FL 9336, Main Park Road and the Old Ingraham Highway

[Max Rockatansky]

I revisited Everglades National Park over Memorial Day weekend via Florida State Road 9336 and Main Park Road.   The combined corridor of Florida State Road 9336 and Main Park Road has origins in early surveys for the Overseas Railroad which repurposed into the Ingraham Highway.  The Ingraham Highway was completed to Royal Palm State Park by 1916, Flamingo by 1922 and became Florida State Road 205 when it was adopted by the State in 1931.  During the 1945 State Road Renumbering Florida State Road 205 was reassigned as Florida State Road 27.   The dedication of Everglades National Park in 1947 eventually led much of the Ingraham Highway being turned over the Park Service in the 1950s.  The Park Service abandoned several segments of the Ingraham Highway during the 1960s-1970s which was rebuilt as Main Park Road.  Outside of the Everglades National Park boundary Florida State Road 27 was reassigned as Florida State Roads 997 and 9336 to avoid confusion with nearby US Route 27. 

The corridor of Florida State Route 9336, Main Park Road and the Ingraham Highway are fascinating to me given they involve early attempts to develop infrastructure in the Everglades.  If there was a list of scenic highway corridors in Florida the trip from Florida City southwest to Flamingo would definitely would be near the top with US 41/Tamiami Trail and US 1/Overseas Highway:

https://www.gribblenation.org/2021/06/florida-state-road-9336-everglades.html

[Avalanchez71]

Cool stuff.  I was always amazed at SR 9336 and how the transition from the Miami Metro area goes to wilderness.  The way the county lines are drawn in Florida is still akin to pioneer days.  Somewhat reminiscent of California county sizes i.e. San Bernardino County, Los Angeles County, largess in size.  The transition is pretty fascinating.  I remember when I was a child I asked my parents to drive down some of the side roads leading off of SR 997 and SR 9336.  They weren't feeling it.  They did take me down to the park and we did take some of the side trips but they just would not veer off SR 997 or SR 9336.

[epzik8]

I got down there back in 2010

[Avalanchez71]

I got down there back in 2010

I vaguely recall the SR 27 signs in the early 80s.  I wondered as a child why they just didn't route US 27 along SR 27 and then route US 27 as US 27E or US 27 Spur into Miami.

[Max Rockatansky]

I got down there back in 2010

I vaguely recall the SR 27 signs in the early 80s.  I wondered as a child why they just didn't route US 27 along SR 27 and then route US 27 as US 27E or US 27 Spur into Miami.

The main issues there would have been:

-  FL 27 (current 997) was until very recently hugely substandard to any US Route in Florida. 
-  A child US Route would not make sense given the AASHTO has a long standing provision to not add sub-300 mile intrastate US Routes.  If FL 50 can't get an Intrastate US Route I suspect no other State Road stands a chance.
-  Having an E/W split in US 27 would require it overlap US 1 from Miami to Florida City.  In that case it would just be better to replace US 1 all the way to Key West with US 27.  Although if the State picked up Card Sound Road again then moving the terminus to Key Largo might be more feasible (but would still require the Miami-Florida City multiplex of US 1).

Now what would be kind of neat (in a Fictional Sense) is having US 27 or another US Route end in Flamingo.  Main Park Road is very solid for an NPS road and wouldn't be without precedent in the National Park System.  I think a realigned US 98 or 441 would make more sense than US 27 though. 

[rlb2024]

I especially like the sign along the highway:

Rock Reef Pass
Elevation 3 feet

Kinda pales in comparison to the passes out West . . .