Florida State Road 823

State Road 823 is a 20.30-mile (32.67 km) state highway in southeastern Florida, United States, running from US 27 (SR 25) in Hialeah (across the Miami Canal from Miami Springs) north to Interstate 595 (SR 862) and SR 84 in Davie (across the New River Canal from Plantation). The section in Miami-Dade County, through Hialeah and Miami Lakes, is known as Red Road (West Fourth Avenue in Hialeah's street grid and Northwest 57th Avenue in the countywide grid). After crossing into Miramar, in Broward County, it turns northwest and merges into Flamingo Road, which takes it north through Pembroke Pines and Cooper City into Davie.

South of a gap at the Miami International Airport, Red Road is SR 959.

Flamingo Road north of SR 823

A northward continuation of Flamingo Road beyond I-595 (the end of SR 823) provides access to Sawgrass Mills, one of the largest enclosed shopping centers in the United States, and the BankAtlantic Center, home of the Florida Panthers National Hockey League team. The northern terminus of Flamingo Road is at an intersection with Oakland Park Boulevard, itself an extension of SR 816, and the Sawgrass Expressway (SR 869), 3.69 miles (5.94 km) north of I-595.

History

State Road 368 was defined by state law in 1937. This route ran along Red Road (present SR 823) from pre-1945 SR 26 (now US 27) in Hialeah north to Opa Locka Road (Northwest 138th Street, currently SR 916). There it turned west until County Road 80 , where it turned back south to SR 26.

The other section of present SR 823 was defined in 1939 as State Road 517, running along Flamingo Road from Pembroke Road north to a branch of pre-1945 SR 26 (now SR 84).

In the 1945 renumbering, all but the southernmost mile of SR 517 became State Road 823 (giving it a southern terminus of SR 820). At some point, it was extended south to Snake Creek Canal and Northwest 202d Street, just south of the Dade (now Miami-Dade) County boundary.

The other piece, partly former SR 368, was designated State Road 819 in the 1945 renumbering. This ran from SR 25 (now US 27) north to Golden Glades Drive (Northwest 167th Street, which later became part SR 826 before construction of the Palmetto Expressway), using former SR 368 south of Northwest 138th Street. The rest of SR 368 was not assigned a number, but part of it is now SR 916. This was extended north to SR 860 (Northwest 183rd Street) at some point; SR 819 was redesignated State Road 955 in 1983 as part of a statewide reorganization of State Roads.

Around 1992, the diagonal connection between Red Road and Flamingo Road was built, allowing SR 823 to extend south over that connection, first ending at SR 860, then taking over SR 955 in the mid 1990s. The former piece of SR 823 on Flamingo Road to the county line was kept as an unsigned State Road (to be designated State Road 9823).

The mystery of "State Road 9823"

In the early 1980s, there was apparently a reconfiguration of SR 823 in the Miami-Lakes area, but sources from FDOT to Miami-Dade County Planning to various commercial road maps disagree (in fact, contemporaneous documents from FDOT disagree on whether such a realignment actually happened). The majority of the sources contend that by 1983, SR 823 was rerouted along Northwest 68th Avenue and Miami Gardens Drive (SR 860) before returning to Ludlam Road.

After the shifting of SR 823 to Red Road, some sources indicated that FDOT was maintaining an "unsigned State Road 9823" that was part of an earlier configuration of SR 823 that had since been orphaned. One FDOT document indicated that SR 9823 was the stretch of Flamingo Road from the Red Road connector to a point under the Florida's Turnpike underpass; another FDOT document indicated it extended to the Miami-Dade/Broward County line or the original southern terminus near Snake Creek Canal. Yet other FDOT documents don't even indicate it ever existed.

Miami-Dade County planning maps do not show any indication of the existence of SR 9823, except for one that indicated the segment from the Palmetto Expressway to Broward County via Ludlam Road (with a "side trip" along Northwest 68th Avenue and SR 860) was SR 9823. This is also indicated by a handful of commercially-prepared road maps (although a 2004 commercially prepared road map indicates SR 9823 -- as "County Road 9823" -- is strictly Ludlam Road north of SR 826). Yet other sources do not indicate the existence of such a "hidden" State Road at all.

While there is a preponderance of evidence indicating SR 9823 having existed and taken the "Miami Lakes detour", this remains an open question.

References

* [http://www.dot.state.fl.us/planning/statistics/gis/default.htm Florida Department of Transportation - GIS Data]
* [http://www.dot.state.fl.us/pavementmanagement/pcs/pcsrpts.htm Florida Department of Transportation - Pavement Management Office Reports]

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