“The greatest measure of our customers' satisfaction is the size of their smile.”

- James L. Ely,
Executive Director

The Florida's Turnpike is a 450-mile system of limited-access toll highways. Its Turnpike mainline passes through 11 counties from north Miami to a junction with Interstate 75 in north central Florida.

The original 110-mile stretch of Turnpike from Golden Glades to Fort Pierce opened to traffic in 1957 as the Sunshine State Parkway, under the direction of the former Florida State Turnpike Authority. The second section, Fort Pierce to Wildwood, was completed in 1964. The final stage of the mainline Turnpike was finished in 1974 with the addition of the 47-mile Homestead Extension of Florida's Turnpike (H.E.F.T.) which extends from Miami to Homestead. Florida's Turnpike is a user-financed facility whose toll revenue pays for new construction and maintenance of the entire system.

The Sawgrass Expressway/Toll 869 was constructed by the Broward County Expressway Authority and was acquired by Florida's Turnpike District in 1990 as a result of legislative action. It was opened to traffic in 1986, and provides a bypass of the urban Fort Lauderdale and Miami areas traveling south from the Turnpike mainline.

Prior to the Turnpike, most travelers through Central Florida utilized U.S. 27. Today, Florida's Turnpike handles the bulk of traffic leading from the Central Florida area to east coast destinations in South Florida.

The mainline Turnpike is divided into two systems of toll collections: the ticket system and the coin system. On the northern and southern urban portions of the Turnpike in Orlando and Miami, tolls are paid through the collection of coins and modern, automated equipment. Along the center portion of the mainline Turnpike, from West Palm Beach to Kissimmee, tolls are collected at the eight interchanges by issuing tickets and collecting money. Tolls are charged according to the number of axles on a vehicle, and are set at a 6-cent per mile toll rate for two-axle vehicles. Vehicles with additional axles, such as trucks, pay proportionately higher tolls.

In addition to the 265-mile mainline, the Turnpike District includes the 47-mile Homestead Extension, which takes motorists to the top of the Florida Keys; the 23-mile Sawgrass Expressway/Toll 869 in Broward County; the 19-mile Seminole Expressway/Toll 417 in Seminole County; the 15-mile Veterans Expressway/Toll 589 in Tampa; an eight-mile portion of the Bee Line Expressway/Toll 528 in Orlando; the six-mile Southern Connector Extension of the Central Florida GreeneWay/Toll 417 in Orlando; and the 25-mile Polk Parkway.

Public Information
Eleanor Register Turnpike Operations Center
P.O. Box 9828
Fort Lauderdale, Florida 33310-9828
(954) 975-4855 extension 1288, SunCom 422-1288 or SunCom 422-1289
FAX: (954) 970-1504
Toll Free 1-800-749-7453

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