State Route 874 and 878 in Florida
Florida State Route 874
| SR-874 | |||
| Get started | Richmond Heights | ||
| End | Glenvar Heights | ||
| Length | 6 mi | ||
| Length | 10 km | ||
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According to indexdotcom, State Route 874 or State Road 874 (SR-874), called the Don Shula Expressway, is a state route and toll road in the U.S. state of Florida. The highway is a southwest approach to the Miami area and runs from the Homestead Extension to State Road 826 in Glenvar Heights. The State Road 874 is 10 kilometers long.
Travel directions
The Don Shula Expressway branches off from State Road 821 (Homestead Extension) in Richmond Heights and then heads northeast through the suburban area. Most of the highway is 2×3 lanes, with a small portion of 2×4 lanes before the interchange with State Road 878 (Snapper Creek Expressway). The Don Shula Expressway runs diagonally through the grid of roads in the Miami suburbs and ends at Glenvar Heights at State Road 826 (Palmetto Expressway).
History
In 1961, State Road 826 (Palmetto Expressway) was completed as Miami’s first bypass, in 1974 State Road 821 followed as the Homestead Extension. Because Interstate 95 was not planned to run further south than Downtown Miami, this meant that US 1 became a congested city highway, as it was the only diagonal route through the grid. To solve this problem, a diagonal motorway was planned. The plans for this already started in 1957 when the planning for the Palmetto Expressway was being worked out, the current Don Shula Expressway was originally planned as the southwestern branch of the Palmetto Expressway.
Construction history
The highway was originally planned as the South Dade Expressway. Construction on the highway began in 1971, and in 1973 the southernmost 6 miles opened to traffic between State Road 821 and Kendall Drive (SR-94). The northern half of Kendall Drive to State Road 826 (Palmetto Expressway) opened on July 31, 1975.
There were originally plans to extend the toll road another mile west from Florida’s Turnpike to SW 127th Avenue. Later, this project was redesigned to link roads to SW 122nd Avenue, which opened on September 10, 2021. A further westward extension along SW 136th Street was also planned to join the also planned Dolphin Expressway extension.
Opening history
| from | nasty | length | date |
| SR-821 (Homestead Extension) | SR-94 (Kendall Drive) | 6 km | 00-00-1973 |
| SR-94 (Kendall Drive) | SR-826 (Palmetto Expressway) | 5 km | 31-07-1975 |
Naming
The highway was named in 1983 after Don Shula (1930-2020), the coach of the Miami Dolphins who won the Super Bowl twice under his leadership. Before that, the highway was called the South Dade Expressway.
Widenings
The Don Shula Expressway was originally constructed with 2×2 lanes. Only a two-mile section between SW 104th Street and the Snapper Creek Expressway had 2×3 lanes. Between 2007 and 2009, a parallel structure was constructed south of the Snapper Creek Expressway interchange to prevent weaving. An additional flyover was also built at this junction for traffic from Kendall Drive to the north. Between 2008 and 2011, the interchange with the Palmetto Expressway was considerably expanded with extra flyovers, so that the merging of both motorways runs more smoothly. In 2010-2012, the southern portion of the highway was widened to 2×3 lanes between the Homestead Extension and SW 104th Street and 2×4 lanes further to the Snapper Creek Expressway.
Toll
The Don Shula Expressway is a toll road, operated by the Miami-Dade Expressway Authority. The toll collection has been fully electronic with SunPass since 2010.
Traffic intensities
The intensities below are north of the relevant connection.
| Location | 2010 | 2019 |
| Homestead Extension | 76,000 | 106,500 |
| SW 104th Street | 117,500 | |
| Snapper Creek Expressway | 97,500 | 102,500 |
Florida State Route 878
| SR-878 | |||
| Get started | Kendall | ||
| End | South Miami | ||
| Length | 2 mi | ||
| Length | 4 km | ||
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State Route 878 or State Road 878 (SR-878), called the Snapper Creek Expressway, is a state route and toll road in the U.S. state of Florida. The highway forms a short branch from State Road 874 and continues to US 1 in South Miami. State Road 878 is 4 kilometers long.
Travel directions
The Snapper Creek Expressway is a 2×2 lane short toll road connecting the Don Shula Expressway (SR-874) and US 1. The highway goes over the Palmetto Expressway (SR-826), but there is no connection with it. The highway is mainly used by traffic that wants to avoid the busy US 1 between South Miami and Cutler Bay, in combination with the Don Shula Expressway.
History
The highway was financed in 1971, but construction was delayed and did not start until 1976. In 1980 the short highway was opened to traffic. Despite the short route, it is quite an important road, as it connects the important US 1 with the highway network southwest of Miami.
The turnpike is named after Snapper Creek, a 6-mile waterway through Kendall and Coral Gables.
Toll
The Snapper Creek Expressway has been a toll road since 2010, operated by the Miami-Dade Expressway Authority. The toll is fully electronic with a SunPass.
Traffic intensities
The intensities below are to the east of the relevant connection.
| Location | 2010 | 2019 |
| Don Shula Expressway | 46,300 | 44,500 |
| SW 87th Avenue | 25,500 | 38,500 |