MDTA also proposes changes to the Key Bridge's pier protection system that would require excavation below the water. Those changes include adding six dolphins to the reconstructed bridge.

That’s why the effectiveness of even those systems — such as the 25-foot-wide dolphins at the foot of the Key Bridge that one engineer described as “kids’ toys” — “remain uncertain ...

Structures called fenders and dolphins — which absorb impact, similar to the bumper on a car — are some of the methods used to keep bridges safe. But the Key Bridge was built in the 1970s ...

MIAMI (WSVN) - All eastbound lanes of the Dolphin Expressway have reopened after an emergency inspection of an overhead bridge support structure near Interstate 95 in Miami, officials said.