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Art is all around us, if we look. We don’t have to go to a museum. Sometimes it’s sitting quietly beside the road. Sometimes, it is the road. I’m far from the first person to notice the majesty of highway cloverleafs. I’ve seen well-known paintings of them. But it’s not often that you find a highway interchange possessing a beauty that’s immediately recognizable from inside your car. I know of only one in South Florida and I’ve been driving all over this area for 18 years. It’s not Miami-Dade County’s insane Golden Glades Interchange, which is ugly and resembles a parking lot at rush hour. And it’s not even the nicely named Rainbow Interchange near Fort Lauderdale, which is painted pretty pastel yellow and pink but isn’t all that appealing in design.
To find the real interstate artwork, you have to motor out to far west Broward County. You can see it if you’re going to or from Weston, for instance, or to ride an airboat in the Everglades. The best view is from the east. Take I-595 from Fort Lauderdale and connect with I-75 north toward Naples. From a distance, this cloverleaf doesn’t look like much. To me, that’s part of its beauty. You have to drive through it to appreciate this unintended work of art.
As you get within maybe a half mile, the 595-75 interchange begins to look more impressive. The nearer you get, the more amazing it becomes. There is a great sweeping arc of highway bending to the south and another grand swirling curl to the north. The symmetry of those tall and lovely curves make the most dramatic statement here. But they are accented by broad straightline slashes of roadway, high and low, that add an artist’s touch to the cloverleaf, as if a painter had smeared them across an abstract canvas. As you drive through the interchange, the whole effect is like a sculpture garden, with the unusually graceful support pillars rising all around you. For a few seconds, you can recognize genuine beauty in a practical urban design. Then it’s gone, just another stretch of highway funneling cars around Florida. Just another public piece of art, carefully concealed in plain view all the time.
To find the real interstate artwork, you have to motor out to far west Broward County. You can see it if you’re going to or from Weston, for instance, or to ride an airboat in the Everglades. The best view is from the east. Take I-595 from Fort Lauderdale and connect with I-75 north toward Naples. From a distance, this cloverleaf doesn’t look like much. To me, that’s part of its beauty. You have to drive through it to appreciate this unintended work of art.
As you get within maybe a half mile, the 595-75 interchange begins to look more impressive. The nearer you get, the more amazing it becomes. There is a great sweeping arc of highway bending to the south and another grand swirling curl to the north. The symmetry of those tall and lovely curves make the most dramatic statement here. But they are accented by broad straightline slashes of roadway, high and low, that add an artist’s touch to the cloverleaf, as if a painter had smeared them across an abstract canvas. As you drive through the interchange, the whole effect is like a sculpture garden, with the unusually graceful support pillars rising all around you. For a few seconds, you can recognize genuine beauty in a practical urban design. Then it’s gone, just another stretch of highway funneling cars around Florida. Just another public piece of art, carefully concealed in plain view all the time.
posted by LauderBLOGGER at 4:02 PM
As a winter resident of South Florida and a retired professional photographer, I totally agree with your observation about the 595/75 interchange. I believe the "best side" is when heading east and I always look forward to the experience of driving through it.
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