18 Mile Stretch Bridge

The 18 mile stretch is that section of Highway One that connects Florida City to Key Largo, and historically it has been a very dangerous stretch of road too. It has always been two lanes through the mangroves with passing places in a couple of spots. That has led to the impatient and incompetent killing themselves with monotonous regularity in head-on collisions. Finally They decided to do something about that and the work is still underway, putting a barrier up the middle of the highway. The other big public works job was building a brand new flyover across Jewfish Creek, and thus replacing the old drawbridge. Which, wouldn't you know it, had to open up just as I pulled up to it after I crossed the new bridge northbound and came back south along the old road:Typically in the past I always chose to pay a dollar toll and use Card Sound Road when faced with the choice at the northern tip of Key Largo:Card Sound is about 26 miles to The Stretch's 18 (41km vs 29km) but it is more scenic, less patrolled and has some very enjoyable curves. Now however on the scenic front The Stretch has reasserted itself with the new bridge rising out of the chaos of construction:And from the top of the less than two mile flight one can see mangroves and water on either side, which is difficult to convey in photographs as the shoulders are largely absent (two more lanes are yet to open), traffic yesterday was unconscionably heavy and the Highway Patrol was checking for sightseers:

The barriers on this project have been painted a rather lurid shade of turquoise and thereby hangs a tale. It seems a resident in the neighborhood petitioned the state to paint the cement barricades this fresh tropical color and the state balked. However so persistent was this citizen whose name escapes me, that eventually the State Department of Transportation caved and told the contractor, Granite Construction to paint the things blue. And I have to say it sort of grows on you, and now i quite like it. It is different and it stretches like an arrow the length of the new highway:It never ceases to amaze me that there are people who dislike driving Highway One. People who live in Key West, "on the rock" will look aghast at the suggestion that one might drive to Miami and back in one day, if one is absolutely forced to go to the mainland at all. They would rather have their teeth pulled without anaesthetic than face a three hour drive up the scenic highway. I don't get it. Yesterday was a case in point, it was an absolutely gorgeous day, the sort of day that makes the Keys look good without effort. The sun was out and the turquoise waters were sparkling on either side of the highway, overhead the clouds were puffy and white and all was well with the world. Except I forgot to put sunscreen on my nose and forehead, though God knows how the sun gets under my helmet, and it was pretty hot and sticky, around 90 degrees (35c) and humid.

I spotted a sailboat in a side canal under the bridge, hurricane proof as it were, and managed to get a sort-of picture of it as I flew along overhead:And then I got off the bridge at the one open exit:And then I doubled back through the construction zone still very much torn up along the old highway:And back at ground level I saw the boat close up. There was another sailboat barely visible round the corner in the mangroves and from that one I could hear the monotonous drone of a generator doubtless powering air conditioning, which despite the light breeze would definitely make life bearable afloat. This boat was hardcore with no apparent sign of an engine running:The bridge overhead actually muffled a lot of the traffic sounds which surprised me, and when i looked up I could see the water pipe, that same pipe that accompanies all the 42 bridges between Florida City and Key West.It takes water from the South Florida Aquifer all the way through the Keys, an innovation begun by the military when they built their base at Boca Chica and stationed thousands of troops in Key West. Very civilizing it is too, even though I have a rainwater cistern in addition to the aqueduct at my house. Underneath the new bridge next to the old drawbridge on Jewfish Creek Spanish speakers were fishing and their voices reverberated as though in a cave:And they weren't the only anglers on the water:One has to wonder how the businesses along the creek will make out. There's no doubt it's a scenic spot. especially if one is just arriving in the Keys, but it will take an act of will to slow the headlong flight along the elevated bridge and come down here to taste the old Keys style:And I have mentioned it before but it never ceases to surprise me every time I drive this way to see familiar construction logos on the green trucks of this Watsonville, California based family company:I was very familiar with Granite Construction when I lived in Santa Cruz.

Anyway now I live in the Keys, and from Mile Marker 108 these were some distances posted for my ride south. Key West is shown at 104 miles because Mile Marker Zero is four miles inside city limits:Another delightful two hour ride down Highway One.