In the game
The road is the Keys in GTA VI. Trailer 2 keeps returning to it: a two-lane highway strung between islands, water on both sides, mile marker signs, boat trailers, roadside bars, and the low bridges that carry you over channels the color of a swimming pool. The Extended Look comes back to the same road; the Keys are built as a ribbon you travel down rather than a block of streets.
It’s a clear match for the Overseas Highway. Nothing else in Florida looks like it. The giveaways are the twin bridges (a modern road bridge with an older, lower one alongside), the green mile marker posts, and the way the land narrows to a strip barely wider than the road in places. Fans matched the bridge shots within hours.
The real place
US-1 runs 113 miles from Key Largo to Key West over 42 bridges. It follows the route of Henry Flagler’s Overseas Railroad, which opened in 1912 and was wrecked by the 1935 Labor Day hurricane; the state took the railbed and opened the highway in 1938. Most of the bridges you drive today were rebuilt in the early 1980s, which is why the old ones sit beside them like ghosts.
Driving it is slower than the map suggests. It’s mostly two lanes, the speed limit drops to 35 or 45 through every town, and there’s one road in and out, so a fender-bender can hold up the entire island chain.
Addresses down here are mile markers, counting down from MM 106 at the top of Key Largo to MM 0 in Key West. “Bayside” means the Florida Bay (west) side of the road, “oceanside” means the Atlantic side; you’ll hear both constantly.
Go there
From Miami, take the Turnpike to its end at Florida City, fill the tank, and join US-1 for the 18-mile stretch through the mangroves to Key Largo. That stretch is where the trailer’s road-through-the-water feeling starts. Or take the Card Sound Road back way (see below).
Then just go, stopping often. Key Largo (MM 100-106) for John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park and a glass-bottom boat ride. Islamorada (MM 74-90) for the bars, the tarpon at Robbie’s and the roadside oddities. Marathon (MM 47-53) for the Seven Mile Bridge. Big Pine (MM 30-33) for the Key deer and Bahia Honda. Then Key West.
Eat like a local on the way down: Mrs. Mac’s Kitchen in Key Largo has been feeding road-trippers for decades, and Robbie’s in Islamorada does a fish sandwich by the water. Neither takes reservations, so expect a line at lunch.
One honest warning: weekends and holidays are brutal. Miami empties into the Keys on Friday afternoon and drains back on Sunday, and a 3-hour drive becomes 5 or 6. Go midweek if you can, and never plan a tight connection back to the airport on a Sunday.
Nearby
- Seven Mile Bridge: the single shot everyone remembers, and the reason to keep driving past Islamorada.
- Card Sound Road and Alabama Jack’s: the quieter back way into Key Largo, worth it for the bar alone.
- Betsy the Lobster: the first photo stop you’ll actually want to make.
- Key West and Duval Street: the end of the road, and the reward.
Updated September 12, 2026. Spotted an error? Tell us.