New Jewfish Creek Bridge Nears Completion
The new Jewfish Creek Bridge “will be across the channel” by late January, a project spokeswoman says. Vehicle traffic should be driving over the span “almost certainly by early summer,” said Patti Jones, information officer for primary contractor Granite Construction. “You can see things changing daily,” Jones said. “We’re much closer than most people realize.
“We’re only a few months away from having the complete roadway [from Key Largo to the C-111 canal] with the median barrier and everything else.” In the coming weeks, barge-mounted cranes will lift the final sections of concrete substructure into place atop the finished pilings and cross beams, 65 feet above the water at Jewfish Creek. Crews then still have to prepare and pour the road decking, which will take several months.
When traffic is moved onto the bridge in late spring or early summer, both northbound and southbound traffic will use the east side of the span. Contractors then will complete work on southbound access ramps to reach Gilbert’s Resort and other Jewfish Creek businesses. Removal of the existing drawbridge is designed to relieve weekend traffic jams caused by periodic bridge openings and eliminate one possible obstacle to hurricane evacuation. The drawbridge also is more than a half-century old, and some parts of the mechanism likely could not be replaced should they break.
The state Department of Transportation now expects to award the contract for the final section of the 18-Mile Stretch reconstruction - from the C-111 Canal to the Florida City traffic light at Palm Drive - early in 2008, Jones said, adding, “That’s a little ahead of schedule.”
The next major lane-shift process comes in mid-January north of Jewfish Creek, when traffic will be routed onto new pavement east of the existing road. Crews plan to scale back operations during the Christmas-New Year’s holiday week, annually one of the busiest for Florida Keys tourism, to ensure smooth traffic flow, Jones said. Some work may continue, but many crew members will stand down for four-day weekends around both Christmas and New Year’s. There may be overnight lane closures on some weeknights in the coming weeks, Jones said.
Engineers are keeping an eye on a temporary section of roadway laid near the bridge construction site, where portions of the pavement have become rough and rutted during two and a half years of heavy use, Jones said. “Obviously they’ll do emergency repairs if needed,” she said, “but it only has to last a few more months and then it’s coming out.”
A typical section of the new two-lane 18-Mile Stretch will feature two 12-foot lanes separated by a 14-foot paved median and a concrete barrier. A 10-foot shoulder will be paved along the northbound lanes to serve as an extra lane in an emergency evacuation. The southbound shoulder will be 8 feet wide. Two four-lane passing sections will be built in the general location of the two existing passing zones in Miami-Dade County.
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