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. Read more »