and motorists attending the joint meeting expressed a preference for a road extending to the southeast, to Card Sound, instead. In 1922, Monroe County residents approved the issuance of $300,000 of bonds for a new bridge (equivalent to $ million in ); under an agreement with their Monroe brethren, Dade County officials would oversee the construction of an -long Card Sound Road to the wooden drawbridge. Construction of both the road and the drawbridge went slowly. The money ran out in 1925 and Monroe County voters were asked to approve the issuance of $2.6 million in bonds in early 1926 (equivalent to $ million in ). The vote—passing the measure with only two dissenting votes—enabled construction to continue. The swing span drawbridge and road were both nearly ready for opening when, on September 18, 1926 a major hurricane seriously damaged both. The bridge was redesigned and rebuilt, raising the water clearance from five feet to nine feet to accommodate storm surge. On January 25, 1928, the , wooden, Card Sound Bridge was opened to traffic. State Road 4A and US 1 When Card Sound Bridge was opened, the State Road Department (the predecessor to the Florida Department of Transportation), extended the State Road 4A designation from downtown Homestead to Key West (prior to this, SR 4A went from the intersection of present-day U.S. Route 1 and US 41 in Miami to Homestead), even though there was still a gap in the road between Lower Matecumbe Key and No Name Key. After the Great Labor Day Hurricane destroyed sections of the Overseas Railroad on September 3, 1935, the State of Florida bought the remnants for $640,000 and proceeded to construct road bridges on top of the railroad trestles. The "Overseas Highway" was completed and opened (as a toll road) on March 29, 1938. The following year, US 1 was extended from Miami over Card Sound to Key West. Decline and fall of the wooden drawbridge World War II triggered a sequence of events that diminished the importance and usefulness of Card Sound Bridge. In 1941, a water pipeline was constructed from the Everglades to Key Largo along the old railroad right-of-way; the following year, a new roadway was constructed beside the pipeline, and US 1 was rerouted along the new highway (locally known as the "18 Mile Stretch"). In addition to shortening the route by , it enabled motorists to avoid