“It’s both a rest stop and a destination.” That’s what my friend Susan said when we went to check out the newly opened Everglades Elevated Boardwalk rest stop along Alligator Alley.
Travelers now have a new way to get a glimpse of the Everglades while driving on I-75 between the east and west coasts of Florida. This lush new complex and nature park is located at Mile Marker 35 of Alligator Alley, 10 miles west of the toll booth in Weston.
Like any regular interstate rest stop, it has picnic tables, restrooms, and parking with easy on-off access from the highway. But the similarities end there. The newly designed and beautifully landscaped rest stop also includes an expansive maze of boardwalks, a viewing tower, gardens of native foliage and vegetation, and informative exhibits about the Everglades. Kids (and grownups too) can be educated while taking a pit stop in their travels!
Just opened in October, what once was a basic truck parking lot has been transformed by the Florida Department of Transportation over the past two years into a peaceful green oasis for the whole family. There is a big playground for the kids as well as a plaza with a 15-foot bronze alligator. There is plenty of parking here, and all the features are free.
After we parked, Susan and I started at the “This is Alligator Alley” sign, which led into a lovely landscaped, pavered clearing with illustrated plaques telling us all about the area. “The Everglades is an ecosystem like no other on Earth,” one states. “This sawgrass marsh is like a vast, shallow river flowing south from Lake Okeechobee to Florida Bay. Once stretching across 4,000 square miles, the Everglades is only half that size today due to development and farming.”
We read the other informative signs in this area and then walked over a small road to begin exploring the maze of pathways. When we got to the lilypad-covered pond in the center of the boardwalks, we stopped to take in the lovely scenery there and the striking wooden tower above us. The tower is about three stories high, and you can reach the top either by wooden stairs or by the long gradual ramp going all the way up, making it fully accessible. Once up there, the observation deck offered us expansive views of the Everglades and the dramatic Florida skies.
This rest stop is also a good spot to see wildlife and do some bird watching. While we didn’t see any alligators that day, visitors have been able to spot them (of course, from a safe distance on the raised boardwalk!). Watching the sunrise or the sunset from this venue is also supposed to be a very serene experience.
Throughout our walk around the gardens, Susan and I stopped to look at more plaques that describe and illustrate the types of birds, trees, weather, and other features found in the Everglades. You can definitely leave this place with some new info and fun facts about this part of South Florida.
We also went inside the small museum-like building there, a type of visitors center providing even more information—lifelike exhibits, large photographs, informative plaques on the walls, and, in the center of the room, a large replica of the local area with labels indicating what everything is, which was really helpful. We learned a lot about the Everglades.
Who would have ever thought, back when the original Alligator Alley was notorious as a dangerous, dark two-lane highway, that there would one day be a lushly landscaped destination rest stop just off this road? With the old Alligator Alley, the Everglades came up much closer to the road, with alligators and local birds right on its shoulders. In 1992, this road was replaced with a safer, wider, four-lane version that became part of the I-75 highway. Today, solid fencing keeps alligators from wandering onto the interstate.
And now, from the safety of the new Everglades Elevated Boardwalk, visitors can still enjoy looking out for local wildlife, with the immense, wide-open Everglades in all its beauty just a short distance away. Not a bad thing for a rest stop!