The Lake Monroe Bridge was Florida's first electrically operated swing bridge. Built in 1932-33 with federal assistance, it replaced a manually operated wooden toll bridge and provided economic relief to an area damaged by the Depression. The bridge was fabricated by Ingall's Iron Works of Birmingham, Alabama; its swing machinery was manufactured by Earle Gear and Machine Co. of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; it was erected by W. W. White Steel Construction of St. Petersburg, Florida; and Kreis Contracting Company of Knoxville, Tennessee served as general contractor for the Florida Department of Transportation. The 627-foot bridge, including a 235-foot swing span, carried the main route linking Daytona Beach and Tampa by way of Deland, Sanford, Orlando, and Lakeland. It could pivot 360 degrees on a curved rack and two spur pinions. Its Warren-type through truss construction, with a central panel section peaked to accommodate the drive machinery, was considered an economical form for continuous spans and was characterized by alternating diagonal members that placed successive panels in tension and compression. Because of the heavy stresses of swing-span operation, the bridge arms were heavily reinforced and had rivited connections at all stress points. Fill taken for the bridge approaches created the harbor for Lake Monroe Park in Volusia County. When the new Benedict Bridge was completed in 1994, the Florida Department of Transportation and Seminole County preserved the swing span as a fishing pier. The bridge had a historic impact on area communities and also held historical value as an example of a branch of bridge engineering.