State Road 969 (SR 969), locally known as Milam Dairy Road and West 72nd Avenue, is a north–south street west of
Miami International Airport
Miami International Airport , also known as MIA and historically as Wilcox Field, is the primary airport serving the greater Miami metropolitan area with over 1,000 daily flights to 167 domestic and international destinations, including most c ...
in western
Miami-Dade County, Florida
Miami-Dade County is a county located in the southeastern part of the U.S. state of Florida. The county had a population of 2,701,767 as of the 2020 census, making it the most populous county in Florida and the seventh-most populous county in ...
. The southern terminus is currently an intersection with
SR 968 (
Flagler Street) in the city of
Miami
Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a coastal metropolis and the county seat of Miami-Dade County in South Florida, United States. With a population of 442,241 at ...
, and its northern terminus is an intersection with
SR 934, just south of
Medley.
Route description
State Road 969 begins at Flagler Street (SR 968) and heads north through residential areas, quickly intersecting the
Dolphin Expressway
A dolphin is an aquatic mammal within the infraorder Cetacea. Dolphin species belong to the families Delphinidae (the oceanic dolphins), Platanistidae (the Indian river dolphins), Iniidae (the New World river dolphins), Pontoporiidae (the ...
. North of the Dolphin Expressway, SR 969 borders the Miami International Airport to its east, and airport-related business to the west as the road curves around the western end of the airport to accommodate an extended
runway
According to the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), a runway is a "defined rectangular area on a land aerodrome prepared for the landing and takeoff of aircraft". Runways may be a man-made surface (often asphalt, concre ...
. North of the runway, SR 969 resumes in its cardinal north direction and passes by and through
business park
A business park or office park is a designated area of land in which many office buildings are grouped together. These types of developments are often located in suburban areas where land and building costs are more affordable, and are typicall ...
s and
industrial park
An industrial park (also known as industrial estate, trading estate) is an area zoned and planned for the purpose of industrial development. An industrial park can be thought of as a more "heavyweight" version of a business park or office park ...
s for the remainder of the road. The road intersects
State Road 948 near Virginia Gardens, with SR 969 continuing north. Just south of the southern terminus, SR 969 passes through a
rail yard
A rail yard, railway yard, railroad yard (US) or simply yard, is a series of tracks in a rail network for storing, sorting, or loading and unloading rail vehicles and locomotives. Yards have many tracks in parallel for keeping rolling stock or u ...
operated and maintained by
Miami-Dade Transit
Miami-Dade Transit (MDT) is the primary public transit authority of Miami, Florida and the greater Miami-Dade County area. It is the largest transit system in Florida and the 15th-largest transit system in the United States. As of , the system ...
. The road finally terminates at
State Road 934, at the western end of the Hialeah Expressway.
Except for the curved section of SR 969 at the airport, the
Palmetto Expressway
Palmetto (meaning "little palm") may refer to:
Palms
Several small palms in the Arecaceae (palm tree) family:
*in the genus ''Sabal'':
**Bermuda palmetto, '' Sabal bermudana''
**Birmingham palmetto, ''Sabal'' 'Birmingham'
**Dwarf, or bush palm ...
(SR 826) parallels SR 969 to the west.
History
Milam Dairy Road received its current SR 969 designation in 1983, when FDOT reassigned numbers to a collection of southeastern Florida streets. Prior to the reassignment, Milam Dairy Road/West 72nd Avenue was signed State Road 919.
In the late 1980s, a curve around the airport was extended southward with a bridge over the
Dolphin Expressway
A dolphin is an aquatic mammal within the infraorder Cetacea. Dolphin species belong to the families Delphinidae (the oceanic dolphins), Platanistidae (the Indian river dolphins), Iniidae (the New World river dolphins), Pontoporiidae (the ...
, removing the portion of North 12th Street from the route. This curve was implemented after the airport runway was extended during the early 1980s, and the bridge was removed during the post-2011 expansion of the
Dolphin Expressway
A dolphin is an aquatic mammal within the infraorder Cetacea. Dolphin species belong to the families Delphinidae (the oceanic dolphins), Platanistidae (the Indian river dolphins), Iniidae (the New World river dolphins), Pontoporiidae (the ...
. Originally, northbound traffic went north on West 72nd Avenue, and then west on North 12th Street, and then north again on the curved West 72nd Avenue around the airport.
Until 2001, signage indicated that SR 969 actually extended two blocks south into the Flagami section of Miami, to Tamiami Boulevard (only southbound traffic saw the SR 969 reassurance sign just south of Flagler Street).
Major intersections
See also
References
External links
{{Greater Miami
969
Year 969 ( CMLXIX) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar, the 969th year of the Common Era (CE) and ''Anno Domini'' (AD) designations, the 969th year of the 1st millennium, the 69th ...
969
Year 969 ( CMLXIX) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar, the 969th year of the Common Era (CE) and ''Anno Domini'' (AD) designations, the 969th year of the 1st millennium, the 69th ...