Interstate 95 in Florida

Highway in Florida

Interstate 95 (I 95) is the main Interstate Highway of Florida's Atlantic Coast. It begins at a partial interchange with US Highway 1 (US 1) just south of downtown Miami and heads north through Jacksonville, and to the Georgia state line at the St. Marys River near Becker. The route also passes through the cities of Fort Lauderdale, West Palm Beach, Port St. Lucie, Titusville, and Daytona Beach. I 95 runs for 382 mile (615 km), making Florida's portion the longest of any state the Interstate passes through. The southernmost 87 mile (140 km), from exits 1 to 87B, is known as the Miami Memorial Metropolitan (MMM) Expressway. The other 12.848 mile (21 km) of which are unsigned as State Road 9A (SR 9A), and the remainder being the unsigned portion of SR 9. After crossing I 395 and SR 836, I 95 begins to head north roughly along the alignment of Northwest 6th Avenue, lying one block east of Northwest 7th Avenue (US 441/SR 7). Just north of 36th Street (US 27/SR 25), at what has been called the 36th Street Interchange, I 95 crosses I 195, which goes east over the Julia Tuttle Causeway to Miami Beach, and SR 112, a toll road west to the airport. A two way express lane roadway in the median begins at I 195 and SR 112, formed by ramps to and from SR 112. I 95 continues north, crossing and interchanging with many surface roads, most of which are state roads, before reaching the Golden Glades Interchange. The complicated Golden Glades Interchange provides access between I 95 and two other freeways—the original section of Florida's Turnpike (SR 91), since bypassed by the Homestead Extension (SR 821), and the Palmetto Expressway (SR 826). Ramps are also provided to and from several surface streets—SR 826 east on 167th Street to Sunny Isles Beach, US 441 (SR 7) south on Northwest 7th Avenue and north on Northwest 2nd Avenue, and SR 9 southwest on a limited access roadway to Northwest 27th Avenue. I 95 north to West Palm Beach, as well as SR 9 southwest to 27th Avenue, runs parallel to the Seaboard–All Florida Railway, used by CSX Transportation for cargo and freight, Tri Rail for commuter rail, and Amtrak's Silver Star and Silver Meteor lines for intercity rail. At the Golden Glades Interchange, SR 9 merges with I 95, and I 95 is unsigned as SR 9 for the remainder of its length. From here to exit 353B, it is concurrent with US 17 and its unsigned designation SR 15. I 95 intersects I 295 again at exit 362, 11 mile (18 km) north of Downtown Jacksonville. Just north of the northern I 295 interchange, I 95 provides access to Jacksonville International Airport. From this point, I 95 continues north toward Nassau County with an exit for SR A1A and then into Georgia, just north of milemarker 380.

The current high occupancy vehicle (HOV) lanes in both directions between I 395 in Miami and Broward Boulevard (SR 842) in Fort Lauderdale have been converted to high occupancy toll (HOT), with two lanes in each direction. Prices vary based on congestion and peak hours and tolls are collected electronically, while registered travelers with three or more passengers and hybrid vehicles can drive the toll lanes for free. Both HOT lanes have been completed in both directions from I 395 to Broward Boulevard (including toll gantries).

I 95 was initially signed in 1959, and the first section to be opened to traffic was in Jacksonville in 1960. A year later, a short section just north of the current I 195 in Miami opened. The Miami News in 1956 touted the construction of what would become I 95 in Miami as a "slum clearance program". Most of the construction was focused between Jacksonville and Daytona Beach in the early 1960s. Construction of the Fuller Warren Bridge cut off the historically Black Jacksonville neighborhood called Brooklyn. At the end of the decade, the highway was complete from US 17, just south of the Georgia state line to I 4 in Daytona Beach (Georgia had not completed their portion of I 95 at the time of Florida's completion). The segment from Fort Lauderdale to Miami was complete by 1970. By 1976, most of the highway was complete from the Georgia state line to Fort Pierce as well as Palm Beach Gardens to Miami. In 2002, I 95, along with most of Florida's Interstates, switched over from a sequential exit numbering system to a mileage based exit numbering system.

The Bureau of Public Roads approved an I 95 alignment that used 41 mile (66 km) of Florida's Turnpike from PGA Boulevard (SR 786) in Palm Beach Gardens north to SR 70 in Fort Pierce in the 1950s. In the mid 1960s, the State Road Department authorized traffic counts be conducted to determine if the separation of I 95 from the turnpike was feasible, with arguments that using a concurrent alignment was costing Florida money for federal highway funding, but not without the concern of losing toll revenue. I 95 was given a separate alignment from Florida's Turnpike in 1973. Over time, the Interstate adopted a separate route closer to US 1, running parallel with the turnpike between Stuart and Palm Beach Gardens, and was originally scheduled to be completed in 1972. However, resistance by Martin County officials due to environmental and unwanted growth concerns delayed the highway's completion for 15 years, requiring those who wanted to travel through the Treasure Coast to take either the slower US 1 or the tolled turnpike. This section opened to traffic on December 19, 1987, with I 95 running uninterrupted from Miami to the state line.