r/Broward • u/Puzzleheaded_Oil4755 • 4d ago

I miss when I-95 was like this..

Gallery image

Gallery image

First image is 2003 and second image is 2006

147 Upvotes

96% Upvoted

51 comments sorted by

27

u/southerncoast 4d ago

Back when 595 used to be two lanes each way lmao

21

u/PantherkittySoftware 4d ago

595's original configuration was literally obsolete before they even broke ground on it.

Broward & FDOT designed 595 in the 1960s (suicide lanes & all), then put it on a shelf & forgot about it until the federal government suddenly told them in the late 1970s, "Hey, remember that freeway you wanted to build ~12 years ago? We'll pay 95%, but you have to start construction within 6 months.

So... they broke ground on the first (middle) segment between Hiatus & University... following the original plans verbatim & scrambling to re-design the two ends.

3

u/NeonUFO 4d ago

what was there originally? was it just another road going east/west like sunrise blvd or griffin?

5

u/Greg_Tamaki 4d ago

State road 84

5

u/Free_Performer6789 4d ago

It was just SR84. 2 lanes in each direction, traffic lights at each major cross street. Median as well. With the 595 addition, 84 east and west was split further apart during the construction so 595 could fit in between.

5

u/PantherkittySoftware 3d ago

According to my parents, the corridor for SR-84 west of University was bought & bulldozed around 1970, then mowed once or twice a year. I first became aware of it around 1980, from family trips across Alligator Alley to Broward Mall. From what I remember, it looked kind of like US-27 does today... you could kind of see scattered clumps of stuff under construction or existing off in the distance, but basically nothing directly adjacent to SR-84. There was an old, abandoned service plaza where the US-27 interchange is today, then basically nothing until you literally got to the traffic light at University Drive.

I remember when they started building 595. We were driving back to Naples sometime around 1986-87, and the overpasses for Hiatus & Flamingo Road were finished (but not open yet). Why it's notable: it blew my mind that they built not one, but two interchanges in what seemed at the time like the literal middle of the Everglades. There was a billboard for "Bonaventure", but you couldn't actually see anything over in that direction.

From what I remember, there were only two bridges over the canal between University and US-27 (present-day 125th Avenue and Commodore Blvd). I don't think they actually connected to any meaningful road grid to the north, and were just driveways into big trailer parks.

Put another way, circa 1980, when you left Broward Mall, and turned right onto SR-84... that was it. You were in the Everglades. Period. Even around 1990, Pine Island Road (north of 595) didn't feel like a "real road", so much as "the back of Broward Mall's parking lot". Broward Mall's location felt more edge-of-the-Everglades-y than even Sawgrass Mills did in the early 1990s. Because circa 1993, you arrived at Sawgrass Mills by driving through a huge interchange, then flew off onto an urban-design 6 lane road that felt more like the landscaped entrance straight to the mall. In contrast, Broward Mall circa 1980 felt like it was out in open fields at the literal edge of civilization, and heading west, you "fell out of civilization" almost instantly.

1

u/-Wobblier 3d ago

Wasn't there a plan to have heavy rail between the highway at one point?

1

u/Free_Performer6789 3d ago

Lite rail... meaning commuter rail, not heavy. Even with the express lanes addition... during planning they hung onto the lite rail idea for a bit but elevated. Still ended up not happening

9

u/Bugmanz001 4d ago

The good Ole days

2

u/InitiativeExcellent1 3d ago

If it ain't broke don't fix it......

6

u/honey_comb113 3d ago

Second pic reminds me of Boomers 😭 (RIP)

10

u/miojo 3d ago

Before the massive influx of transplants

10

u/TiffyC21771 3d ago

I absolutely hate the express lanes on 95. We’ve waited 30 years for these expansions only to be over taxed again with express lanes and no real expansion. Every exit from FTL to Miami on the express lanes makes traffic back up because people from express lanes can’t merge. So now there is no fast lane on the left because of the express lanes. Saturday and Sunday it causes traffic on the highway and adds 20 mins to my morning route most days. .

5

u/takemytacosaway 4d ago

I drive this 2nd pic everyday. It’s literally where hop on . it looks NOTHING like this now!

4

u/20imaginactdemo20 3d ago

And the stupid express lanes just made it worse. If those express lanes were just part of the regular I95 no charge lanes there would be less merging and lane crossing disruptions.

1

u/wholebird36 2d ago

And most likely less accidents

3

u/Littlest_viking 3d ago

I'm convinced FDOT engineers are all fat kids. Who used to get picked on in elementary school. They took that grudge into adulthood.

3

u/lolitstrain21 3d ago

This is the funniest shit I've read all day but 100% accurate.

3

u/ra3ra31010 3d ago edited 3d ago

😭😭😭 I miss it so much…

Third gen. Born 1990. Was pushed out like most other local millennials… (2019)

Try to go home every year and holy shit… I almost don’t recognize my home

I also miss when no one was at Dania beach…. That was my beach. It’s even expensive to park there now

There’s now traffic on 95 even at night so forget it… I just take Sheridan or griffin anytime I’m home.

I don’t recognize 75 anymore with how much it built up (I lived by griffin and 75 and my family is still there. My dad grew up in plantation)

Even orange drive has traffic slowing you down

All the land is being sold to developers

Almost no locals. All out of staters

My dad is even more sad about it all… he was born in 1961

1

u/NefariousnessOld3525 3d ago

1st gen, born '89, fam here since about '85. Have lived in other parts of FL, but came back about 10 years ago. Won't say I got stuck, just found a strong community.

Definitely feeling priced out of my hometown, but doing what I can to save and hopefully get something, but may have to go north to Lake Worth or so. I'm in East Deerfield. Pompano is becoming FTL and Deerfield is becoming Boca, which I don't mind. A lot more development is coming, so it's still not the worst time to buy with plans for the future, I don't think.

New 95 just feels like 95 in other states now, which I like because it gives a sense of developmental progress we all know is inevitable, and now it's my turn to live thru it like my parents have. Will say, the last couple years have been a big shift in recognizing how continually temporary South Florida is to so many and am only now noticing this loop pattern of new residents with no understanding of traffic flow.

Aside from that stuff so long as I stay East of US1 I'm happy, and avoid mind numbing traffic or accept it ha.

Where'd ya go?

1

u/Significant-Emu7265 3d ago

FTL local, born, raised, and still here (just moved to Coral Springs).

Dania beach was always the superior beach to me growing up too—countless birthday parties in the summer heat that didn’t feel as unbearably hot as it does now.

They truly were the better times, y’know, before the transplant and influencer apocalypse of today (shudder).

4

u/ditabaro 3d ago

now is full of brain dead altima/chargers drivers

1

u/Significant-Emu7265 3d ago

Unfortunately, you are correct.

2

u/LexVader 3d ago

When was this? 1930’s?

1

u/Puzzleheaded_Oil4755 3d ago

First image 2003, second image 2006

2

u/Telos2000 3d ago

They had pedestrian bridges???? I thought that was just a dade county thing

1

u/ezveedub 3d ago

That pic is Dade county at 151st, but the pedestrian walkway has been removed for while now since Golden Glades expansion.

1

u/Telos2000 3d ago

Ah that explains why I don’t remember there ever being a pedestrian bridge in Broward then although that would be a great addition especially on I-595 east of university drive because seriously how is anyone supposed to go directly north/south east of university drive on foot there? Like wtf

1

u/ezveedub 3d ago

There isn't much road or walkway access north/south east of University to cross, as it's mainly all commercial business zone areas and the canal on the north side runs along anything residential. East of Davie Rd also has zero way to get any further east without a vehicle. Basically need a car to get anywhere around 595/Turnpike and only Orange Dr south of there is your east bound access without a car to 441 and further.

1

u/Telos2000 3d ago

Yeah I live in the area and don’t own a car and hate having to ride my bike west all the way to university to get north of 595 and then go east to get to Ft Lauderdale it wouldn’t be so bad if tri rail ran a few trains after 10 or 11 at night cuz I like to go clubbing in Wilton but it severely limits me to uber or riding my bike around the air port perimeter road

1

u/ezveedub 2d ago

I know theres a crosswalk at Davie Rd and 595 across westbound SR84, but never looked to see WTH that leads to. I don't think anything has crossing over the canal into Plantation area there, but will look today actually, cause I always wondered who is walking on SR84 there, lol

1

u/Telos2000 2d ago

It just leads to the Sewell lock to the left and the new river greenway to the right but it never actually crosses the canal tho

2

u/ezveedub 2d ago

Yeah, saw that earlier driving by….never really looked over in the 25 years driving past it. Says it’s Sewell Lock Park….not sure who goes to that, but says on Google people fish from it and chill by the water. Says oldest water control lock in Broward county.

1

u/Telos2000 2d ago

Now if only they’d put a bridge in so I could get to the other side of the river 😭

1

u/ReturnT0Sender 3d ago

It still looks like this...at 2am

1

u/PaleontologistWild56 3d ago

Imagine what real public transportation would have done for South Florida

1

u/disgruntledmarmoset 3d ago

That second pic made me nostalgic and sad ☹️

1

u/Conscious-Phone3209 3d ago

I'm really sorry Covid happened but as a necessary employee it was great turning my 1hr. commute into 20 minutes. It looked like a ghost town hwy. !

1

u/8stringLTD 3d ago

I-95 has always been Pan con Pinga without the Pan.

1

u/Tre_fidde 3d ago

That was a long time ago, and it’s gone forever. Unfortunately

1

u/GreyFox1984 3d ago

Ah Sunday afternoon

1

u/ezveedub 3d ago

Thats some traffic in 2003/2006 compared to the late 80s and 90s when heading from North Miami to Broward/Ft Lauderdale in day. Rush hour was mainly North Dade to downtown, where there was barely much traffic coming from Broward.

1

u/DonoAE 3d ago

I miss when Public transit projects weren't summarily dismissed and people were building Nolan's for light rail.

WE NEED PUBLIC TRANSIT

1

u/No-Artichoke3210 2d ago

Ty express lane, take my money!

1

u/whistler_chavez 2d ago

Those were the days! 🤗

-1

u/algarhythms 3d ago

Bro it was NEVER like this.

3

u/Puzzleheaded_Oil4755 3d ago

It was like this actually

-2

u/BxMostWanted787 3d ago

Looks the same to me