Florida State Road 836

Dolphin Expressway (SR 836) eastbound with Downtown Miami in the distance

I-395 spur heading east past Downtown Miami

The highway begins just north of the intersection of Southwest 137th Avenue (unsigned SR 825) and U.S. Highway 41 (SR 90) in Tamiami, built in 2007 and initially accessible only to motorists with SunPass transponders, passing through the first toll gantry. The expressway heads east towards the Homestead Extension of the Turnpike, and then passes through the second of four toll gantries. It then intersects with the Palmetto Expressway (SR 826) at the recently rebuilt Dolphin–Palmetto Interchange, and passes through the southern end of the Miami International Airport. With the failure of FDOT to build either the previously planned airport spur or the proposed LeJeune Road Expressway to give additional access to the airport, Miami-Dade County's sole complete east–west throughway is now often congested, most commonly in the stretch between the Palmetto Expressway (SR 826) and LeJeune Road (SR 953). During this stretch, the expressway have interchanges with NW 72nd Avenue, a third toll gantry, NW 57th Avenue, and a partial with NW 45th Avenue before reaching LeJeune Road. East of the interchange with the airport at LeJeune Road, The expressway has interchanges with NW 37th Avenue and NW 27th Avenue (SR 9), and then reaches the fourth and final toll gantry just west of downtown. The highway has two more interchanges in the fringes of downtown with NW 17th Avenue and NW 12th Avenue before intersecting with I-95 at the Midtown Interchange and becoming a free road and unsigned as Interstate 395 goes into downtown Miami.[4]

I-395 heads east as an elevated, six-lane expressway into downtown Miami. The feeder lanes from I-95 to eastbound I-395 make up a separate three lane ramp to the right of I-395, with the exit to US 1/US 41 being a left exit from the I-395 lanes and a right exit from the I-95 feeder lanes. The feeder lanes then merge into three lanes, heading east towards the MacArthur Causeway, with I-395 and SR 836 terminating just east of an entrance ramp with US 1 (SR 5)/US 41, and continuing as SR A1A.[4][5]

The Dolphin Expressway is an all-electronic toll road that only accepts tolls via SunPass transponders or billing by the toll-by-plate at double cost. The toll road does not accept cash. Toll gantries are located along the expressway and on interchange ramps, eliminating all "free movement" sections that existed in the past. As of November 15, 2014, the total toll for traffic traveling along the expressway from Northwest 137th Avenue to Interstate 95 is $2.40 for SunPass users, and $4.80 for Toll-by-Plate users.[6]

The old shield for the Dolphin Expressway, used from its opening to the mid-2000s.

Signage denoting the current western terminus of the Dolphin Expressway, right above an all electronic toll gantry

Originally envisioned as the Twentieth Street Tollway in 1964 (with a spur to the airport along LeJeune Road), construction on the Fourteenth Street east–west Expressway between the Palmetto Expressway and US 1 started in 1967 and was completed in 1969. Two years later, construction of the western extension to Florida's Turnpike commenced, and was finished in 1974. Also in 1974, the name of the tollway was changed to commemorate the success of the Miami Dolphins of the NFL, after back-to-back wins in the Super Bowl.

The section of SR 836 signed as I-395 was supposed to open with the rest of the Dolphin Expressway in 1968, but was delayed due to a freeze at the federal level for road spending.[7] The expressway opened on March 26, 1971.[8]

Initial plans for the Interstate 75 extension to Miami in 1968 would have had used the Dolphin Expressway as its final link to Interstate 95 (I-75 would have crossed the Everglades via the Tamiami Trail under this plan). However, these plans were abandoned in 1973 in favor of I-75's current route farther north. The fact that the Dolphin Expressway was not built to interstate standards was one of the factors in changing I-75's proposed route.[9]

Construction of a second westward extension of SR 836 started in 2004.[10] This extension, westward to Northwest 137th Avenue near Northwest 12th Street, opened June 22, 2007, was initially accessible only to motorists with SunPass electronic toll-paying capability; there is no capacity for the collection of cash. The road has since opened to non SunPass users with the Toll by Plate system.

Until July 1, 2007, the toll for eastbound automobiles was $1.25 ($1.00 for motorists with SunPass), paid at a toll booth between Northwest 22nd and Northwest 17th Avenues (toll is not collected from westbound traffic). In conjunction with the completion of the new three-mile-long extension west of the Turnpike, tolls of $1.00 (75 cents for motorists with SunPass) were collected from traffic in both directions west of SR 973 (Northwest 87th Avenue/Galloway Road). Although the new toll was originally stated to be only for the extension, motorists going to the Florida Turnpike or Northwest 107th Avenue also have to pay.[11]

On July 21, 2013, the eastbound toll plaza near I-95 ceased cash collection and became all electronic, with those paying with SunPass paying $1, and Toll by Plate users paying $2.

On November 15, 2014, the Dolphin Expressway became an all electronic toll road, no longer collecting cash, and the only ways to pay are either by the SunPass transponders or billing by the toll-by-plate program, at double the cost of SunPass users. Toll gantries are located along the expressway and on interchanges to where there are no "free movement" sections of the expressway as existed previously. The move was first announced in 2010, and along with the nearby Airport Expressway, was the last of the MDX expressways to be converted to open road tolling.[12][13]

On May 24, 2010, construction began on the Port Miami Tunnel, a $1 billion project that connects the port to other major highway arteries, including I-395, with the tunnel opening on August 3, 2014.[14][15]

In 2016, the construction of additional lanes to match the rebuilt, higher capacity Dolphin-Palmetto Interchange, with SR 826 was completed.[16]

The Dolphin Expressway is home to two of the state's three diverging-diamond interchanges after the reconstruction of two exits at Northwest 27th Avenue and Northwest 57th Avenue.[17]

Exits are unnumbered on the MDX-maintained section. The entire route is in Miami-Dade County.

Location	mi[2][1][6]	km	Exit	Destinations	Notes
Tamiami	0.000	0.000		SR 825 south (Southwest 137th Avenue) to US 41 / SR 90 (Southwest 8th Street / Tamiami Trail)	The Tamiami Trail is approximately one mile south from the end of the expressway via SR 825. Northbound 137th Avenue leads into an industrial park, where it ends at Northwest 25th Street.
	0.8	1.3		Toll gantry ($0.30 SunPass, $0.60 Toll by Plate)
Tamiami–Fontainebleau– Doral tripoint	2.46	3.96		Florida's Turnpike Extension – Homestead, Fort Lauderdale, Orlando	Westbound exit and eastbound entrance; exit 26 on Turnpike Extension
Fontainebleau–Doral line	3.584	5.768		SR 985 (Northwest 107th Avenue)	Westbound exit and eastbound entrance; full access is available to/from Turnpike
	4.4	7.1		Toll gantry ($0.70 SunPass, $1.40 Toll by Plate)
	5.608	9.025		SR 973 (Northwest 87th Avenue / Galloway Road) / Northwest 12th Street
	6.595	10.614		SR 826 (Palmetto Expressway)
	7.127	11.470		SR 969 (Northwest 72nd Avenue / Milam Dairy Road)
Miami	8.5	13.7		Toll gantry ($0.70 SunPass, $1.40 Toll by Plate)
	8.689	13.984		SR 959 (Northwest 57th Avenue / Red Road)
	9.89	15.92		Northwest 45th Avenue	Eastbound exit and westbound entrance
	10.275	16.536		SR 953 (Le Jeune Road) – Coral Gables, Rental Car Center, Airport
	10.795	17.373		Northwest 37th Avenue / Douglas Road	Westbound exit and eastbound entrance via SR 960
	11.834	19.045		SR 9 (Northwest 27th Avenue)
	12.538	20.178		Toll gantry ($0.70 SunPass, $1.40 Toll by Plate)
	12.915	20.785		Northwest 17th Avenue – Civic Center, Ballpark	Eastbound exit and westbound entrance; access to UMiami Medical Center, Jackson Memorial Hospital
	13.447	21.641		SR 933 (Northwest 12th Avenue) – Medical / Civic Center	Westbound exit and eastbound entrance
	13.999	22.529	East end of MDX maintenance; west end of state maintenance
	14.204	22.859	1	I-95 / Northwest 8th Street – Fort Lauderdale, Downtown Miami, Key Biscayne	West end of I-395 concurrency; signed as exits 1A (south) and 1B (north) westbound; exits 2D-3A on I-95
	15.156	24.391	2	US 1 (Biscayne Boulevard) / Northeast 2nd Avenue – Arenas, PAC, Bayside, Science Museum	Signed as exit 2A eastbound (exit 2B is for traffic coming from I-95)
	15.387	24.763	–	SR A1A north to SR 887 (PortMiami via Tunnel) – Miami Beach, Jungle Island, Miami Children's Museum, Miami Seaplane Base	Continues east as SR A1A via MacArthur Causeway
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi       Concurrency terminus       Electronic toll collection       Incomplete access

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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Florida State Road 836.

• FDOT GIS data
• Florida @ SouthEastRoads - Interstate 395 and Florida 836
• Connecting Miami Project