Sawgrass Interchange
The Sawgrass Interchange, looking east
Location
Sunrise, Florida
Coordinates26°07′12″N 80°20′45″W / 26.119889°N 80.345959°W / 26.119889; -80.345959 (Sawgrass Interchange)
Roads at
junction
Construction
TypeStack interchange
Spans70
Constructed1986–1989
Opened1989
Maintained byFDOT

The Sawgrass Interchange is a large highway interchange in Sunrise, Florida, United States.

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 freeways 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 also serves as I-595's eastern terminus, east of which it merges into I-75.[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]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "I-75 / I-595 Sawgrass Interchange". Corven Engineering. Retrieved December 21, 2023.
  2. 1 2 3 "I-595-Sawgrass Interchange Nears Completion". Sun Sentinel. Deerfield Beach, Florida. December 25, 1989. Retrieved December 21, 2023.
  3. 1 2 "I-75/I-595/Sawgrass Expressway Interchange". Bergeron Land Development. Retrieved December 21, 2023.
  4. 1 2 Medina, Dani (July 18, 2023). "'Gaps' in Florida bridge are normal, FDOT says". FOX 35 Orlando. Orlando, Florida: WOFL-TV. Retrieved December 21, 2023.
  5. 1 2 "Concerns over possible crack on I-595 and Sawgrass Interchange bridge". CBS Miami. Miami, Florida: WFOR-TV. July 17, 2023. Retrieved December 21, 2023.
  6. ↑ Tang, M. C.; Bellevue, L.; Towell, P. J.; Algner, E. (1990). "Construction of the I-75/I-595 Interchange, Broward County, Florida". Developments in Short and Medium Span Bridge Engineering: Third International Conference on Short and Medium Span Bridges. Toronto: Canadian Society For Civil Engineering. pp. 413–421. ISBN 978-0-921303-14-5.
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