Daniels Parkway, originally known as State Road 876 (SR 876), runs from Tamiami Trail ( U.S. Highway 41, US 41) in

Fort Myers Fort Myers (or Ft. Myers) is a city in southwestern Florida and the county seat and commercial center of Lee County, Florida, United States. The Census Bureau's Population Estimates Program calculated that the city's population was 92,245 in 20 ...

to SR 82 in

Lehigh Acres Lehigh Acres is an unincorporated area and Municipal District in Lee County, Florida, United States. As of the 2020 Census the population was 135,272. Lehigh Acres is part of the Cape Coral-Fort Myers, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area. Leh ...

. Daniels Parkway encompasses a major section of what is now County Road 876, a major east-west thoroughfare through Lee County just south of Fort Myers city limits before becoming a north-south route through Lehigh Acres and Buckingham, also encompassing Cypress Lake Drive, Gunnery Road, and Buckingham Road. Beginning at SR 867 in

McGregor McGregor may refer to: People * McGregor (surname) * Clan MacGregor, a Scottish highland clan * McGregor W. Scott (born 1962), U.S. attorney Characters * Mr. McGregor, a fictional character from Peter Rabbit Places in Canada: * McGregor Lake ...

, CR 876 travels east along Cypress Lake Drive through Cypress Lake to

U.S. Route 41 U.S. Route 41, also U.S. Highway 41 (US 41), is a major north–south United States Numbered Highway that runs from Miami, Florida, to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Until 1949, the part in southern Florida, from Naples to Miami, ...

(Tamiami Trail). It continues east of US 41 as Daniels Parkway towards

Interstate 75 Interstate 75 (I-75) is a major north–south Interstate Highway in the Great Lakes and Southeastern regions of the United States. As with most Interstates that end in 5, it is a major cross-country, north–south route, traveling from S ...

and

Southwest Florida International Airport Southwest Florida International Airport is a major county-owned airport in the South Fort Myers area of unincorporated Lee County, Florida, United States. The airport serves the Southwest Florida region, including the Cape Coral-Fort Myers, N ...

. East of Gateway, CR 876 intersects State Road 82, where it turns north and continues as Gunnery Road through

before merging with Buckingham Road, which carries CR 876 north through

Buckingham Buckingham ( ) is a market town in north Buckinghamshire, England, close to the borders of Northamptonshire and Oxfordshire, which had a population of 12,890 at the 2011 Census. The town lies approximately west of Central Milton Keynes, sou ...

to its terminus with SR 80 in Fort Myers Shores. Originally SR 876, the

Florida Department of Transportation The Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) is a decentralized agency charged with the establishment, maintenance, and regulation of public transportation in the state of Florida. The department was formed in 1969. It absorbed the powers of t ...

(FDOT) later relinquished all of Daniels Parkway to Lee County, though the county transferred a portion between

I-75 Interstate 75 (I-75) is a major north–south Interstate Highway in the Great Lakes and Southeastern regions of the United States. As with most Interstates that end in 5, it is a major cross-country, north–south route, traveling from St ...

and a county-maintained rest area back to FDOT. However, this portion is not signed as state road.

History

Daniels Parkway, once known as Daniels Road, was originally a two-lane dirt cattle trail in the 1920s. It served a major cattle ranch operated by Barney Daniels and his son (for whom the road is named) near the intersection of present-day Plantation Road. Daniels Road would also serve agricultural areas farther east. At this time, the route east of the

Tamiami Trail The Tamiami Trail () is the southernmost of U.S. Highway 41 (US 41) from State Road 60 (SR 60) in Tampa to US 1 in Miami. A portion of the road also has the hidden designation of State Road 90 (SR 90). The north� ...

now known as Cypress Lake Drive was also a two-lane dirt road named Radio Beam Road. By the mid 1970s, Daniels Road was paved from US 41 up to the Ten Mile Canal and its crossing with the

Seaboard Coast Line Railroad The Seaboard Coast Line Railroad was a Class I railroad company operating in the Southeastern United States beginning in 1967. Its passenger operations were taken over by Amtrak in 1971. Eventually, the railroad was merged with its affiliate lin ...

(the present-day

Seminole Gulf Railway The Seminole Gulf Railway is a short line freight and passenger excursion railroad headquartered in Fort Myers, Florida, that operates two former CSX Transportation railroad lines in Southwest Florida. The company's Fort Myers Division, which ...

). By this time, construction was underway on Interstate 75, which would have an interchange with Daniels Road. I-75 was completed through Fort Myers in 1979 and Daniels Road would be paved up to the interchange. The route would briefly carry the designation State Road 876 before being turned over to the county a year later.General Highway Map, Lee County, August 1989, revised June 1990
/ref> Construction of Southwest Florida Regional Airport began in 1980 which led to Daniels Parkway being expanded to a multi-lane divided road with frontage roads from I-75 east to Chamberlin Parkway (which would be the main entrance to the airport's original terminal which opened in 1983). Daniels Parkway would be widened to a six-lane divided road from US 41 to I-75 in the early 1990s. By 1986, Daniels Parkway was extended east of Chamberlin Parkway to serve the newly established community of Gateway. It would be extended again in the early 2000s to State Road 82 making it a continuous route with Gunnery Road and Buckingham Road (which was previously designated State Road 82A). Gunnery Road is named for the Flexible Gunnery School, which trained fighter pilots and bomber crewmen at

Buckingham Army Airfield Buckingham Army Airfield is an inactive United States Army Air Forces base, approximately 10 miles east of Fort Myers, Florida. It was active during World War II as an Army Air Forces Training Command airfield. It was closed on 30 Septemb ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

Major intersections

References

{{Attached KML 876 876 Transportation in Fort Myers, Florida 876