Tamiami Trail Totally Explained

Everything about The Tamiami Trail totally explained

The Tamiami Trail is the southernmost 275 miles (443 km) of U.S. Highway 41 from State Road 60 in Tampa to U.S. Route 1 (SR 5) in Miami, Florida.
The 165 mile (266 km) north-south section (hidden SR 45) extends to Naples, whereupon it becomes an east-west road (hidden SR 90) crossing the Everglades (and forming part of the northern border of Everglades National Park) before becoming Southwest Eighth Street in Miami-Dade County (“Calle Ocho” in the Little Havana section of Miami).

History

Construction and early designations

Construction on the north-south section was begun in 1915. The east-west portion was originally called the Miami-Marco Road. The following year, Miami’s Capt. James J. Jaudon first proposed a road connecting Florida’s Gulf and Atlantic coasts with an eye on developing his properties in the Everglades. The notion was seconded by Tampa’s E.P. Dickey, who also suggested a name, the Tamyami Trail, although D.C. Gillett of Tampa claimed to have originally suggested the name. Tamiami is said to be a contraction of, Tampa to Miami. While support in Tampa for the proposed road was lacking, Miami Herald columnist William Stewart Hill would keep the idea alive whenever he felt that support was waning on the southeastern coast.
   At the time, Lee County was a much larger county (Collier County was created out of Lee County in 1923, along with Hendry County). In 1919, due to financial reasons, Lee County wasn't able to complete their portion of the Tamiami Trail. Captain Jaudon had already purchased 207,360 acres (839 km²) of land, mostly in Monroe County. His company, the Chevelier Corporation, came to the rescue and offered to build a link of the highway through its holdings in Monroe County if Dade and Lee counties would agree to change the original route and re-route the Tamiami Trail through Monroe County. The proposal was accepted, the Chevelier Corporation began laying out a new route for the road, and in 1921 began construction on the new segment of the Tamiami Trail. This segment is today known as Loop Road (located in Big Cypress National Preserve).
   In 1922, the State of Florida ran out of construction funds for the east-west portion. The following year, Barron Collier, an advertising mogul who recently diversified his holdings by investing in various types of businesses and millions of acres of southwest Florida wilderness, pledged that he'd bankroll the completion of the Tamiami Trail; in return, the State legislature would establish a new county and name it after him.
   So in 1923, Collier County was created out of the southern portion of Lee County. Almost immediately contention arose over the change of the route. The sponsors of the new county advocated for the original route which was completely inside the boundaries of Collier County. The State Road Department agreed with Collier County. Even so, the Board of County Commissioners of Dade County gave their support to the Chevelier segment since so much money had already been invested. In fact, only a few miles of road were left to be completed.
   Despite this protest, the State Road Department reinstated the original route of the Tamiami Trail to be completed. The already completed portion of roadway in Monroe County was accepted as a "South Loop" of the Tamiami Trail.
   As construction of the north-south section resumed, Collier hired A. R. Richardson to be the head engineer of the Naples-to-Miami section (a few months later, A. W. Frederick replaced Richardson, who returned to the Everglades Drainage District), and construction started on the east-west stretch in 1923. An east-west canal was created using explosives; the fill dirt was used to construct the roadway.
   In 1926, both the north-south section and the east-west stretch were designated U.S. Highways. Although the Trail was intended to be one road, the two sections received two different numbers: as each section was completed, the north-south portion would receive US 41 signs, and the east-west stretch would be designated US 94 upon completion (to comply with the route numbering guidelines of AASHTO). In addition, both sections south of Fort Myers would receive the State Road 27 designation.
   While a 1927 Rand McNally map indicated the southern terminus to be Fort Myers, US 41 signs were already up on the completed segment (south to Naples) in late 1926; US 94 signs made their appearances when the final section was completed in April 1928. The Tamiami Trail took 13 years, cost $8 million US, and used 2.6 million sticks of dynamite in its construction. The Tamiami Trail officially opened on April 25, 1928.

U.S. 94

Upon the completion of the Tamiami Trail, U.S. Highway 94 extended from the intersection of Ninth Street South and Fifth Avenue South in Naples (the southern terminus of US 41) to the intersection of Southwest Eighth Street and Brickell Avenue (US 1) in Miami. At the time it was considered a major achievement of engineering that was the only route from Naples (and, by extension, from Tampa) to the southeastern coast of Florida.
   In 1945, a restructuring of Florida’s State Road system resulted in the removal of the SR 27 signs from US 94 and the assignment of the hidden Florida Department of Transportation designation State Road 90, which continues to be applied to the east-west stretch of highway to this day.
   In 1949, the US 94 signage was replaced with US 41 signs, over a decade after AASHTO modified its guidelines to discourage short (under 300 miles) US Routes that are entirely within one state. In 2003, after considering a variety of plans involving the rebuilding of US 41/SR 90, the Corps recommended that a 3000-foot-long causeway be built near the Northeast Shark Slough northeast of Everglades National Park, all road fill removed that would otherwise be adjacent to the bridge, the 57 culverts that are already in place maintained, and the appropriate water flow rate maintained under the non-causeway portions of the Tamiami Trail crossing the Everglades. Action on the part of the Corps of Engineers is pending funding by the United States government.
   The proposed causeway is being called the Everglades Skyway by the Sierra Club, Audubon Society, World Wildlife Fund, and other organizations in an Internet-based effort to lobby Florida and United States government officials for project construction money.

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