State Road 944, locally known as Hialeah Drive and North 54th Street, is a east-west street spanning Hialeah and Miami, Florida. The western terminus is an intersection with Okeechobee Road in Hialeah; its eastern terminus is an intersection with Biscayne Boulevard. Along with the north-south Palm Avenue, Hialeah Drive is a baseline for addresses in the City of Hialeah.
Route description
SR 944 begins at an intersection with US 27/SR 25 in Hialeah, 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 a divided highway at the intersection with East 6th Avenue. The state roadcrossesSR 953 and passes more residences and businesses, with the median becoming a center left-turn lane. SR 944 enters industrial areas and crosses a CSXrailroad line that also carries Amtrak and Tri-Rail. At the intersection with Northwest 36th Avenue, the state road enters Miami and becomes Northwest 54th Street, passing through urban residential and commercial areas. The road intersects SR 9, at which point it passes under Metrorail'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 with US 441/SR 7. A short distance later, SR 944 passes under I-95/SR 9A without an interchange. The road continues east past more urban homes and businesses, becoming Northeast 54th Street at the intersection with North Miami Avenue. SR 944 crosses the Florida East Coast Railway before coming to its eastern terminus at US 1/SR 5.
History
The genesis of today's SR 944 began when FDOT extended US 27 southward from Tallahassee to Miami in 1949. While the "new" U.S. Highway was routed around Lake Okeechobee and southeastward to Miami along the recently redesignated State Road 25, the Florida Department of Transportation added plans for three bypass routes of Miami: the north-south SR 27, the east-west SR 826, and the east-west State 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.
