UNLEASHING The Flow

摘要

Before the construction of Interstate 75, also known as Alligator Alley, across the southern end of Florida, U.S. 41 was the primary route for south Florida residents and visitors traveling between the Atlantic coast and the Gulf of Mexico. U.S. 41, the old Tampa-to-Miami highway, known almost universally to local residents as the Tamiami Trail, is used less frequently today. It tends to be favored by those traveling at a more leisurely pace through the evocative cypress stands and expansive saw grass swamps of the Florida Everglades. Built in the late 1920s, the Tamiami Trail consists of an embankment dug from an adjoining canal, a limestone base approximately 12 in. (305 mm) thick, and a 2 to 3 in. (51 to 76 mm) thick asphalt covering. A series of timber bridges constructed during the 1940s were replaced in the 1950s by a series of culverts, each approximately 60 ft (18 m) long and located roughly 4 ft (1.2 m) beneath the roadway. The maximum amount of water allowed to flow beneath the Tamiami Trail at that time―approximately 1,500 cfs (42.54 m~3/s)―adequately served what were then perceived as the area's ecological needs. In the years since, however, the perception of those needs has changed dramatically.