The Rainbow Interchange was a four–level

stack interchange A directional interchange, colloquially known as a stack interchange, is a type of grade-separated junction between two controlled-access highways that allows for free-flowing movement to and from all directions of traffic. These interchanges e ...

located in

Fort Lauderdale, Florida Fort Lauderdale () is a coastal city located in the U.S. state of Florida, north of Miami along the Atlantic Ocean. It is the county seat of and largest city in Broward County with a population of 182,760 at the 2020 census, making it the tenth ...

near the

Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport A fortification is a military construction or building designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is also used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Latin ''fortis'' ("strong") and ''facere'' ...

. The interchange connects two major highways in the area,

I-95 Interstate 95 (I-95) is the main north–south Interstate Highway on the East Coast of the United States, running from US Route 1 (US 1) in Miami, Florida, to the Houlton–Woodstock Border Crossing between Maine and the Canadia ...

(leading to

Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a East Coast of the United States, coastal metropolis and the County seat, county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade C ...

and

West Palm Beach West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sunset, Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic languages, German ...

) and I-595 (leading to

Davie Davie is a surname and a form of the masculine given name David. It can refer to: Surname * Alan Davie (1920-2014), Scottish painter and musician * Alexander Edmund Batson Davie (1847-1889), Canadian politician and eighth Premier of British Co ...

and the airport). The interchange opened in 1991. While minor construction improvements and repainting have occurred since the opening of the interchange, the interchange is planned to experience major additions throughout 2025 as part of 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 ...

's 95 Express project.

History

The Rainbow Interchange opened to traffic on March 22, 1991. The cost of constructing the interchange was $121 million (equivalent to $ million in ). Jim Weinberg designed the color scheme for the overpasses. He used

Art Deco Art Deco, short for the French ''Arts Décoratifs'', and sometimes just called Deco, is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design, that first appeared in France in the 1910s (just before World War I), and flourished in the Unite ...

-stylized shades of color for the overpasses: winter blue, mural pink, cockleshell, natural grain, sailor's sky, and hazy sun. In 1990, while the interchange was still under construction, the ''

Miami Herald The ''Miami Herald'' is an American daily newspaper owned by the McClatchy Company and headquartered in Doral, Florida, a List of communities in Miami-Dade County, Florida, city in western Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County and the M ...

'' ran a contest in which its readers were requested to submit names for the soon-to-be important connection between two

Interstate highway The Dwight D. Eisenhower National System of Interstate and Defense Highways, commonly known as the Interstate Highway System, is a network of controlled-access highways that forms part of the National Highway System in the United States. Th ...

s. The winning name was the ''Lauderloop'', an

ironic Irony (), in its broadest sense, is the juxtaposition of what on the surface appears to be the case and what is actually the case or to be expected; it is an important rhetorical device and literary technique. Irony can be categorized into ...

choice as four-level stack interchanges do not incorporate loops in their design. The contest was a short-term joke as virtually nobody in the local media referred to "Lauderloop" in their articles and reports involving the interchange, choosing the Rainbow moniker instead. In 2002, the

decided to repaint the interchange in bold colors. As of 2022, due to Phase 3 of the ''I-95 Express Lanes'' extension, the interchange is being expanded with more overpasses and flyover ramps. The existing overpasses and flyover ramps are being kept, but the girders are being repainted royal blue. The repainting of the existing girders to just one consistent color may require the interchange to be given a new name. These ramps include ramps connecting the northbound and southbound express lanes on I-95 to both directions of I-595.

Description

The Rainbow Interchange marks the southern end of a segment of I-95 that saw traffic levels of roughly 328,000 automobiles per day in 2013. Interstate 595 carries roughly half that load in its eight lanes just west of the junction of two Interstate highways.

References

{{reflist Road interchanges in the United States Expressways in Broward County, Florida Transportation in Fort Lauderdale, Florida Interstate 95 1991 establishments in Florida