Florida State Road 972

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State Road 972, locally known as Coral Way, is a short east-west divided highway entirely within the city of Miami, Florida, USA. Its current western terminus is Douglas Road (Southwest 37th Avenue); its eastern terminus is U.S. Route 1 (SR 5) in the Brickell area of Miami. Although it has had the FDOT designation as a State Road only since 1980 (and as State Road 956 until 1983), Coral Way has been an important route for Miami for much longer: it was a main street for the short-lived city of Silver Bluff, which merged with Miami in 1926.

Currently SR 972 is routed on Southwest 22d Street from Douglas Road to Southwest 12th Avenue (SR 933) in the Five Points neighborhood, then on Southwest 3rd Avenue between Southwest 12th Avenue and Southwest 13th Street, and on Southwest 13th Street between Southwest 3rd Avenue and Brickell Avenue (US 1).

In addition to being a major artery, SR 972 is noted for its spreading banyan trees in the median throughout much of its length. Arching branches with aerial roots extend from sidewalk to sidewalk.

Originally, SR 972 extended seven miles further west along Southwest 24th Street to Southwest 107th Avenue (SR 985), near Tamiami Park and Florida International University. A series of truncations started in the late 1990s, first moving the western terminus two miles eastward to SR 973 (Galloway Road/Southwest 87th Avenue), then another 4.5 miles to SR 953 (LeJeune Road) in Coral Gables -- the exit signs on the Palmetto Expressway were replaced with ones without the State Road designation in 2001 -- and, at the request of businesses along the Miracle Mile stretch of Coral Way, a final move of the western terminus one-half mile to its current location. Ironically, the final move re-established SR 972 on the original, pre-1926 configuration of Coral Way (many commercially-prepared maps still show an intersection with LeJeune Road as the western terminus).

In the years after the merger of Silver Bluff and Miami, Coral Way has been extended many times. Westward from SR 972, it now travels along Southwest 24th Street (Miracle Mile in eastern Coral Gables) until after passing under Florida's Turnpike, rounding a gentle chicane, and following Southwest 26th Street until its current terminus just west of Southwest 162nd Avenue. Although the newer sections of Coral Way west of Coral Gables do not have the scenery or the history of the current SR 972, they form an extremely important commercial link for Miami-Dade County.

Florida State Roads
Preceded by 970	State Road 972	Succeeded by 973