Bird Road
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|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bird Road | ||||
| Route information | ||||
| Maintained by FDOT and Miami-Dade County | ||||
| Length: |
13.6 mi (21.9 km) SR 976 is 8.466 mi (13.625 km).[1] The unnumbered portion is 5.2 miles (8.4 km). | |||
| Existed: | 1920 – present | |||
| Major junctions | ||||
| West end: | West 162nd Avenue near Miami | |||
  Homestead Ext. / SR 821 in Westwood Lakes SR 985 in Westwood Lakes SR 973 near Westchester SR 826 near Westchester SR 959 in Coral Gables SR 953 in Coral Gables  US 1 / SR 5 in Coral Gables | ||||
| East end: | Aviation Avenue in Coconut Grove, Miami | |||
| Location | ||||
| Counties: | Miami-Dade | |||
| Highway system | ||||
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Bird Road, co-signed State Road 976 from the Homestead Extension of Florida's Turnpike (SR 821) in Westwood Lakes, Florida to U.S. Route 1 (SR 5) in Miami, is a 13.6-mile (21.9 km) main east-west road running south of downtown Miami in Miami-Dade County, Florida.
Route description
State Road 976 begins on Bird Road at the Homestead Extension of Florida's Turnpike in Westwood Lakes, heading east as a primarily commercial six lane divided highway, including many strip malls on its route. It crosses State Road 985 before leaving Westwood Lakes and entering Westchester. Between SW 94th Avenue and SW 92nd Avenue, Bird Road passes by Bird Bowl, one of the few remaining bowling establishments in Miami-Dade County. Bird Road then crosses State Road 973 (Galloway Road), and borders the northern end of Tropical Park, the former site of a race track that had its heyday in the 1950s and 1960s, and now a Miami-Dade County park. At the northeastern border of Tropical Park, SR 976 has an interchange with the Palmetto Expressway. At the southeast corner of its intersection of Ludlam Road, a block of vintage stores lines the road. At State Road 959, the road enters Coral Gables, with the median of the road containing spreading banyan trees, similar to the nearby Coral Way. Between State Road 959 (Red Road) and State Road 953 (LeJeune Road), the road is primarily residential, crossing a couple of golf courses. East of SR 953 and Coral Gables High School, it resumes commercial businesses, and has intersections with Ponce De Leon Boulevard, where the median disappears, and quickly heads towards its eastern terminus of US 1.[2]
East of State Road 976's eastern terminus, Bird Road becomes SE 30th Street/Bird Avenue as it traverses the Coconut Grove neighborhood of Miami, intersecting SW 27th Avenue and ending at Aviation Avenue one block further east.
West of State Road 976's western terminus, the road jogs slightly to the south to become SW 42nd Street, and known as Bird Road or Bird Drive, as it goes through a primarily residential area, with several businesses and strip malls scattered through. Bird Drive currently ends at West 162nd Avenue, but more development continues to be built in this area and the road may be extended further west in the future.
History
SR 976
When FDOT added Bird Road to its list of state roads in 1980, it was originally designated State Road 930. Three years later the SR 930 signs were removed from the street and replaced with signs with the SR 976 designation.
Major intersections
This table covers only the portion of Bird Road signed as SR 976. The entire route is in Miami-Dade County.
| Location | Mile[1] | km | Destinations | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Westwood Lakes | 0.000 | 0.000 | Homestead Ext. / SR 821 | Exit 23 (Turnpike) | |
| 1.142 | 1.838 | SR 985 (SW 107th Avenue) | |||
| Westchester | 3.144 | 5.060 | SR 973 (SW 87th Avenue) | ||
| 4.166– 4.266 | 6.705– 6.865 | SR 826 (Palmetto Expressway) | Interchange | ||
| Coral Gables | 6.219 | 10.009 | SR 959 (SW 57th Avenue) | ||
| 7.740 | 12.456 | SR 953 (Le Jeune Road) | |||
| 8.466 | 13.625 | US 1 / SR 5 (South Dixie Highway) | |||
| 1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi | |||||
References
Route map: Google / Bing| KML file (edit) |
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 "Straight-Line Diagrams". Florida Department of Transportation. Retrieved July 24, 2012.
- ↑ MapQuest, Inc. (2009). Map of State Road 976 (Map). http://mapq.st/Wj4V0q. Retrieved 2013-03-19.
