Florida’s Turnpike

Florida's Turnpike, designated as the Ronald Reagan Turnpike, and originally known as the Sunshine State Parkway, is a north–south toll road that runs 312.522mi through 11 counties in the Florida peninsula, from U.S. Route 1 in Florida City, running through Miami, Fort Lauderdale, West Palm Beach where it parallels Interstate 95, and Orlando where it crosses Interstate 4, to its northern terminus at Interstate 75 near Wildwood.The Turnpike itself is in two sections. The first is the Mainline, a 265mi route from the Golden Glades Interchange (north of Miami) to Wildwood that carries the hidden designation of Florida State Road 91 (SR 91), which opened in stages between 1957 and 1964. The second is the 48mi Homestead Extension of Florida's Turnpike (HEFT) completed in 1974, that carries the hidden designation of State Road 821 (SR 821) from Florida City (near Homestead) through the suburbs to the west and north of Miami, connecting to the Mainline four miles (6 km) north of the Golden Glades Interchange. Florida's Turnpike is one of the busiest highways in the country (according to the IBBTA, the highway is the nation's 3rd most heavily traveled toll road).