 State Road 944 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| North 54th Street | ||||
 SR 944 highlighted in red | ||||
| Route information | ||||
| Maintained byFDOT | ||||
| Length | 5.822 mi[1] (9.370 km) | |||
| Existed | 1950 1983 (as SR 944)–present | |||
| Major junctions | ||||
| West end |  US 27 inHialeah | |||
| Major intersections |  US 441 inMiami | |||
| East end |  US 1 in Miami | |||
| Location | ||||
| Country | United States | |||
| State | Florida | |||
| Counties | Miami-Dade | |||
| Highway system | ||||
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State Road 944 (SR 944), locally known asHialeah Drive and North 54th Street, is a 5.822-mile-long (9.370 km) east–west street spanningHialeah andMiami, Florida. The western terminus is an intersection with Okeechobee Road (US 27/SR 25) in Hialeah; its eastern terminus is an intersection with Biscayne Boulevard (U.S. Route 1/SR 5). Along with the north–south Palm Avenue, Hialeah Drive is abaseline for addresses in the City of Hialeah (most ofMiami-Dade County usesFlagler Street andMiami Avenue for its baselines).
SR 944 begins at an intersection withUS 27/SR 25 inHialeah, heading east as four-lane undivided Northwest 54th Street/Hialeah Drive. The road passes through commercial areas before heading through a mix of suburban homes and businesses, becoming adivided highway at the intersection with East 6th Avenue. The state road crossesSR 953 and passes more residences and businesses, with the median becoming acenter left-turn lane. SR 944 enters industrial areas and crosses aCSX railroad line that also carriesAmtrak andTri-Rail. At the intersection with Northwest 36th Avenue, the state road entersMiami and becomes Northwest 54th Street, passing through urban residential and commercial areas. The road intersectsSR 9, at which point it passes underMetrorail's Green Line. Past this intersection, SR 944 passes through more developed areas as a four-lane undivided road. Farther east, the state road reaches a junction withUS 441/SR 7. A short distance later, SR 944 passes underI-95/SR 9A without an interchange. The road continues east past more urban homes and businesses, becoming Northeast 54th Street at the intersection withNorth Miami Avenue. SR 944 crosses theFlorida East Coast Railway before coming to its eastern terminus atUS 1/SR 5 (Biscayne Boulevard).[1][2]
The genesis of today's SR 944 began when FDOT extended US 27 southward fromTallahassee to Miami in 1949. While the "new" U.S. Highway was routed aroundLake Okeechobee and southeastward to Miami along the recently redesignated State Road 25 (the road wasSR 26 prior to 1945), theFlorida Department of Transportation added plans for threebypass routes of Miami: the north–south SR 27 (nowSR 997 andSR 9336), the east–westSR 826 (which morphed into the Palmetto Expressway several years after its opening), and the east–westState Road 25A.
Because it was routed over previously existing streets, SR 25A received its designation in 1950, well ahead of the other two planned bypasses; the configuration of the route has been unchanged since then. In a 1983 renumbering, the FDOT replaced the SR 25A designation with SR 944, the street's new insignia.
The entire route is inMiami-Dade County.
| Location | mi[1] | km | Destinations | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hialeah | 0.000 | 0.000 | US 27 (Okeechobee Road /SR 25) / Curtiss Parkway –Miami Springs | ||
| 0.943 | 1.518 |  SR 953 (East 8th Avenue / Northwest 42nd Avenue / Le Jeune Road) | |||
| | 2.464 | 3.965 |  SR 9 (Northwest 27th Avenue / Unity Boulevard) | ||
| Miami | 4.497 | 7.237 | US 441 (Northwest 7th Avenue /SR 7) | ||
| 4.615 | 7.427 |   ToI-95 / Frontage Road / Northwest 6th Avenue | |||
| 5.822 | 9.370 | US 1 (Biscayne Boulevard /SR 5) | |||
| 1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi | |||||
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