"Spite Highway" at Biscayne National Park

You can walk a bit of the controversial past at Biscayne National Park, and enjoy nature, with the reopening of Spite Highway.

National park crews in late April were finally finished with clearing away downed trees and other debris that Hurricane Irma left across the historic route back in September 2017.

It's a highway only in name these days. And really never was a highway. The route on Elliott Key arose in back in 1968 when developers, outraged over the movement to have the key designated a national monument, bulldozed a six-lane wide corridor seven miles down the middle of the key.

Park proponents were undeterred, the National Park Service notes. Congress, led by longtime U.S. Representative Dante Fascell, created Biscayne National Monument to protect "a rare combination of terrestrial, marine and amphibious life in a tropical setting of great natural beauty."

President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the bill on October 18, 1968. Once the key was added to the National Park System, the highway was allowed to revert to a nature trail.

The funding for clearing away the debris on the trail was made possible by Congress, which allocated $6.4 million to support this and more than 20 other repair projects at Biscayne National Park related to Hurricane Irma’s impact.

Clearing the trail posed significant challenges because heavy equipment and personnel had to be transported more than 8.5 miles across Biscayne Bay to the key. According to the South Florida National Parks Trust, it took three weeks to complete the cleanup with a team of six to eight people working each day to cut and clear debris in hot, humid and buggy conditions.

Traveler tip: You might better enjoy a stroll down the trail during the winter months, as in summer it becomes overrun by biting insects.