Florida State Road 913

Infobox FL State Road
type=state
route=913
length_mi=4.2 [http://www.dot.state.fl.us/planning/statistics/gis/default.htm FDOT GIS data] ] [Joan Gill Black, "Key Biscayne: A History of Miami's Tropical Island and the Cape Florida Lighthouse" (1996) ISBN 1561641030 ] [Florida Department of Transportation, "Official Florida Transportation Map" (1998)] | length_km=6.8
formed=
dir1=South
dir2=North
from=Crandon Boulevard in Key Biscayne
junction= in Miami
to= in Miami
previous_type=former
previous_route=912
next_type=state
next_route=915

:"See also Rickenbacker Causeway, a causeway that forms part of the current alignment of SR 913"

Extending 4.2 miles from Interstate 95 in Miami, Florida, to the northern tip of Key Biscayne, State Road 913 is an access road for several tourist attractions in and around Biscayne Bay and the Village of Key Biscayne on the island of Key Biscayne. State Road has two components: Southwest and Southeast 26th Road (on the mainland) and the Rickenbacker Causeway crossing the Intracoastal Waterway and Virginia Key.

Originally, there was no State Road connection between I-95 and Key Biscayne when the Interstate highway was opened in 1967. The southernmost exit of the expressway was a short "trunk ramp" forming the southwestern end of Southwest 23rd Road at Southwest First Avenue (with the ramps having an at-grade crossing with Florida East Coast Railroad tracks before reaching First Avenue). Southbound traffic for the Miami Seaquarium, beaches, and other tourist attractions along the Rickenbacker Causeway would exit at Southwest 23rd Road, then take Southwest First Avenue to Southwest 25th Road, which would lead (via Brickell Avenue) to the toll booths on the entrance of the Causeway.

In the late 1970s and early 1980s, the railroad tracks were removed and houses along Southwest First Avenue between Southwest 15th Road and Southwest 12th Avenue were demolished to make room for Metrorail. The removal of this section of Southwest First Avenue resulted in a temporary lack of access of the Rickenbacker Causeway to southbound I-95 motorists (briefly, they were guided to it by way of Southwest Eighth Street (US 41-SR 90) and Brickell Avenue (US 1-SR 5). Ultimately (in the early 1980s), a new partial interchange was built for southbound I-95, this time at Southwest 25th and 26th Roads. This became the primary mode of access to Key Biscayne from the expressway.

On the other hand, motorists leaving the Rickenbacker Causeway has had direct access with northbound I-95 and southbound US 1 (Brickell Avenue) with flyover ramps since 1967.

In the mid-1980s, newly-built sections Southwest and Southeast 26th Road, plus the two flyover ramps, were designated an unsigned State Road 913 and maintained by the Florida Department of Transportation as a state highway. [http://www.dot.state.fl.us/planning/statistics/gis/default.htm FDOT GIS data] ] [Florida Department of Transportation, "Official Florida Transportation Map" (1989)] [Rand McNally, "Miami Metro" map (1995) ISBN 0-525-98289-2] [Dolph Map Company, "Map of Metropolitan Miami, Dade County, Florida" (1996) ISBN 1-57396-072-1] In 1996, the SR 913 designation was extended over the entire Rickenbacker Causeway from Crandon Boulevard north to I-95. [Rand McNally "North American Road Atlas 1997" ISBN 1-56251-550-0] [ [http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/programadmin/toll_Rds.html Active FHWA Toll Facility Agreements] ] [Florida Department of Transportation, "Official Florida Transportation Map" (1998)] [ [http://www.fhp.state.fl.us/traffic/trooproad_names.html FHP State Road listings by troop] ] [Rand McNally "Road Atlas: United States, Canada, Mexico", 2000 ISBN 0-528-84264-1] [American Map, "Miami-Dade County" (2004) ISBN 0-87530-490-7] [ [http://www.southeastroads.com/fl-913.html Tour of SR 913, from www.southeastroads.com] ]

Along the route of the current configuration of SR 913 are beaches (as late as the 1950s, one for white people and one for black people), the Miami Marine Stadium, MAST Academy and the Miami Seaquarium. Accessible at the southern end of the route are the Village of Key Biscayne, Crandon Park (home of Miami's zoo until 1981), and Bill Baggs Cape Florida State Park.

For the causeway portion of SR 913, toll for southbound automobiles is $1.25 (drivers with SunPass pay $1.00 each); northbound vehicles do not stop to pay toll.

References