I-95′s ‘missing link’ opened in 1987
It’s been only 20 years since South Florida finally connected to the rest of the world. Before Dec. 19, 1987, motorists traveling from Fort Pierce to Palm Beach Gardens had one route: Florida’s Turnpike.
That changed with the opening of the 29.7-mile “missing link,” the last remaining open stretch of Interstate 95′s 1,857 miles from Maine to Miami.
Into the 1960s, I-95 was invisible for much of this region. By 1976 it was finished from Miami to Palm Beach Gardens.
But the “missing link” stayed on paper for another 13 years. It seemed no one could agree on where it should go. Some wanted it to run east of the turnpike. Environmentalists worried about the impact on the St. Lucie and Loxahatchee rivers, and favored a route about 6 miles west of the turnpike. The U.S. Highway Administration said traffic counts weren’t high enough for another north-south route and suggested I-95 link to the turnpike or U.S. 1 instead.
When the stretch finally did open, not everyone liked its path; for most of it from Jupiter to northern Martin County, it runs side by side with the turnpike, so close that motorists can read signs on both highways.
And it takes a big jog to the west at the St. Lucie Canal, coming back over about 20 miles later near State Road 70 west of Fort Pierce.
Key openings of I-95 segments: Dec. 14, 1966 — first portion in Palm Beach County, a 3.6-mile stretch from Okeechobee Boulevard to 45th Street in West Palm Beach; 1969 — north to Palm Beach Gardens; December 1975 — portions between Lake Worth and Hypoluxo and between Boynton Beach and Miami; July 3, 1976 — between Palm Beach Gardens and Miami.
