Sawgrass Interchange
Highway interchange in Sunrise, Florida, United States
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Sawgrass Interchange is a large highway interchange in Sunrise, Florida, United States.
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| Sawgrass Interchange | |
|---|---|
The Sawgrass Interchange, looking east | |
 Interactive map of Sawgrass Interchange | |
| Location | |
| Sunrise, Florida | |
| Coordinates | 26.119889°N 80.345959°W |
| Roads at junction | |
| Construction | |
| Type | Stack interchange |
| Spans | 70 |
| Constructed | 1986–1989 |
| Opened | 1989 |
| Maintained by | FDOT |
History
The Sawgrass Interchange was built between 1986 and 1989.[1][2] The interchange opened in late 1989.[2] The interchange was constructed at a cost of $52 million (1989 USD).[2] At the time of its opening, the interchange was the largest in Florida.[3]
In 2023, there was widespread concern when a social media post, which erroneously claimed that one of the interchange's bridges was structurally unsound because of a visible gap, went viral.[4][5] The Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) inspected the bridge and found no structural defects; the "gap" was normal and intentionally constructed when the bridge was built in the 1980s, being the location of one of the bridge's expansion joints.[4][5]
Description
The Sawgrass Interchange is a large stack interchange. It serves as the junction point for three major expressways in South Florida: Interstate 75 (I-75), I-595 (the Port Everglades Expressway), and State Road 869 (SR 869, Sawgrass Expressway). SR 84 also travels through the interchange.[1]
The interchange includes the respective western and southern terminuses of I-595 and SR 869 (both of which merge into I-75), as well as the eastern terminus of Alligator Alley.[1]
Design
The Sawgrass Interchange consists of several bridges and 70 bridge spans—all of which are made of precast segmental concrete; the bridge spans range from 120 to 200 feet (37 to 61 m) and were constructed with 1,366 precast box girder segments.[1][6] The stack interchange occupies an area of approximately 550 acres (220 ha).[3]
