35 replies to this topic

[up+down=midtown]

dave you're so right....it happens to me atleast once a week its even worse when youre driving at night..coral gables should get rid of there dumb but nice looking rock signs.

[Brickell]

When I first got here I got lost off of US1.  The road takes a turn to the east in coconut grove, but it's hard to notice.  So I turned left on to 17th ave thinking it was a street.  I didn't figure out that I was actually heading north til I got to the Orange Bowl.  It then occured to me to check the steet signs.  Oy.

[Topher1]

Heh, the only reason I ever learned how to get around Coral Gables is because I delivered sushi for a restaurant near Sunset Place for about a year.  I have to admit though, it is oddly fulfilling to take Gables back roads to get around.  It really feels like you're accomplishing something if you can wind your way through that maze

[Aessotariq]

I know the feeling. Finding places, especially in the dark, is a mission.

Those little stone thingys are annoying. George Merrick, the man who laid out Coral Gables, felt that signs were somehow unaesthetic and cluttered the landscape. Ignoring the fact that there are stop signs, speed limit signs, and just about any other sign you can think of. They really should put them on legible posts... Keep the stones for historic value.  You tend to spend a lot of time staring at the ground instead of looking at the road.

I got invited to a wedding and would not have found the place without an online map. When I got there, it was worse because it was getting dark outside. The street stones do have block numbers, major difference being that east-west roadways increase in block number from west to east, contrary to the east-to-west configuration for the SW quadrant of Dade. I'm amazed the mail gets where it's supposed to.

Coconut Grove is like that, only they have nice, large, legible signs.

[Aessotariq]

Miami's Major Streets

Flagler Street (divides north from south)

NW/NE quadrants:

• NW 7th St
  
• NW 12th St / Perimeter Road (southern piece of Airport perimeter),
  12th and 14th are frontage roads for State Road 836
  
• 20th St
  
• 36th St / US 27 between Biscayne Blvd and NW 42nd Ave /
  "Doral Blvd" between NW 42nd Ave and Turnpike
  
• 54th St
  
• 62nd St / Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd
  
• 79th St
  
• 95th St
  
• 103rd St
  
• 119th St / Gratigny Parkway (west of NW 37th Ave it becomes an expressway)
  The arterial street becomes NW 122nd St / W 68th St in Hialeah.
  
• NE 125th St / North Miami Blvd (main east-west drag through North Miami), curves south and becomes NE 123rd Street, and eventually the Broad Causeway leading to Bal Harbour and Bay Harbor Islands.
  
• 135th ST...  NW 135th St is briefly known as Opa Locka Blvd.
  West of NW 57th Ave it becomes NW 138th ST/W 84th ST in Hialeah.
  West of the Palmetto Expressway (SR 826) it becomes NW 138th St/Graham Dairy Road.
  
• NW 154th St / Miami Lakes Drive. Main east-west through Miami Lakes.
  
• NW 167th St / Palmetto Expressway Frontage Road between NW 67th Ave and NW 12th Ave.
  east of I-95 becomes NW 167th ST / North Miami Beach Blvd, main drag through North Miami Beach. Curves and becomes NE 163rd St.
  
• Miami Gardens Drive:
  NW 186th St between I-75 and NW 62nd Ave
  NW 183rd St between NW 62nd Ave and NE 6th Ave.
  NW 185th St between NE 11th Ave and Biscayne Blvd/US1.
  
• Honey Hill Drive:  
  NW 202nd St between NW 67th Ave and NW 52nd Ave
  NW 199th St Between NW 52nd Ave and NW 2nd Ave (US 441).
  
• NE 199th St / Aventura Blvd, between Biscayne Blvd/US1 and W Country Club Drive.
  
• Ives Dairy Road:
  NW 199th St between NW 2nd Ave and NE 300 Block
  NE 205th St between NE 10th Ave and NE 11th Ave
  NE 205th Ter between NE 11th Ave and NE 15th Ave
  NE 203rd St between NE 16th Ave and NE 30th Ave.
  
• 215th St / County Line Road

SW/SE Quadrants:

• SW 8th St / Tamiami Trail / Calle Ocho
  
• Coral Way
  SE 13th St / Coral Way (Brickell Area), then SW 3rd Ave
  SW 22nd St, then SW 24th St
  
• SW 40th St / Bird Road
  
• SW 56th St / Miller Drive
  
• SW 72nd St / Sunset Drive
  
• SW 88th St / Kendall Drive
  
• SW 104th St / Killian Parkway
  
• SW 112th St / Killian Drive
  
• SW 136th St / Howard Drive
  
• SW 152nd St / Coral Reef Drive
  
• SW 168th St / Richmond Drive
  
• SW 184th St / Eureka Dr
  
• Caribbean Blvd
  
• SW 186th St / Quail Roost Drive
  
• SW 211th St / Cutler Ridge Blvd
  
• SW 216th St / Hainlin Mill Drive
  
• SW 232nd St
  
• SW 248th St / Coconut Palm Drive
  
• SW 264th St
  
• SW 296th St
  
• SW 312th St
  
• SW 320th St / Mowry Drive
  
• SW 344th St / Palm Drive

An easy way to calculate distances is to take the street number (215, for example), add 1, and divide by 16. This works for the NW/NE quadrants. Based on this calculation I know that County Line Road is exactly 13.5 miles from downtown Miami. [  (215+1)/16=13.5  ]  

In the SW/SE quadrant, all you have to do is divide by 16. Coral Reef Drive is 9.5 miles from Flagler Street [ 152/16=9.5 ]

[jamesinclair]

Not a fan of the Miami road system. Besides the trafic (US 1 once I-95 ends...agh!) coral gables is horrible. I had to go to the Miami Childrens Hospital once and it took us an hour to find the place. We were in no rush, but the signs in that part of the city are horrible.

We have an apartment on Key Biscayne, which has its own (named) system.

[Urban_Legend]

As a visitor, I would probably end up lost many times.  But after living with the road system for a while, it would probably make more sense....

[EbonyGardens]

After driving around Miami enough times, It would make more sense to me. Maybe someone can answer this question for me, is it true that in NW Miami, everything from NW 7th St to NW 213th is ghetto?

[averette]

EbonyGardens, on Jan 13 2006, 10:45 AM, said:

After driving around Miami enough times, It would make more sense to me. Maybe someone can answer this question for me, is it true that in NW Miami, everything from NW 7th St to NW 213th is ghetto?

Well, yeah - but only between I-95 and 42nd ave (LeJeune), which is still a pretty immense area.  It's best to stick to the major steets and avenues in this area, unless you're fully armed.

[123]

Its not that bad either its just an ugly area.

[123]

Probaly if your around the area during late night. I would know because when i visited miami my family used to live there but they moved to NW dade where im moving to next month. Its alot nicer.

[UptownNewOrleans]

Co-signing what the previous posters said. Pretty much all of Northwest Miami is gutter, it's like you're in Baghdad. The sad thing is that much of NW Miami never used to be like this, until white flight & the crack epidemic struck.

[jpl02]

UptownNewOrleans, on Mar 7 2007, 03:14 PM, said:

Co-signing what the previous posters said. Pretty much all of Northwest Miami is gutter, it's like you're in Baghdad. The sad thing is that much of NW Miami never used to be like this, until white flight & the crack epidemic struck.

Oh, it is gutter, trust me. You're talking to someone from Carol City (who now goes to FSU in Tally, with no intentions of coming back to South Florida). Almost all of northwest Dade is what we urban planners call "inner ring suburbs". Trashy trashy trashy. And the sad part, it reflects the people that live there. I grew up dirt poor, but to me the denizens of NW Dade are classless slobs.

It is always interesting to hear old-timers talk about how white folks used to live in Carol City. I was browsing the archives of the Herald and came across some old articles from the 70s that mention how Carol City was so "progressive" with regard to racial integration. HA! How the mighty have fallen! It was racist then and it's racist now. The only difference is it's the blacks who are racist now.

I'll step off my soapbox now

[123]

What exactly is NW Dade. I just want to make sure, like what roads and what cities.

[UptownNewOrleans]

Northwest Miami-Dade is typically everything north/northwest of downtown Miami via I-95. Example streets are NW 54th St, NW 62nd/MLK Blvd, NW 42nd Ave, Opa-Locka, Carol City, Liberty City, Allapattah, etc. NW 27th Ave is one of the main thoroughfares in NW Dade, it runs from Allapattah through Liberty City on up to Opa-Locka.

[Waffle]

Cool guide. I live near Miami so this really helps.