Islorada Driver, 66, Gets Kia Stuck On Rising Snake Creek Drawbridge

A Kia Sportage got stuck on the lip of the Snake Creek Bridge early Thursday morning as the drawbridge was actively rising for boat traffic, leaving the only remaining drawbridge on the Overseas Highway inoperable for hours in the Upper Keys. The driver, 66-year-old Fidel Asencio Gomez, told deputies he accidentally pressed the accelerator instead of the brake as he crossed the bridge around 5:30 a.m., according to the incident report.

Gomez did not stop as the bridge signals were activated and instead crashed into the center barrier of the span as it was opening, per the Monroe County Sheriff's Office, whose deputies conducted the investigation. As reported by the Miami Herald, the Kia became stuck on the lip of one end of the bridge, rendering the structure unable to close. Gomez was treated for his injuries at Mariners Hospital in Tavernier, roughly 5.5 miles northeast of the crash site.

Why the Bridge Was Rising Before Dawn

Snake Creek Bridge, which connects Plantation and Windley Keys at Mile Marker 86, is required under federal drawbridge regulations to open on signal for vessels outside of its 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. hourly opening schedule, according to a 2016 Federal Register rule. That explains why the span was actively raising for a passing boat at 5:30 in the morning; Snake Creek serves as a key passage for vessels moving between Hawk Channel and the Intracoastal Waterway. The bridge's closed vertical clearance is only 27 feet, per Marinas.com, which means taller boats with towers or flybridges have little choice but to request an opening there.

The bridge remained closed until 8 a.m., according to the sheriff's office, snarling the only highway artery through the Keys during the closure. Florida Highway Patrol, which normally handles crashes on the Overseas Highway, was unable to respond, per the incident report, leaving Monroe County Sheriff's Office deputies to handle the scene instead. The Keys Weekly has documented a history of mechanical breakdowns at the span, including multiple 2020 malfunctions that stranded motorists shortly after a $1.6 million state rehabilitation project.

An Aging Span Amid Nearby Roadwork

The crash also unfolded near an active overnight construction zone. The Florida Keys Aqueduct Authority began overnight paving along U.S. 1 from the Snake Creek Bridge to Julep Road on Tuesday, running nightly from 8 p.m. to 5 a.m. through late September, following the agency's replacement of a six-mile drinking water main along Plantation Key, according to the Florida Keys Aqueduct Authority. That work sat just west of where the Kia became lodged on the bridge's lip.

Snake Creek Bridge became the Keys' sole remaining drawbridge after the state replaced other bascule spans with high-level fixed bridges, including the Jewfish Creek drawbridge in Key Largo during the late 2000s and the 2009 closure of the Boot Key Harbor span, the Keys Weekly reported. The Florida Department of Transportation has since slated a Project Development and Environment study to evaluate replacing the 1981 Snake Creek span with a fixed bridge, aiming to eliminate the recurring traffic congestion caused by drawbridge openings, according to the agency's Five-Year Work Program.

What Comes Next for the Driver

Failing to stop for an activated drawbridge signal is classified as a noncriminal moving traffic infraction under Florida law, carrying points on a driver's license and monetary fines under Florida Statutes §316.074 and §318.18. It remains unclear whether Gomez was cited in connection with the crash. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration research shows pedal misapplication errors, like the one Gomez described, cause roughly 16,000 crashes nationwide each year — about 44 a day — and that drivers 65 and older experience such errors roughly four times more often than middle-aged drivers.

The crash was reported by David Goodhue, who covers the Florida Keys and South Florida for FLKeysNews.com and the Miami Herald. No additional details on Gomez's condition or any citations issued have been released.