 State Road 997 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| West 177th Avenue / Krome Avenue | ||||
 SR 997 highlighted in red | ||||
| Route information | ||||
| Maintained byFDOT | ||||
| Length | 36.705 mi[1][2] (59.071 km) | |||
| Existed | 1983–present | |||
| Major junctions | ||||
| South end |  SR 998 inHomestead | |||
| Major intersections |  SR 94 inThe Hammocks US 41 west ofSweetwater | |||
| North end |  US 27 northwest ofHialeah | |||
| Location | ||||
| Country | United States | |||
| State | Florida | |||
| Counties | Miami-Dade | |||
| Highway system | ||||
| ||||
State Road 997 (SR 997), also known asKrome Avenue andWest 177th Avenue is a 36.7-mile-long (59.1 km) north–southstate highway in westernMiami-Dade County, Florida. It runs fromState Road 998 inHomestead north acrossU.S. Route 41 toU.S. Route 27 near Countyline Dragway (formerlyOpa-locka West Airport), just south of theBroward County line. Its main use is as abypass around the western side ofMiami, linking the routes that run southwest, west and northwest from that city. The road passes through newer suburbs in the southern third of its length, while the northern two thirds of the highway traverse the eastern edge of theEverglades.
State Road 997 begins in Homestead at the western terminus ofSR 998 on Campbell Drive. The road heads north exiting Homestead and enters unincorporated Miami-Dade county,[3] immediately entering farmland north of Southwest 296th Street, and becoming increasingly rural the further north it journeys.
SR 997 passes through the rural community ofRedland, crossingCSX tracks north of Southwest 232nd Street. 6.1 miles (9.8 km) after leaving Homestead, SR 997 forms the western terminus ofSR 994 northwest of the remains ofAladdin City. After a few more miles and crossing the Black Creek Canal, SR 997 chicanes to the right, crossing over the Conrad Yelvington branch railroad where it forms the western boundary of the suburbanThe Hammocks up to its junction withSR 94,[4] the latter's western terminus. Past here, the road enters woodland and is relatively uninterrupted for the next 5 miles (8.0 km), save for the Conrad Yelvington facility,[5] reaching theTamiami Trail (US 41) at its northern end. After passing theMiccosukeeIndian casino and resort, SR 997 has an uninterrupted run north along the boundary of the Everglades, turning northeast after 9 miles (14 km). After crossing theMiami Canal 4.4 miles (7.1 km) later, SR 997 terminates after 0.8 miles (1.3 km) atUS 27.[1][2][6][7]
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State Road 205 was defined in 1931 to run fromFlamingo (now insideEverglades National Park) northeast toState Road 4A (nowU.S. Route 1) inFlorida City along theIngraham Highway. There it would runconcurrent with US 1 intoHomestead (US 1 ran through downtown Florida City and Homestead, instead of the bypass it uses now), splitting onto the existing Krome Avenue to end atState Road 27 (U.S. Route 94, theTamiami Trail, nowU.S. Route 41).
In the1945 renumbering, theState Road 27 number was assigned to all of the former State Road 205, as well as an extension north toState Road 25 (nowU.S. Route 27). The largeEverglades National Park was formed in 1947, taking over most of SR 27 southwest from Florida City. Paving of this road, mostly along the oldIngraham Highway, was completed in 1956.[8] The extension north to SR 25 opened in the early 1950s.
In the mid-1960s,State Road 5 (U.S. Route 1) was rerouted onto a bypass of Homestead and Florida City. This removed theconcurrency of SR 997 and SR 5/US 1, but the old alignment becameState Road 5A andU.S. Route 1 Business until 1968.
The SR 27 designation for Krome Avenue confused many motorists, as the SR 27 designation belonged to the nearbyTamiami Trail (U.S. Route 41) prior to the 1945 renumbering. Tamiami Trail was still labeled as SR 27 on maps for several years following 1945.[which?] In later decades, motorists confused Krome Avenue for Okeechobee Road, which carried the similarly numberedU.S. Route 27 since 1949.
In 1983, theFlorida Department of Transportation renumbered the road as a part of a statewide renumbering and to avoid state road number confusion. The part north of Florida City became State Road 997, which was extended south past the turnoff for the Everglades to merge withU.S. Route 1. The part southwest from Florida City becameState Road 9336, and at some point it was extended east two blocks past SR 997 to US 1.
Since the late 1960s, plans to incorporate the southern portion of Krome Avenue into Miami-Dade County's system of expressways have been repeatedly announced and killed.[9] The original plans for theHomestead Extension of Florida's Turnpike incorporated a continuation from the southwest end of the currentState Road 874 southwest to Krome Avenue, then southward to Homestead. When the proposal was defeated in 1971, the Turnpike Extension was rerouted to the present-day configuration.
In December 2014, FDOT began work to turn Campbell Drive between SR 997 andUS 1 into a truck by-pass, eliminating the need for truck traffic to pass through downtownFlorida City andHomestead.[10] The widening of Campbell will resulted in its addition to the state highway system asState Road 998.[11] In exchange, FDOT shortened SR 997 on Krome Avenue by relinquishing the segment south of Campbell toMiami-Dade County, which now exists as unsigned County Road 997.[12]
Krome Avenue is named for William J. Krome. Krome was a railroad engineer for theFlorida East Coast Railway and is known for leading an expedition to surveyCape Sable for a route for theOverseas Railroad toKey West. Krome ended up mapping much of Everglades for the first time. Krome is also known for his contributions to agriculture in the area. He was a member of the Florida State Horticultural Society and operated orchards inRedland.[13]
With increasing traffic and increasing numbers of accidents on Krome Avenue,[14] discussions of widening the highway had begun by the 1980s. A project began in 2015 to widen the highway to 4 lanes with a median for its entire length, starting at Okeechobee Road in 2015 and with the final southern sections to start in 2019.[15][16] Disapproval has arisen fromRedland andHomestead, as the people living in those areas express their fear of increasing traffic changing the rural character of their neighborhoods. Farmers also worry that the widening will hinder access to the fresh produce that they sell.[16][17] There are also environmental objections to the project, including light pollution from new streetlights being installed for the entire length of the highway. This will change the nature of the road from a ruralbypass route to a thirdouter loop or "beltway" of Miami after thePalmetto Expressway and theHEFT amid a burgeoning population and increasing traffic congestion, possibly putting pressure on the countyUrban Development Boundary, which protects against westward encroachment into theEverglades. The first section to begin construction was the northern segment from Tamiami Trail to the Okeechobee Road terminus, followed by the middle segment from Tamiami down to SW 88 Street/Kendall Drive.[18]
Despite being widened to four lanes, a proposal to build a whole new north-south highway in the area was expedited in 2025. Known as theKendall Parkway, it would extend theDolphin Expressway (SR 836) from its terminus in West Miami south to SW 136 Street, nearMiami Executive Airport.[19]
The entire route is inMiami-Dade County.[20][21]
| Location[20][21] | mi[1][2] | km | Destinations | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Homestead | 2.813 | 4.527 |    SR 998 east (Campbell Drive / Southwest 312th Street) toFlorida's Turnpike Extension –Miami-Dade College | western terminus of SR 998[11] southern terminus of SR 997 Krome Avenue continues south as unsigned CR 997 | |
| Redland | 9.884 | 15.907 |  SR 994 east (Quail Roost Drive / Southwest 200th Street) | western terminus of SR 994 | |
| The Hammocks | 17.431 | 28.052 | SR 94 east (Kendall Drive / Southwest 88th Street) toFlorida's Turnpike Extension | western terminus of SR 94 | |
| | 22.430 | 36.098 | US 41 (Southwest 8th Street /SR 90) | ||
| | 36.705 | 59.071 | US 27 (Okeechobee Road /SR 25) | ||
| 1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi | |||||
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