Florida State Road 826

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State Road 826
North end:	Collins Ave in Sunny Isles Beach
South end:	South Dixie Highway in Kendall
Florida State and County Roads < SR 820 SR 834 >

State Road 826 is a bypass route around the greater Miami, Florida area, extending 24.4 miles from North Miami Beach along Northeast 163rd Street into the Golden Glades Interchange, then becoming the Palmetto Expressway as it extends westward toward Miami Lakes before bending southward to serve Hialeah, Hialeah Gardens, Doral, West Miami, South Miami, and Kendall on its way to its southern terminus at U.S. Route 1 (SR 5) in Pinecrest. Interstate 95 (SR 9 and 9A) and the Palmetto Expressway are the two most-heavily traveled roads in the southern tip of Florida.

State Road 826 didn't start as an expressway: that designation originally applied to a two-lane road (Golden Glades Drive, Northwest 167th Street) connecting US 1 to US 27 (SR 25) to the west. In 1953, the newly-formed Florida Turnpike Authority presented plans for a four-lane Palmetto Bypass going around the Miami area, but nothing was done until 1958, when the Florida Department of Transportation decided to build a Palmetto Bypass Expressway themselves. A north-south section along Northwest (and Southwest) 77th Avenue would be built to connect US 1 to an improved Golden Glades Drive (complete with 90 degree eastward turn) and the portion of Northwest 167th Street west of the curve would be abandoned. The Palmetto Bypass Expressway was opened in June 1961, four years after the opening of Florida's Turnpike and six months before the opening of Miami-Dade County's second expressway, the Airport Expressway (SR 112).

The completion of the Palmetto Expressway (the "Bypass" faded from public usage in the 1960's) and the building of Interstate 95 were the impetus of the construction of the massive Golden Glades Interchange involving Florida's Turnpike, US 441 (SR 7), Interstate 95, and SR 9.

When the Palmetto Expressway was first opened, it went through tracts of woodland and farmland which have since been urbanized. Originally there were four at-grade intersections in Hialeah and Miami Lakes which were either transformed into full interchanges or blocked off in the 1970's. In addition, increasing traffic loads on SR 826 prompted plans for extending Florida's Turnpike to "bypass the bypass." In 1973, the Homestead Extension of Florida's Turnpike (SR 821) was opened to traffic four miles to the west of the Miami area's original bypass in an attempt to reduce the traffic demands on SR 826.

Florida State Roads
Preceded by 825	State Road 826	Succeeded by 834