State Road - 192 goes from Melbourne to Orlando. Unless you go way out of the way to the north or the south, there is no other route over the river to the interior of Central Florida.

Old View to the South

Since a river is involved, so must be a bridge. The bridge in the above photo was the one in service when I was a child. US-192 went down that road, across the bridge and continued on past the south side of Camp Holly.

There is a deep hole just south of the old bridge -12 ft. below sea level according to our local historian Ed Vosatka.

The bridge was old, narrow and in sad need of repair. During hurricanes, when it became the escape route to the interior, the bridge would have water over the top of it. Not a really good escape route.

So they redirected US-192 to run past the north side of Camp Holly, built a new bridge and knocked out the center of the old bridge. People still use the old bridge as fishing docks, but several years ago the east end of the bridge caught fire. The way I heard it, the Fire Department didn't want to scratch the paint job on the firetruck on the bushes lining the old road, so they just let it burn.

Camp Holly from the Southeast Side of the River

Three Generations of Bridges.

The newest bridge is in the background seen thru the pilings of the old bridge. The new bridge is only 2 lanes wide, but at least it is in good repair and doesn't flood out just when you need it as an evacuation route. When the water gets very high airboats cannot pass under it, but they just make a jump over the highway itself and catch an airboat trail on the other side.

The new bridge is a fixed landmark, so there are some restrictions acknowledged: no tour boats north of the bridge, no trot lines north of the bridge...

The tall burnt pilings are from the old bridge - the east end that burned down. Now, see the shorter pilings just barely above water? They are from the original bridge. Ed says there are interesting tales to be told about the old bridges, so as soon as I hear them I'll pass them on.

When the water is low enough you can see the earliest pilings under the old bridge at Camp Holly.

top of page