Florida State Road 826 - History

History

State Road 826's designation originally applied to a two-lane road (Golden Glades Drive, Northwest 167th Street) connecting US 1 in North Miami Beach to US 27 (SR 25) to the west. In 1953, the newly-formed Florida Turnpike Authority presented plans for a four-lane bypass highway going around the Miami area.

In 1956, plans were unveiled for several expressways throughout Dade County. The routes proposed were a North-South Expressway (now part of I-95), an East-West Expressway (now the Dolphin Expressway), a 36th Street Expressway (now the Airport Expressway), the Biscayne Bay Malecon (a proposed downtown loop, never built), a Dixie Expressway (proposed; most was never built, a portion became I-95), and the Palmetto Road Expressway.

In 1957, Dade County Commissioner Ralph Fossey proposed an alternate alignment of the Palmetto Expressway. The new alignment would begin at Miller Road (SW 56 Street) and then turn southwesterly to follow the Seaboard Railroad tracks for about 10 miles. The route would then turn south at SW 117 Ave. and follow it into US 1.

Many south Miamians opposed the alternate alignment plan and began a petition to keep the original alignment. While the alternate route plan ultimately failed; eventually the Don Shula Expressway, a northeast-southwest expressway was built along the railroad tracks in the 1970s.

In 1958, the Florida State Roads Department started construction on the bypass expressway under their authority. A north–south section along Northwest (and Southwest) 77th Avenue (Palmetto Road) was built to connect US 1 in Pinecrest to an improved Golden Glades Drive (complete with 90 degree eastward turn) and the portion of Northwest 167th Street west of the curve would be abandoned. Many land owners were forced to sell their property to the county to make way for the construction of the expressway.

The Palmetto Bypass Expressway was opened in June 1961 at the cost of $30 million, four years after the opening of Florida's Turnpike and six months before the opening of Dade County's second expressway, the Airport Expressway (SR 112).

The completion of the Palmetto Expressway (the "Bypass" faded from public usage in the 1960s) and the building of Interstate 95 were the impetus of the construction of the massive Golden Glades Interchange involving Florida's Turnpike, US 441 (SR 7), Interstate 95, and SR 9.

When the Palmetto Expressway was first opened, it went through tracts of woodland and farmland which have since been urbanized. Originally there were four at-grade intersections in Hialeah and Miami Lakes which were either transformed into full interchanges or blocked off in the 1970s. In addition, increasing traffic loads on the Palmetto prompted plans for extending Florida's Turnpike to "bypass the bypass." In 1974, the Homestead Extension of Florida's Turnpike (SR 821) was opened to traffic four miles (6 km) to the west of the Palmetto to reduce the traffic demands on Miami's original bypass.