New Pedestrian Bridge Opens Over Marvin Adams Waterway in Key Largo

KEY LARGO – On Friday morning, as traffic whizzed by at 50 mph on U.S. 1, Monroe County Mayor Pro Tem David Rice and County Administrator Roman Gastesi used big red scissors to cut a ceremonial ribbon and officially open the new pedestrian bridge over Marvin Adams Waterway.

Among the attendees to witness the official opening of the bridge at mile marker 103.7 were several walkers, joggers and bicyclists. They all gave the new 125-foot-long, 11.5-foot wide bridge rave reviews.

“We are so happy this bridge is done,” said Key Largo resident Marty Fritch, who was out for a morning bicycle ride with her husband, Don. “It always felt so dangerous riding over the bridge on U.S. 1, especially in the turn lane. This makes it really safe.”

The bridge completes the U.S. 1 Shared-Use Path, which runs from about mile marker 100 to 106 on the bayside.

“This is beyond our dreams how the path and now this bridge all came together,” Key Largo resident Dottie Moses said. “I bike it every day. … It is one of the nicest thing we’ve ever seen in Key Largo.”

The pedestrian bridge cost $985,000. A Florida Depart of Transportation (FDOT) Transportation Alternatives Program (TAP) grant funded $475,000 of the project. The rest of the funding came from Impact fees and Monroe County’s one-cent infrastructure sales tax revenues

“I really believe that Monroe County government tries to give our communities what we can,” Rice said. “When you identify a need, we take it seriously. It may take a while to deliver it, but this is a good example of an important need that we were able to meet.”

It was a team effort to complete the bridge, which required the installation by cranes of two 120-foot concrete I beams over the waterway. The general contractor was Douglas N. Higgins. The construction, engineering and inspection (CEI) firm was Parson Brinckerhoff.

Also attending the ribbon-cutting: Barbara Espino, FDOT District Construction Manager; Pom Chakkaphak, Sr. Project Manager with Parsons Brinckerhoff, Inc.; Jordan Salinger, Contract Support Specialist with Parsons Brinckerhoff, Inc.; Judy Clarke, Monroe County Director of Engineering and Roads, Debra London, Monroe County Engineering Project Manager, Kevin Wilson, Monroe County Assistant County Administrator; and John Glista, Monroe County Upper Keys Supervisor of Roads & Bridges.

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