Interstate 595 (Florida) - History

History

Interstate 595 grew out of a plan of connecting Port Everglades with Alligator Alley, first conceived in 1969 as the Port Expressway. In 1974, once I-75 was rerouted to Broward County on Alligator Alley as a part of its eastern connection from Naples, it was proposed to be built as an interstate, likely as the southern end of I-75. However, when the southern terminus of I-75 was moved from Broward to Dade County at the Palmetto Expressway/Gratigny Parkway in the late 1970s, it delayed the construction of the trans-Broward expressway.

In the early 1980s, I-595 was planned to be partially a toll road to cover construction costs. By the time construction started on July 26, 1984, the tolls of the highway vanished, and was built with only minor changes in the path. The first section, between I-75 and Hiatus Road opened in May 1988, with the section between Florida's Turnpike and US 1 opening on February 24, 1989, and the last section, connecting the disjointed sections opening on October 21, 1989. It was designated I-595 on June 11, 1990, and the Rainbow Interchange with I-95 was completed on March 22, 1991, the last unfinished interchange of the original plan.

The portion of the highway between I-95 and US 1 was built on old Florida East Coast Railroad tracks that went to Port Everglades.

I-595 appears to be a spur route of Interstate 75 but Alligator Alley was not bannered I-75 until 1993. When I-595 was commissioned the only interstate it intersected was Interstate 95.

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.

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