The Florida Keys' Overseas Highway has made the grade.

U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood announced Friday in Washington that the 110-mile stretch of U.S. 1 from Key Largo to Key West -- with its 42 bridges linking the scenic island chain -- has been designated an All-American Road.

It's the first in Florida and one of only 30 nationwide, joining an elite list that includes the Blue Ridge Parkway, Alaska's Seward Highway, Historic Route 66 and the Las Vegas Strip.

``The All-American Road designation will bring status to us with international travelers and domestic visitors, so that they know driving U.S. 1 from Key Largo to Key West is a one-of-a-kind driving experience,'' said Judy Hull, president of the volunteer Florida Keys Scenic Corridor Alliance. The group spent two years working on the national bid.

All-American Roads are the most prestigious of the America's Byways collection, which also include National Scenic Byways. The U.S. Congress began the program in 1991 to recognize, preserve and enhance selected roads.

The Overseas Highway was one of 42 roads named to the collection on Friday, bringing the total number to 151. Of the 42 roads, only five were designated at the highest All-American road level. They are the first new additions since 2005.

To earn All-American Road status, the route must contain multiple intrinsic qualities that are nationally significant, be considered a ``destination unto itself'' and contain one-of-a-kind features that do not exist elsewhere.

The Overseas Highway features the spectacular Seven Mile Bridge, with the Atlantic Ocean on one side and the Gulf of Mexico on the other. When the original bridge was built a century ago as part of Henry Flagler's Overseas Railroad, it was called the Eighth Wonder of the World.

The Overseas Highway follows the railroad trail blazed in the early 1900s by Flagler, a Standard Oil millionaire. The highway was started after the 1935 hurricane destroyed parts of the railroad and completed in 1938.

The road's corridor has a combination of only-in-the-Keys recreation: diving coral reefs and shipwrecks in Key Largo; deep-sea fishing and flats fishing off Islamorada; walking the old Seven Mile Bridge to Flagler's railroad camp on Pigeon Key; visiting the endangered Key Deer reserve on Big Pine. And the road ends at mile marker 0 of U.S. 1, at the country's Southernmost City, Key West, with its bars, art shops and Historic Seaport District.

On Friday, state transportation workers put up a new All-American Road sign at mile marker 108, at the top of the new Jewfish Creek Bridge that serves as the gateway to the Keys. The designation is expected to be a big boost to tourisms.

``About 85 percent of our travelers to the Keys come by car or a motor vehicle of some kind. We always thought we had one of the most scenic roads for tourist destination,'' said Harold Wheeler, executive director of the Florida Keys Tourist Development Council. The Keys also is expected to benefit from federal marketing and grant opportunities provided by the Byways Collection. The Keys' alliance pitch to the federal screening panel included a 2006 master plan with $60 million in dream projects that include visitor centers at proposed trail heads in Key Largo and Key West.

To celebrate the road's national recognition, the alliance has planned a Whistle Stop Tour on Oct. 24 that will travel from Key West to Key Largo on an old town trolley.

The tour starts at 9 a.m. at the Florida Keys Eco-Discovery Center on Key West's Truman Waterfront and will make stops at Big Pine Key Park at 10:30 a.m., Marathon's Crane Point Hammock at noon, Layton City Hall at 1 p.m., the Hurricane Monument in Islamorada at 2 p.m. and the Key Largo Chamber of Commerce at 3:30 p.m. All are invited to attend.

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