Transportation in Florida includes a variety of options, including Interstate Highways, U.S. Highways, and Florida State Roads; Amtrak and commuter rail services; airports, public transportation, and sea ports, in a number of the state's counties and regions.
Highways Florida's interstates, U.S. Highways, and state highways are maintained by the Florida Department of Transportation, with the exception of a few highways in Miami, which are maintained by the Miami-Dade Expressway Authority (MDX).
Florida's interstate highway system contains 1,473 miles (2,371 km) of highway, and there are 9,934 miles (15,987 km) of non-interstate highway in the state, such as Florida state highways and U.S. Highways.
State highways are numbered according to convention. The first digits of state highways with some exceptions (such as State Road 112 (SR 112) connecting Interstate 95 (I-95) to the Miami International Airport) are numbered with the first digit indicating what area of the state the road is in, from 1 in the north and east to 9 in the south and west. Major north-south state roads generally have one- or two-digit odd route numbers that increase from east to west, while major east-west state roads generally have one- or two-digit even route numbers that increase from north to south. Roads of secondary importance usually have three-digit route numbers. The first digit x of their route number is the same as the first digit of the road with two-digit number x0 to the immediate north. The three-digit route numbers also increase from north to south for even numbers and east to west for odd numbers.
Following this convention, SR 907, or Alton Road on Miami Beach, is farther east than SR 997, which is Krome Avenue, or the farthest west north-south road in Miami–Dade County. One notable exception to the convention is SR 826, or the Palmetto Expressway (pictured at the right heading north) which, although even numbered, is signed north-south. State roads can have anywhere from one to four digits depending on the importance and location of the road.FHP State Road Listings . Retrieved March 29, 2009. County roads often follow this same system.
A law introduced on January 1, 2013, required all non US drivers to possess an International Driving License to drive within the state. The Florida Department for Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles issued a statement on February 14, 2013, announcing that the law would not be enforced.Florida's International Driving Permit Guidelines,
Railways
Streetcars and electric interurban rail
Aggregated entries from McGraw's electric railway directories report about of operating track for Florida streetcar and interurban companies in 1894 and an observed maximum of about in 1920. The chart aggregates operating track length reported for company entries assigned to Florida in the McGraw directory; it omits 1912 and 1913 because those observations did not pass cross-checks against the validated state series.
Raw observation data
Inter-city rail
Amtrak service exists in Florida. Sanford, in Greater Orlando, is the southern terminus of the Amtrak Auto Train, which originates at Lorton, Virginia, south of Washington, DC. Florida is also served by two additional Amtrak trains (the Floridian and the Silver Meteor), which operate between Chicago and Miami and New York City and Miami, respectively. In 2023, Amtrak had a total of 951,043 boardings and alightings in the state of Florida.
Orlando was the former eastern terminus of Amtrak's Sunset Limited, which traveled across the southern United States via New Orleans, Houston, and San Antonio to its western terminus of Los Angeles. The service originally extended further south to Miami from 1993 to 1996. Service was cut back to Sanford in November 1996 as part of systemwide cuts, but was later re-extended to Orlando in October 1997. However, since 2005, service to Florida has been suspended indefinitely in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
Brightline is a higher-speed service between Miami and Orlando. There are plans for Brightline to reach Tampa in the future.
High-speed inter-city rail
The Florida Department of Transportation was preparing to build a high-speed rail lie between Tampa, Lakeland, and Orlando. This would have been the first phase of the Florida High Speed Rail system. Soil work began in July 2010 with the federal government expecting full construction to begin in 2011. However, Governor Rick Scott declined the federal funding.
Florida voters approved a state constitutional amendment in 2000 for the construction of a high-speed rail network. Due to public skepticism about the multibillion-dollar price, voters repealed this amendment. The first segment of this network, projected to have opened in 2009, would have connected Tampa and Orlando, in hopes of alleviating traffic on the busy Interstate 4 corridor. Later segments would have connected Miami, Fort Myers, Jacksonville, Tallahassee, and Pensacola.
Airports
Florida has 131 public airports. Florida's seven large hub and medium hub airports, as classified by the FAA, are the following: +Florida large and medium hub airports City served Code Airport name FAACategory Enplanements Miami MIA Miami International Airport Large Hub 17,017,654 Orlando MCO Orlando International Airport Large Hub 17,017,491 Fort Lauderdale FLL Fort Lauderdale–Hollywood Int'l Airport Large Hub 10,829,810 Tampa TPA Tampa International Airport Large Hub 8,137,222 Fort Myers RSW Southwest Florida International Airport Medium Hub 3,714,157 West Palm Beach PBI Palm Beach International Airport Medium Hub 2,958,416 Jacksonville JAX Jacksonville International Airport Medium Hub 2,755,719
Major international airports in Florida which processed more than 15 million passengers each in 2005 are Orlando International Airport (34,128,048 est. 2006), Miami International Airport (32,533,974 est. 2006), Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport(22,390,285 est. 2006) and Tampa International Airport (19,045,390 est. 2006).
Secondary airports, with annual passenger traffic exceeding 5 million each in 2005, include Southwest Florida International Airport (Fort Myers) (7,518,169 est. 2006), Palm Beach International Airport (West Palm Beach) (7,014,237 est. 2006), Jacksonville International Airport (5,741,652).
Regional Airports which processed over one million passengers each in 2005 are Pensacola (1,638,605), Sarasota-Bradenton (1,337,571), and Tallahassee (1,129,947) and Sanford (1,649,237) which is primarily served by international charter airlines.2005 North America Airports Traffic Statistics URL retrieved September 15, 2006
Other smaller, regional airports with commercial service (with passengers served in 2005, where available) include those at Daytona Beach (615,841), Fort Walton Beach (520,000), Gainesville (345,788), Key West, Marathon Key, Melbourne (466,367), Naples, Panama City (382,551), and St. Petersburg-Clearwater (596,510).
Canals Florida is part of the Intracoastal Waterway, a inland waterway. Florida has the Okeechobee Waterway, St. Lucie Canal (C-44), Miami Canal, and Tamiami Canal.
Public transportation
Miami's public transportation is served by Miami-Dade Transit, which runs Metrorail, a heavy rail rapid transit system; Metromover, a people mover train system in Downtown Miami; and Metrobus, Miami-Dade's bus system. Metrorail runs throughout Miami-Dade County and has 23 stations on a track connecting to Downtown Miami's Metromover and Tri-Rail. Metromover has three lines and 21 stations on a track connecting Uptown and the Brickell Financial District inside of Downtown Miami. Outside of Miami-Dade County, public transit in the South Florida metropolitan area is served by Broward County Transit and Palm Tran; commuter rail service is provided by Tri-Rail, with 19 stations including the region's three international airports.
Tampa and its surrounding area is served by buses run by Hillsborough Area Regional Transit, or HART for short. In addition, HART runs continuous trolley services in downtown Tampa in the form of the TECO Line Streetcar, a heritage streetcar line sponsored by Tampa Electric Company. Pinellas County and St. Petersburg provide similar services through the Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority, or PSTA for short. The beaches of Pinellas County have their own bus system run by PSTA called the Suncoast Beach Trolley. Downtown St. Petersburg also has a separate bus system, known as The Looper. The Cross-Bay Ferry has connected Tampa's Channelside District to Downtown St. Petersburg since 2016.Cross-Bay Ferry – official website
Greater Orlando utilizes the Lynx bus system, which also operates a free bus rapid transit service in downtown Orlando called LYMMO. A commuter rail service – SunRail – also serves the Metro Orlando area. The Walt Disney World Resort is also located in this area and is served by Disney Transport, its own internal transportation system consisting of buses, watercraft, parking lot trams, and the Walt Disney World Monorail System. The latter is one of the busiest mass transit rail systems in North America, with over 150,000 riders served each day.
Public transportation in Jacksonville is provided by Jacksonville Transportation Authority (JTA), operating bus service, trolleys, paratransit, and a people mover. The people mover, known as the JTA Skyway is located in downtown Jacksonville, and operates 8 stations along a track. Bus service as well as paratransit service is provided around Duval County and partially in Clay County. JTA operates three trolley lines in three different neighborhoods: Downtown, Riverside, and Jacksonville Beach. The entire JTA system has a daily ridership of over 42,000.
In Volusia County, VoTran provides bus transportation throughout the entire county. Express service to Orlando was provided between 1998 and 2014 and has since been replaced by SunRail.
In Polk County, the Citrus Connection and Winter Haven Area Transit (WHAT) provide regional transportation in the cities of Lakeland, Bartow, Winter Haven, Auburndale and smaller surrounding municipalities and unincorporated areas. WHAT connects with the Lynx system at Haines City.
The Gainesville metropolitan area is served by the fourth largest public transit system in the state of Florida. Gainesville Regional Transit System or RTS presently serves 40 city routes (19 on Saturdays, 16 on Sundays), 10 campus routes, and five "Later Gator" routes. Paratransit (ADA) service is also provided to anyone with a Gainesville address. RTS has a daily ridership of approximately 25,000 riders.
In Indian River County, a public bus transportation system called GoLine, which has 14 routes and 543 stops, operates across the county.
On April 1, 2016, Florida governor Rick Scott signed a video surveillance bill that was to be used in public Transit systems throughout the state. Public Transits may release their video surveillance to local, state or federal agencies in furtherance of civic duty and responsibility; They may release video footage upon showing good cause to a court of competent jurisdiction.
Intercity Bus
Bus service between cities and towns in Florida is provided by a number of private companies. Amtrak Thruway service is offered connecting Amtrak trains to cities off of train routes, including Fort Myers and St Augustine, but tickets cannot be purchased for the bus alone, only a combined bus-rail itinerary.
List of Florida roads
Interstates
Road nameSouth or west terminusNorth or east terminusNotesTampaDaytona BeachHas junctions with I-75 in Tampa and I-95 in Daytona Beach.Alabama state line, near PensacolaJacksonvilleHas junctions with I-75 near Lake City and I-95 in Jacksonville.Hialeah/Miami LakesGeorgia state line, near Lake CityHas junctions with I-10 in Lake City and I-4 in Tampa.Downtown MiamiGeorgia state line, near JacksonvilleHas junctions with I-10 in Jacksonville and I-4 in Daytona Beach.
Auxiliary Interstates