn't know that the highway was up there on top of the girders - at least we didn't.

Tree Island

Favorite thing: This sign talks about a large number of rare plants that grow on Bahia Honda Key. The plants pre-date the formation of a park, which is why this tip is under the Key and not the park.

Rare plants growing here includ the West Indies satinwood or yellowwood tree (Zanthoxylum flavum), the Catesbaea, Jamaica morning glory (Jaquemontia jamaicensis) and wild dilly (Mimusops).