Sawgrass–Sample Road Diverging Diamond: Coral Springs Driver Guide

"I'm happy to report that the driving experience was smooth as silk," former Boca Raton councilman Andy Thomson told the Sun-Sentinel in January 2023, after taking the new I-95 and Glades Road interchange several times on its first afternoon. "There is ample signage, and the angles of the diverging diamond are such that is seems clear enough which direction drivers should proceed. But ultimately time will tell."

Coral Springs is next. Florida's Turnpike Enterprise expects to open a partial diverging diamond interchange at the Sawgrass Expressway and Sample Road in mid-October, weather and construction conditions permitting. Drivers going from Sample Road onto the Sawgrass will cross to the other side of the road and then cross back. The pattern is designed to work that way.

The crossover will get the attention, but it opens in the middle of a project that isn't close to done. The same agency spokesperson who confirmed the October timeline also said crews will keep working after the new pattern opens. Anyone who uses Exit 11 will be learning a new interchange while the construction around it continues into 2028. Meanwhile, a separate county project on Wiles Road starts Monday.

What the crossover asks of you

Right now, drivers turning left at the interchange wait through signal phases before they get a green light. The diverging diamond moves those left turns into a lane that doesn't have to wait for oncoming traffic to clear. The Turnpike's project materials describe the change this way: between the ramps, Sample Road traffic crosses to the opposite side of the roadway, and the crossover point has its own traffic signal.

The agency hasn't published which Sample Road lane leads to which ramp. It also hasn't said which movements the "partial" in "partial diverging diamond" leaves out. What it has said gives you a short list to work from:

1. Expect new traffic signals, signs and pavement markings through the intersection and at the Sawgrass entrance and exit ramps.
2. Pick your lane early, drive with caution and stay alert while you learn the pattern. That's the advice from Fiorella Teodista, communications outreach coordinator for the agency.
3. Plan on more ramp capacity than before. Each Sample Road entrance ramp gets one added lane, and each exit ramp gets two.

FDOT says the design cuts the number of points where cars can collide by more than half. The agency's project materials also say diverging diamonds built in other states have reduced crashes by close to half.

Glades Road already ran this test

North Broward drivers already have a working example up I-95 in Boca Raton. The I-95 and Glades Road interchange in Boca Raton opened in January 2023 as the first diverging diamond in Palm Beach County. State planners expected it to cut crashes by a third. On the westbound side, it moves Glades Road drivers to the left side of the road as they cross the I-95 bridge. From there they can take I-95 north or south or stay on Glades, and then the lanes shift back to the right.

Two details from that opening apply directly to Exit 11.

The opening time slipped. Glades Road was scheduled to open at 6 a.m. on a Monday, but overnight rain delayed the final striping, and it opened at 3:30 p.m. instead. The Coral Springs switch carries the same weather condition in its official timeline.

The other detail is navigation apps. State planners advised drivers to approach the Glades Road interchange slowly, follow the overhead signs, and avoid relying on Google Maps or Waze on their first trips through, because the apps can take time to catch up with a new traffic pattern. The same is likely to apply at Sample Road for the first several days.

The format is spreading. FDOT opened another diverging diamond earlier this year at Florida's Turnpike and NW 170th Street in Miami-Dade County.

Opening day falls in the middle of the Sawgrass job

The interchange is one piece of a larger widening of the Sawgrass Expressway, State Road 869, from Atlantic Boulevard at Exit 8 to Sample Road at Exit 11. The project costs about $110 million and adds four lanes, for a total of five in each direction. Crews started in October 2024. Completion estimates differ: TAPinto and the Turnpike's weekly advisory say early 2028, and the Turnpike's project overview says summer 2028.

So the new crossover will open while a lot of other work is still underway:

• The new expressway lanes won't open with it. The fact sheet says the added lanes open once the adjacent widening projects are finished.
• Night work continues. Crews work both day and night shifts, and the Turnpike warns nearby residents and businesses of periodic construction light, noise, vibration and dust for the length of the project.
• The bridges are getting wider. Each of the two Sawgrass bridges over Sample Road will carry five 12-foot travel lanes plus shoulders. As of late July, crews had widened the bridge and were building retaining walls and grading below the bridge approaches.
• A noise barrier is planned at the Coral Springs Sports Complex. The project's existing noise walls stay in place.

Farther south, a separate $72.5 million Turnpike project is widening the Sawgrass from north of Commercial Boulevard to north of Atlantic Boulevard. It also replaces the Atlantic Boulevard bridges and adds bike lanes along a widened Atlantic Boulevard. On a typical commute down the Sawgrass, that means driving through two Turnpike work zones back to back.

The Coral Ridge Drive workaround

Construction at Exit 11 has already shown which routes drivers get when the Sample Road ramps close. During overnight ramp closures from Sept. 27 through Oct. 1, from 11:30 p.m. to 6 a.m., the Turnpike detoured northbound traffic north on Coral Ridge Drive. Southbound traffic went south on Coral Ridge Drive and then west on Atlantic Boulevard. Drivers coming off the Sawgrass and heading for Sample Road were routed through Atlantic Boulevard and Coral Ridge Drive, or through the Coral Ridge Drive exit. The northbound and southbound ramps were never closed on the same night.

Future lane closures will generally happen during off-peak hours, and the Turnpike announces them ahead of time in its South Florida and Treasure Coast Weekly Lane Closures and Work Zone Advisory. If you leave late at night or very early in the morning, that advisory is the most reliable place to check for detours on a given week. Questions about the project go to community outreach specialist Brielle Gordon at 954-934-1279. The Turnpike's project page has the official project details.

Wiles Road starts the same month

Broward County begins its own project on Monday, Oct. 5. It builds a merge-lane transition for westbound Wiles Road from west of University Drive to Coral Hills Drive, and the county expects to finish in January 2027, barring weather or other delays. One lane will close at a time, during off-peak hours. Pedestrians will have marked detours. The county's Highway Construction and Engineering Division is managing the work through contractor Weekley Asphalt Paving Inc., and gas tax revenue pays for it.

Neither project directly affects the other, but they overlap on the calendar. Through the end of the year, two east-west roads in Coral Springs will both have active work: Sample Road at the Sawgrass and Wiles Road west of University Drive.

On foot or on a bike at Exit 11

The Turnpike's materials on the Sample Road crossover are written for drivers. For people walking or biking, the best available evidence comes from Glades Road. In June 2023, the Palm Beach TPA ran a walk-and-bike safety audit of that interchange with the City of Boca Raton and FDOT. Participants found that cyclists didn't get enough time to cross each conflict point and that crosswalks at the I-95 on-ramps were hard to see. They also found that sidewalks near the crossover had no physical barrier from traffic and weren't wide enough for a wheelchair user, a cyclist or a double stroller to pass people walking.

The audit recommended that future interchanges use physical barriers and better signal timing at the entry and exit ramps. If you cross Sample Road at the Sawgrass on foot or by bike, the on-ramp crosswalks and the timing at each crossover signal are where those problems showed up at Glades Road.

Road projects like this one come up when buyers and sellers ask how a home's daily routine will change, whether that's the commute, the drive to the Sports Complex, or the night work behind a backyard. If you have a question about how the Sawgrass work fits into your plans around Coral Springs, Timothy Byrne is glad to talk it through. Let's Connect.