Date: October 28, 1999

Miami Beach – The historic Venetian Causeway will have its third dedication on Friday, November 5, 1999, in much the same style as was celebrated in 1913 and again in 1926.

"Eighty-six years ago, proud Miamians turned out to witness the opening of the Collins Bridge - the ‘longest wooden bridge in the world’ - that joined the mainland of Miami to the spit of swamp land and beach that two years later would become the City of Miami Beach," said Arva Moore Parks.

The City of Miami Beach, City of Miami, Florida Department of Transportation and Miami-Dade County join together to re-dedicate the historic Venetian Causeway. The celebration commemorates the completion of the $29 million Florida Department of Transportation restoration and replacement project.

At 3:30 p.m., the marching bands of the two cities, Miami Beach Senior High School and Miami Senior High School, will strut their sounds from Miami (Bayshore Drive) eastward over the bridge. Antique cars and fire engines, and police troops will join the bands. A ceremony will follow at Biscayne Island Park (southeast of tollbooth on Venetian Causeway).

Speakers at the event are: District Secretary for Florida Department of Transportation Jose Abreu, Miami-Dade Commissioner Bruno Barreiro, Miami Beach Mayor Neisen Kasdin, Miami Mayor Joe Carollo, National Trust Advisor Nancy Liebman, and Venetian Islands Homeowners Association President Bob Chitty.

A Park & Ride shuttle is available from Margaret Pace Park, 18^th and N. Bayshore Drive, Miami, and the Omni Parking Garage to the event area.

Arva Moore Parks continues, "In the early 1920s, Hugh Anderson, J.F. Chaille and F.C.B. LeGro formed the Biscayne Improvement Company to develop the Venetian Way and the Venetian Isles. There was a great demand for more waterfront property, and without present day strict environmental laws, it was relatively easy to create new waterfront property from bay bottom. The Collins Bridge, with its many pilings in place, made it easy to create new land from the sea. Belle Isle, that had already become a fashionable millionaire's enclave, provided an up-scale entry from Miami Beach to the new development. The Biscayne Improvement Company purchased the Collins Bridge and in March 1925 began its demolition. In its place, they planned a series of islands connected with arched concrete viaducts.

"The new ‘Beautiful Venetian Way’ opened to the public on April 30, 1926. From the beginning it was highlighted as a great architectural masterpiece "of exquisite beauty and charm." Its distinctive low-rise Venetian arch design, which appears to skim just over the green waters of Biscayne Bay, allows motorists a glimpse of nature's beauty through the architects' delicate lace-work guard rails. "After the terrible 1926 Hurricane, most of the development of the Venetian Isles stopped. Advertised as ‘the Short Way’ to Miami Beach, at its heyday in 1958 more than 25,000 motorists a day paid their ten-cent toll to use the causeway.

"Today, 73 years after the Venetian Way opened, we celebrate the restoration and rehabilitation of its historic bridges and its unique tropical ambiance. This priceless local and national treasure, listed on the National Register of Historic Places and as one of the Nation's Scenic Highways, will have many more years of useful life as a major causeway, while maintaining its incomparable beauty and link with nature and the past."

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