U.S. Highway 27 (US 27) in Florida is a north–south United States Numbered Highway. It runs from the Miami metropolitan area northwest to the Tallahassee metropolitan area. Throughout the state, US 27 has been designated the Claude Pepper Memorial Highway by the Florida Legislature. It was named after long-time Florida statesperson Claude Pepper, who served in both the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives. The stretch running from Miami to South Bay was originally designated the Thomas E. Will Memorial Highway by the Florida Legislature in 1937 when that portion was known as State Road 26 (SR 26). Thomas E. Will, the founder of Okeelanta, had worked for almost 20 years to get the state to build a road from Miami to the area south of Lake Okeechobee.
For most of its length in the state, US 27 is largely a four-lane divided highway. However, the highway narrows down to a two-lane roadway for about between Williston and Perry. US 27 Alternate reduces the distance between the two cites by and maintains four lanes for its entire length.
Between Miami and Ocala, US 27 follows SR 25; between Leesburg and Williston, it follows SR 500; between Williston and High Springs, it follows SR 45; between High Springs and downtown Tallahassee, it follows SR 20; within downtown Tallahassee, it follows SR 61; and, between Tallahassee and the Georgia border, it follows State Road 63 (SR 63).
Concurrencies include SR 80 between South Bay and Clewiston, SR 78 from Moore Haven to Citrus Center, US 98 between Sebring and western Frostproof, and US 441 between Leesburg and Ocala, which also includes a concurrency with US 301 between Belleview and Ocala. Others include US 41 between Williston and High Springs, SR 20 between High Springs and Tallahassee, US 129 in Branford, US 19 between Perry and Capps, and SR 61 in Tallahassee.
Route description
Miami through Central Florida
US 27 begins its northward journey as North 36th Street in Midtown Miami, heading west from US 1 for before turning northwest to pass under the western terminus of SR 112 (Airport Expressway), while also passing under Interstate 95 (I-95) without a direct interchange. It then proceeds northwest for as South Okeechobee Road, parallel to the Miami Canal, forming the southwest boundary of the city of Hialeah. After an interchange with SR 826 (Palmetto Expressway), it continues northwest as North Okeechobee Road for before an interchange with the Homestead Extension of the Florida Turnpike. After another , the highway curves to the north and, after passing the northern terminus of SR 997 (Krome Avenue), crosses into Broward County.
In Broward County, the highway passes protected wetlands and heavy-duty powerlines on the west and the outer reaches of the suburban communities of Pembroke Pines and Weston on the east where it curves to the northwest. It passes by West Broward High School in Pembroke Pines, in which many school busses coming from SR 822 (Sheridan Street) use US 27 to get to Johnson Street to where the high school is. US 27 then reaches an interchange with I-75 and Alligator Alley (exit 23) which is an elaborate partial cloverleaf interchange with flyovers from US 27, loop ramps from I-75, and no reentry to either road. From here, the road is surrounded by Everglades-related wilderness and recreational areas before curving to the north toward South Bay, where it intersects SR 80 and overlaps the road before curving west along the shores of Lake Okeechobee. The highway skirts the southwestern shore of Lake Okeechobee and then heads west through Lake Harbor and then Clewiston, before making a sharp turn to the north toward Moore Haven, where it crosses the Mamie Langdale Memorial Bridge over the Caloosahatchee Canal and makes another sharp turn to the west. The road then intersects with SR 78, which it overlaps until reaching Citrus Center, then proceeds in a northerly direction toward the central Florida communities such as Lake Placid, where it intersects SR 70.
The southern terminus of the concurrency with US 98 is also the eastern terminus of SR 66. From here, the hidden routes are SR 25 and SR 700. Shortly after this, US 27/US 98 runs through a commercial strip area before curving to the west at a Y intersection along the south shore of Lake Jackson in Sebring, where SR 17 begins. The road heads back to the northwest as it runs along and then away from the edge of the lake. North of here, the road runs west of Lake Sebring, but, in Avon Park, it runs much closer to the shores of Lake Glenada, where it passes through South Florida State College territory. From here, it passes by lakes Lelia and Anoka, and, just east of Avon Park Executive Airport, it intersects SR 64 and the northern terminus of a segment of SR 17. SR 64 continues east along part of SR 17 as a bi-county extension northeast into Polk County which runs through the Lake Wales Ridge State Forest and terminates at the Avon Park Air Force Range. North of here, US 27 carries hidden state routes (SR 17, SR 25, and SR 700) into Polk County until it reaches Sunray Deli Estates, where SR 17 breaks away again, and runs relatively parallel to US 27 until it reaches Haines City. Meanwhile, after making a reverse curve over a bridge above a CSX Transportation railroad line that is used by Amtrak's Silver Star and Silver Meteor lines, US 98 breaks away in western Frostproof, taking SR 700 with it. In the opposite direction of this intersection is a continuation of County Road 630 (CR 630). After passing by Warner University, Crooked Lake Park, and CR 640, US 27 becomes slightly less rural as it approaches an unnumbered partial cloverleaf interchange with SR 60 in Lake Wales. North of this point, US 27 becomes a six-lane highway and remains that way until reaching SR 540 in Waverly, where the road narrows down to four lanes again. The widening of US 27 to a six-lane highway, however, continues in Polk County between here and SR 542 in Dundee. North of here, US 27 runs through Lake Hamilton and curves around the eastern shores of the lake for which the community was named. After passing by a pair of gated communities and crossing over a bridge between Middle Lake Hamilton, and the ironically named larger Little Lake Hamilton, it curves north and intersects SR 544. Taking a turn to the northeast after passing by Lake Henry, US 27 encounters another unnumbered interchange with US 17/US 92 in Haines City and immediately passes over another CSX Transportation railroad line that is used by Amtrak's Silver Star and Silver Meteor lines. With the exception of a segment between Hammock Lake and Tower Lake, most of US 27 remains a commercial strip, especially as it enters Davenport, and approaches quarter-cloverleaf interchanges on the southeast and northwest corners of the bridge over I-4 at exit 55.
Four Corners to Santos
North of I-4, US 27 contains more unnumbered interchanges. The first of which is a trumpet interchange with US 192 (SR 530) on the Polk–Lake county line in Four Corners (named Citrus Ridge until 2014), and shortly afterward, an at-grade intersection with CR 474, although some maps have indicated another interchange here. Most of the road remains a rural four-lane highway with at-grade intersections. After passing by Lake Louisa State Park and winding around the eastern shores of the lake that the park was named for, US 27 approaches a cloverleaf interchange without exit numbers at SR 50 in Clermont. After passing the Florida Citrus Tower and Presidents Hall of Fame, the road enters Minneola along the east side of Lake Minneola, where it crosses a bridge over South Lake Trail, intersects such roads as CR Old 50, as well as CR 561, the latter of which it shares a brief concurrency. After this section, it briefly runs parallel to the southwest side of Florida's Turnpike, until it veers slightly to the west and approaches a quarter-cloverleaf interchange with SR 19 south of Howey-in-the-Hills, which also includes a southbound interchange with Florida's Turnpike. The northbound turnpike interchange can be found further northwest. At Okahumpka, US 27 intersects two county roads that are extensions of state roads. The first of which is CR 48, and the next of which is the northern terminus of CR 33 before running along the western shore of Lake Harris and eastern shore of Lake Denham, the location of Singletary Par also known as the Leesburg Fishing Area.1966 Topographical Map of Roadside Park on US 27-FL SRs 25-33 Lake Harris Bridge (Historic Aerials)Leesburg Fishing Area (Google Street View) Here, it intersects CR 25A. North of Lake Harris, it enters Leesburg where US 27 has an intersection with SR 44. US 441 later joins US 27, and, as a result, the hidden state routes are officially SR 25/SR 500. SR 500 becomes more prominent however, because in Lady Lake, SR 25 branches away as CR 25. This once served as the southern terminus of the US 27/US 441 Alternate (US 441 Alt.) around Lake Weir into Belleview but still remains a scenic route.
Around the Lake–Marion county border, US 27/US 441 enters a retirement community known as The Villages. Because of the frequent use of street-legal golf cars in the community, bridges and tunnels for these carts can be found throughout the road. US 27/US 441 leaves The Villages as it approaches CR 42, a bi-county east–west scenic route through Central Florida. North of here, it serves as the newly constructed bypass that leads to CR 484, in Summerfield. Within Belleview, the road encounters two somewhat important intersections; CR 25A and then SR 35. SR 35 joins US 27/US 441 in a wrong-way concurrency with SR 500 as the road curves more to the west, until it reaches the intersection with US 301, where SR 35 turns south, and SR 500 becomes the hidden state road for US 27/US 301/US 441 for a few blocks. SR 25, however, reunites with the triple concurrency at the former eastern terminus of CR 484, and shares a concurrency with SR 25, and US 27/US 301/US 441's new secret route becomes SR 25/SR 500. After that section, the road curves more to the north again. Near the right-of-way for the formerly proposed Cross Florida Barge Canal, the median for the road widens but narrows back down to normal again. Before it does, however, it intersects CR 328, where a police station exists between the median. Supports for a bridge that was intended to run over the canal exist behind the police station. To the west of this intersection is the Santos Trailhead of the Marjorie Harris Carr Cross Florida Greenway.
Santos through High Springs