An Old Florida Keys Railroad Bridge

The Old Bridge,  Bahia Honda Key, 6.5 x 8 inch ink an d colored pencil by George C. Clark    AVAILABLE

In the early 20th century a railroad was built from the Florida mainland to Key West by linking the chain of islands with causeways and long bridges.  When the railroad was badly damaged by a hurricane in 1935 the state of Florida bought the right of way and turned it into a two-lane highway.  Truss bridges like this one built to carry a single railroad track were too narrow to accommodate two lanes of pavement on the trackbed, so a new roadbed was laid across the tops of the steel trusses.  In the 1970s a new highway bridge (visible behind the palm tree at the right) was constructed and this old bridge was abandoned.  A section of the bridge was removed to prevent access from Bahia Honda State Park, where I made this drawing, to the part of the old bridge that is unsafe because it is no longer maintained.  This is a page from a sketchbook I took to South Florida a few months ago.