Tamiami Trail

The Tamiami Trail /ˈtæ.mi.ˌæ.mi ˈtreɪl/ is the southernmost 275 miles (443 km) of U.S. Highway 41 (US 41) from Florida State Road 60 (SR 60) in Tampa to US 1 in Miami. A portion of the road also has the hidden designation of State Road 90 (SR 90).

The 275-mile (443 km) north–south section (hidden SR 45) extends to Naples, whereupon it becomes an east–west road (hidden SR 90) crossing the Everglades (and forming part of the northern border of Everglades National Park). It becomes South Eighth Street in Miami-Dade County, famous as Calle Ocho in the Little Havana section of Miami, before ending east of Miami Avenue at Brickell Avenue in Brickell, Downtown Miami.

History

Construction and early designations

Construction on the north–south section was begun in 1915. The east–west portion was originally called the Miami-Marco Road. The following year, Miami’s Capt. James Franklin Jaudon first proposed a road connecting Florida’s Gulf and Atlantic coasts with an eye on developing his properties in the Everglades. The notion was seconded by Tampa’s E.P. Dickey, who also suggested a name, the Tamyami [sic] Trail, although D.C. Gillett of Tampa claimed to have originally suggested the name. The name Tamiami is said to be a contraction of the phrase "Tampa to Miami". While support in Tampa for the proposed road was lacking, Miami Herald columnist William Stewart Hill would keep the idea alive whenever he felt that support was waning on the southeastern coast.