What makes the Seven Mile Bridge so fascinating?
For one thing, it’s one of the longest segmental bridges in the world and the centerpiece of the Florida Keys Overseas Highway that winds throughout the entire island chain.
Purists might be amused to note that, despite its name, the Seven Mile Bridge isn’t seven miles long. It’s only 6.79 miles — but the difference, though it isn’t huge, is no doubt significant for those 1,500 runners as they struggle to reach the finish line of the annual bridge race.
And then, of course, there’s the bridge’s history.
The original span, today called the Old Seven Mile Bridge, was built more than a century ago as part of Henry Flagler’s Florida Keys Over-Sea Railroad, a unique railway sometimes referred to as “the eighth wonder of the world.”
Completed in 1912, its tracks stretched more than 100 miles out over open water (yes, they really did!), connecting the Keys with each other and mainland Florida for the first time.
