Why Was the Old Bahia Honda Rail Bridge Abandoned?

The Old Bahia Honda Rail Bridge is an interesting piece of the Florida Keys history that is located at the Bahia Honda state park. While we were at the park, I decided to take a stroll up to the top to see the view of the park from above, and it was beautiful. After heading up there, I found myself wondering how this bridge came to be, such as what it was originally used for, and what happened to cause the missing portion to go missing. 

Built in 1905, the Old Bahia Honda Rail Bridge was originally made to be part of a railway, however the Labor Day Hurricane of 1935 damaged the bridge so badly that it was almost abandoned before the State of Florida bought it to use on the Overseas Highway that was being built to allow people to drive to the lower areas of the Florida Keys, with a deck added to the top of the bridge for cars to drive on. The Bahia Honda bridge was used for 45 years before it was retired in 1980 after a four lane bridge was built to replace it. 

When I first saw the bridge had missing pieces, I thought it had collapsed in spots and would have been hard to replace but the state may not have wanted to tear it fully down because it had historic significance. However, after the bridge was abandoned in 1980, two different truss spans were removed to allow for increased boat traffic to get through the area. That does not mean that the bridge isn’t in need of some repairs, as there are signs warning passerby that debris does fall from the bridge, and the only area of the bridge that is left open to the public is the section along the trail at Bahia Honda state park. 

The history of old architecture such as the Old Bahia Honda Rail Bridge is always so interesting to read about, and historic landmarks like it are really cool to visit because there is just so much history behind the old bridges and buildings that can be found abandoned pretty much anywhere. Learning about why things were built, and how they ended up abandoned is a great way to pass the time, and it goes to show the significance of even the things that may not seem all that important now, because at one point it was significant enough that it was turned into what is now a historic site many people go to visit every day.