In order to restore the health of the Everglades, it is essential to remove key barriers to the natural flow of water to allow water to move unimpeded into the national park and Florida Bay. Tamiami Trail, or US-41, is a two-lane road that cuts across the Everglades connecting Naples to Miami. The road acts as a dam and Everglades National Park only receives a fraction of its historic annual flow, diminishing fish and wildlife habitat in the Everglades and raising salinity levels in Florida Bay. The solution is to elevate a total of 6.5 miles of Tamiami Trail to send more water through to Florida Bay, a project that will be completed in four sections. The first mile of the bridge was completed in 2013, and construction on the second section, a 2.6 mile bridge, was initiated in 2016. When completed, the project will allow water levels along the trail to be raised by one foot, which is estimated to increase peak flows to Everglades National Park and Florida Bay by 47 percent over current conditions.

State, Estuary, and Project Type for this project:
Florida Everglades Hydrologic Restoration