316 Royal Poinciana Plaza
Palm Beach, Florida 33480
U.S.A.
Company Perspectives:
The people at Florida Crystals share a proud heritage of farming that is vitally linked to the environment. We act as stewards of the land, balancing our natural resources and protecting surrounding ecosystems to ensure a healthy and sustainable future.
History of Florida Crystals Inc.
Florida Crystals Inc. is the umbrella company for the various businesses operated and owned by the Fanjul family of Palm Beach, Florida. In addition to holding about 190,000 acres of land in Florida, the Fanjul family has another 240,000 acres in the Dominican Republic, where it also owns and operates the Casa de Campo, a luxury hotel. Although diversified in its operations, the principal business of Florida Crystals is the production and sale of sugar. It operates three sugar mills, a sugar refinery, and a packaging and distribution facility, making it one of the principal sugar producers in the United States. On a more limited scale, the company also grows, mills, and markets rice, primarily in the southern part of Florida. It sells packaged sugar and rice under the Sem-Chi Rice, Flo-Sun Sugar, and Natural Sugars brand names. Although the Fanjuls have been subjected to much adverse criticism for their labor practices, influence peddling, and Florida Crystals' alleged environmental damage to Florida's Everglades, they have worked hard to convince critics that theirs is an environmentally-sound operation. The company stresses its pioneering of the organic farming of both rice and sugar, its crop-rotation practices, and its use of renewable resources to power its mills. It also takes pride in its support of community projects and charities, to which Florida Crystals has donated extensive funds, time, and energy.
1910-59: Fanjul Family Roots and the Loss of Family Holdings in Cuba
The roots of Florida Crystals Inc. go back over a century to Andres Gomez-Mena's arrival in Cuba from his native Spain. Andres made his fortune by milling sugar cane, the main crop of that island country. At the time of his death in 1910, his family owned four sugar mills and held significant properties in the capital city of Havana. Andres' son, Jose 'Pepe' Gomez-Mena, reorganized the family holdings under the New Gomez-Mena Sugar Company name. Pepe became a leading figure in sugar production, both in Cuba and abroad. During the 1930s, he served as Cuba's secretary of agriculture and was president of both the National Association of Sugar Mill Owners and the Cuban Institute for Sugar Stabilization. In 1936, his family formed an alliance with another Cuban family when Pepe's daughter Lillian married Alfonso Fanjul, Sr.
Alfonso was the great nephew of Manuel Rionda, who had founded the Czarnikow-Rionda Company in New York and the Cuban Trading Company in Cuba. These organizations operated six Cuban sugar mills in a family business that was carried on, first by Manuel's nephew Higinio Fanjul Rionda, and then by Alfonso. The combined holdings of the two family businesses included interest in ten sugar mills, three alcohol distilleries, and large real estate properties in Cuba, plus the Czarnikow-Riona Company.
Under the rule of Cuban strong man Fulgencio Batista y Zaldivar, the joint-family ventures fared well, growing in size and wealth throughout the 1940s and 1950s. However, when Fidel Castro seized power in 1959, the two families lost all their Cuban properties. The communist dictator's government confiscated the Fanjul and Gomez-Mena holdings and forced Alfonso Fanjul and his family to seek political asylum in the United States.
1960-69: Starting over in the United States
Settling in Palm Beach, Florida, Fanjul began working to restore his family's fortunes. In 1960, he and some associates, also Cuban refugees, raised $640,000 to buy Osceola Farms, consisting of 4,000 acres of land located near Lake Okeechobee. The investors paid $160 per acre for the property. They also bought sections of three Louisiana sugar mills, which were dismantled, barged to Florida, and there reassembled. Fanjul and his oldest son, Alfonso 'Alfy' Fanjul, Jr., managed the earliest operations, including the land clearing and soil preparation as well as the building of the Osceola sugar mill constructed using the mill sections imported from Louisiana.
Initially, the sole focus of the business was its cane growing and milling. Osceola, with its daily grinding capacity of 13,500 tons, was more than adequate to handle the sugar cane harvested from the original acreage controlled by the Fanjuls.
In their early years, the Fanjuls and other sugar growers were helped by the U.S. government, which, taking punitive aim at Castro, was determined to destroy the Cuban sugar industry. U.S. trade officials embargoed all Cuban sugar and, through major incentives, encouraged the growth of the industry in the United States. In South Florida, as engineers drained swamps, the U.S. Sugar Corporation and its rivals, including the forerunner of Florida Crystals, quickly bought the available acreage for cane farming. By the middle of the 1960s, Florida's cane acreage was 10 times what it had been when the Fanjuls first started their Floridian operation.
1970-89: Expansion, Problems, Industry Stagnation
After the death of Alfonso Fanjul, Sr., in 1980, managerial control passed to his two eldest sons, Alfonso Fanjul, Jr., and Jose Pepe Fanjul. The latter became the company's chairman and CEO, the former, its president. The company then had reached $30 million in sales, and it was looking for new expansion opportunities.
A major one came in 1985. In that year, the Fanjuls increased their holdings when, leading a group of allied investors, they completed the purchase of Gulf+Western Industries Inc.'s sugar and tourist operations in the Dominican Republic and Florida. The founder and former CEO of Gulf+Western, Charles G. Bluhdorn, who had died two years earlier, had been deeply committed to the social and cultural development of the Dominican Republic, putting over $25 million into programs designed to improve the health, nutrition, agricultural skills and working conditions of that country's sugar cane harvesters. Although many Dominicans feared the new owners would not support Bluhdorn's social programs, the Fanjuls left the Dominican operations intact, including its management team. The purchase increased the cane acreage of Florida Crystals by about 90,000 acres, bringing its total to about 180,000 acres.
Expansion of its operations in the 1970s and 1980s brought Florida Crystals many problems, including legal entanglements and some adverse and at times excoriating press coverage. The whole sugar industry in Florida came under the scrutiny of environmentalists concerned with the destruction of wetlands and the threat of cane farming to the water supply of the state's southern counties. Although hotly disputed by Florida's cane growers, the environmentalists' claims resulted in serious scrutiny of the industry. Matters would come to a head in the mid-1990s.
The industry was also the subject of attacks from labor activists and consumer groups. These often singled out Florida Crystals because, in its labor-intensive operations, the Fanjuls continued to hire migrant cane cutters to harvest their sugar crop by hand. The company thus bore the brunt of the criticism and resulting legal action. In 1989, arguing that sugar companies failed to pay agreed upon wages, cane cutters brought a major suit against the industry in an attempt to gain unpaid money. Because the Fanjuls then employed about 6,500 of the 8,000 Caribbean cane cutters who migrated to Florida each year, they were the principal target of the $136 million suit.
Added to these problems was the fact that during the 1980s and early 1990s sugar farmers and millers were not faring well. Sugar consumption in the United States was increasing at the comparatively low rate of two percent per year. A major factor keeping the growth flat was the health-fad promotion of sugar substitutes. Nevertheless, by 1990, the company had beaten out U.S. Sugar as the nation's biggest cane grower. It had also become the most powerful force in sugar politics.
1991-2000: Bitter Fight to Survive and Sugar Industry Resurgence
In 1991, the Wilderness Society reported that Florida's sugar farms used two-thirds of their region's water to achieve a paltry one-fiftieth of its economic output while paying less than one-fiftieth of its property taxes, a claim that the industry energetically disputed. By then, too, a $400 million Save-the-Everglades cleanup plan, which would restore almost 70,000 acres of farm land to wilderness, worked to exact much of its cost from Florida's sugar industry. Under duress, but after much resistance, the industry finally agreed to put over $300 million into the Everglades' restoration project, with much of the cost being borne by Florida Crystals.
In the 1990s, the Fanjul family itself came under hostile scrutiny in the media, partly because of the way they managed their business and partly because of their bald political leveraging. In 1995 they were branded as 'greedy and ruthless' in articles in Forbes and lambasted for their alleged violation of Rule G-37 of the Securities & Exchange Commission. Under that regulation, companies underwriting minority municipal bonds, such as the Fanjuls' faic Securities, were barred from making political contributions. The Fanjuls were in fact trying to defend their economic turf and survive, mustering all the political clout they could in a particularly bitter fight that pitted Florida's cane farmers and processors against fervid environmentalists and their odd bedfellows--corporate sugar-using giants such as Coca-Cola and Hershey. At issue was the price support program of the federal government, then under review by Congress. In 1996, legislators in the House of Representatives and Senate debated a farm bill measure that would have phased price supports out completely. Corporate interests wanted the program killed, thereby driving the price of sugar
1936:The Gomez-Mena and Fanjul families are allied through the marriage of Alfonso Fanjul, Sr., and Lillian Gomez-Mena.
1959:The Fanjul family takes political refuge in America.
1960:Alfonso Fanjul, Sr., and associates purchase acreage near Lake Okeechobee in Palm Beach County, Florida, and barge in sections of three Louisiana sugar mills.
1962:Florida Crystals Inc. begins as a sugar cane farming operation.
1980:Alfonso Fanjul, Sr., dies; Alfonso, Jr., becomes company CEO.
1985:Fanjuls purchase Gulf and Western Industries' holdings in the Dominican Republic and Florida.
1997:Company's planned merger with Savannah Foods & Industries Inc. collapses.
1998:Company acquires 50 percent interest in Refined Sugars Inc.
The acridness of both environmentalists and media watchdogs made the Fanjuls mindful of a need to improve both their family and their company image. They mounted a campaign to convince the public that Florida Crystals was both a good steward of its land and its natural resources and a good neighbor. The company began stressing the idea that it continually sought new ways 'to farm in harmony with the environment' and that in such practices as crop rotation it worked diligently to conserve the soil's fertility and to guard against erosion. It also put a 4,000 acre parcel of land aside for growing organic rice and cane, meeting the strict standards required by Organic Crop Improvement Association.
Through its 'Florida Crystals Cares' initiatives, the company has also worked diligently to enhance its good-neighbor image. Among other things, it funded the startup of New Hope, a grassroots, not-for-profit agency serving needy families in the Florida Glades and surrounding regions. It has also funded scholarships for Glades-area students at Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton and has helped fund grants through SUGARCANE (Statewide Urban Grants and Rural Community Assistance Effort), which primarily benefits African-American communities throughout Florida.
Apart from improving its image, Florida Crystals had to cope with the aforementioned industry-wide problem of flat sugar sales. What saved the Florida sugar industry in general and Florida Crystals in particular from taking a fatal blow was the industry's partial resurgence from its 1980s doldrums. Among other things, throughout the 1990s, health addicts leveled their heaviest guns at the consumption of fat, taking some of the heat off sugar. With profits again on the rise, and government price supports still in place, the company again turned to expansion moves and further diversification.
In July 1997, Florida Crystals and Savannah Foods & Industries Inc. announced plans to merge. The Georgia-based company, a public entity, in addition to refining sugar cane, manufactured other food products, including beet sugar. As Alfonso Fanjul noted, if the merger had been completed, it would have made the combined companies 'the premier sugar company in the country;' but three months later the deal floundered when a rival bid by Texas-based Imperial Holly Corp. forced Florida Crystals, unwilling to counter Imperial's $18.75 per share offer, to withdraw from the merger.
In 1998, Florida Crystals and the Sugar Cane Growers Cooperative of Florida jointly bought Refined Sugars Inc., a refinery located in Yonkers, New York. The move put the two Florida concerns in the business of making white table sugar. The $65 million cost was shared equally by the Florida companies, giving each a 50 percent share in the plant. What the purchase meant for Florida Crystals was that it finally had a stake in the final stage of sugar production, the packaging and distribution of refined sugar for home consumption.
In 1999, Florida Crystals began growing cane on an additional 25,000 acres in western Palm Beach County, with plans to increase its total annual production of sugar from 750,000 to 800,000 tons. The land was part of a 50,000 acre plantation owned by the Talisman Sugar Corporation, which had earlier agreed to sell it to the federal government for future Everglades restoration. In the meantime, the acreage was leased to Florida's remaining sugar growers.
In order to store the additional sugar cane, Florida Crystals purchased a 92,000 square-foot warehouse in Riviera Beach once used by Curtis Mathes, an appliance and electronics retailer. The selling price was $2.65 million. Clearly, Florida Crystals and the Fanjuls planned to weather whatever environmental, political, or economic storms they encountered and continue to grow.
Principal Subsidiaries: Okeelanta Corp.
Principal Competitors: Imperial Sugar Co.; Tate & Lyle Inc.; United States Sugar Corporation.
Related information about Florida
pop (2000e) 15 982 400; area
151 934 km²/58 664 sq mi. State in SE USA,
divided into 67 counties; the ‘Sunshine State’ or ‘Peninsular
State’; discovered and settled by the Spanish in the 16th-c; ceded
to Britain in 1763, and divided into East and West Florida; given
back to Spain after the War of Independence, 1783; West Florida
gained by the US in the Louisiana Purchase, 1803; East Florida
purchased by the US, 1819; admitted as the 27th state of the Union,
1845; seceded, 1861; slavery abolished, 1865; re-admitted to the
Union, 1868; capital, Tallahassee; other chief cities,
Jacksonville, Miami, Tampa, St Petersburg, Fort Lauderdale; a long
peninsula bounded W by the Gulf of Mexico and E by the Atlantic
Ocean; rivers include the St Johns, Caloosahatchee, Apalachicola,
Perdido, St Marys; C state has many lakes, notably L Okeechobee
(fourth largest lake wholly within the USA); highest point in
Walton County (105 m/345 ft); the Florida Keys Islands
stretch in a line SW from the S tip of the state, all linked by a
series of causeways; the NW is a gently rolling panhandle area, cut
by deep swamps along the coast; the S is almost entirely covered by
the Everglades; the SE coast is protected from the Atlantic by
sandbars and islands, creating shallow lagoons and sandy beaches; a
warm sunny climate, but occasional danger of hurricanes (eg
widespread damage caused by Hurricane Andrew in 1992); many famous
resorts (Palm Beach, Miami Beach); the Everglades National Park,
Walt Disney World entertainment park, John F Kennedy Space Center
at Cape Canaveral; the nation's greatest producer of citrus fruits;
second largest producer of vegetables; sugar cane, tobacco, cattle
and dairy products; processed foods, chemicals, electrical
equipment, transportation equipment, wood products; phosphate and
other minerals; one of the fastest-growing parts of the country; an
important area for retirement homes; large Hispanic population
(especially from Cuba).
references
Florida is a U.S.
state located in the southeastern
United States. It
was named by Juan Ponce de León, who landed on the coast on April 2, 1513, during Pascua Florida (Spanish for "Flowery Easter," referring to the
Easter
season).
Geography
Florida is situated mostly on a large peninsula between the Gulf of Mexico, the
Atlantic Ocean,
and the Straits
of Florida. It is near the countries of the Caribbean, particularly the
Bahamas and Cuba.
At 345 feet (105 m) above mean sea level, Britton Hill is the highest point in Florida and
the lowest highpoint of any U.S. state. Lake County holds the
highest point of peninsular Florida, Sugarloaf
Mountain, at 312 feet (95 m).
Areas under control by the National Park Service include:
- Big Cypress National Preserve, near Lake
Okeechobee
- Biscayne National Park, near Key Biscayne
- Canaveral National Seashore, near Titusville
- Castillo de San Marcos National Monument, in St.
Augustine
- De
Soto National Memorial, in Bradenton
- Dry
Tortugas National Park, at Key
West
- Everglades National Park
- Fort Caroline National Memorial, at Jacksonville
- Fort Matanzas National Monument, in St.
Augustine
- Gulf Islands National Seashore, near Gulf
Breeze
- Timucuan Ecological and Historic Preserve, in
Jacksonville
See also List of Florida state parks
Boundaries
The state line begins in the Atlantic Ocean, traveling west, south, and north
up the thalweg of the
Saint Mary's River. At the origin of that river,
it then follows a straight line nearly due west and slightly north,
to the point where the confluence of the Flint River
(from Georgia) and the Chattahoochee River (down the Alabama/Georgia line) used
to form Florida's Apalachicola River. The seasons in Florida are actually
determined more by precipitation than by temperature with mild to cool,
relatively dry winters
and autumns (the dry
season) and hot, wet springs and summers (the wet season). The hottest temperature ever
recorded in the state was 109 °F (43 °C), set on June 29 1931 in Monticello. The coldest was ?2 °F (?19 °C), on
February 13 1899, just 25 miles (40 km) away,
in Tallahassee. These thunderstorms, caused by collisions
between airflow from the Gulf of Mexico and airflow from the Atlantic Ocean, pop up in
the early afternoon and can bring heavy downpours, high winds, and
sometimes tornadoes. The
storm is believed to have been similar in composition to a hurricane, and even brought
storm surges of six
feet or more to regions of the Gulf coast.
Although some storms have formed out of season, hurricanes pose a threat
during hurricane season, which lasts from June 1 to November 30. Hurricanes Charley (August 13), Frances (September 4?5), Ivan (September 16), and Jeanne (September 25?26) cumulatively cost the
state's economy US$42 billion. Later, Hurricane Katrina
(August 25) passed
through South
Florida and Hurricane Rita (September 20) swept through the Florida Keys. Hurricane Wilma made
landfall in Florida in the early morning of October 24 as a Category
3 hurricane, with the storm's eye hitting near Cape Romano, just south of
Marco
Island, according to National Hurricane
Center.
Florida was the site of the second costliest weather disaster in
U.S. history, Hurricane Andrew, which caused more than US$25 billion in
damage when it struck on August 24, 1992.
In a long list of other infamous hurricane strikes are the 1926
Great Miami
Hurricane, the Lake
Okeechobee Hurricane of 1928, the Labor Day
Hurricane of 1935, Hurricane Donna in 1960, and Hurricane Opal in
1995.
Environmental issues
Florida is the fifth-largest producer of greenhouse gases among
the 50 U.S. states. Much of Florida, being only a few feet above
sea level now, would be underwater if the sea level rose
dramatically due to the continued melting of glaciers, parts of the Antarctic ice shelf, or Greenland's cover of ice. Of
the many indigenous people, the largest known were the Ais, the Apalachee, the Calusa, the Timucua and the Tocobago tribes. Juan Ponce de
León, a Spanish conquistador, named Florida in honor of his "discovery"
of the land on April 2
1513, during Pascua Florida, a Spanish
term for the Easter
season. French Huguenots founded Fort Caroline in modern-day Jacksonville in
1564, but this fort was conquered by forces from the new Spanish
colony of St. Augustine the following year. The local leaders
(caciques) demonstrated
their loyalty to the Spanish by converting to Roman Catholicism and
welcoming the Franciscan priests into their villages.
The area of Spanish Florida diminished with the establishment of
English colonies to the
north and French colonies
to the west. The English weakened Spanish power in the area by
supplying their Creek
Indian allies with firearms and urging them to raid the
Timucuan and Apalachee client-tribes of the
Spanish. On March 3
1845, Florida became the
27th state of the United States of America. On January 10 1861, before the formal outbreak of
the Civil
War, Florida seceded from the Union; On
June 25, 1868, Florida's congressional
representation was restored. font-size: 95%;">
Presidential elections results
Year
|
Republican
|
Democratic
|
| 2004 |
52.10%3,964,522
|
47.09%
3,583,544
|
| 2000 |
48.85%2,912,790
|
48.84%
2,912,253
|
| 1996 |
42.32%
2,244,536
|
48.02%2,546,870
|
| 1992 |
40.89%2,173,310
|
39.00%
2,072,698
|
| 1988 |
60.87%2,618,885
|
38.51%
1,656,701
|
| 1984 |
65.32%2,730,350
|
34.66%
1,448,816
|
| 1980 |
55.52%2,046,951
|
38.50%
1,419,475
|
| 1976 |
46.64%
1,469,531
|
51.93%1,636,000
|
| 1972 |
71.91%1,857,759
|
27.80% 718,117
|
| 1968 |
40.53%886,804
|
30.93% 676,794
|
| 1964 |
48.85% 905,941
|
51.15%948,540
|
| 1960 |
51.51%795,476
|
48.49% 748,700
|
The basic structure, duties, function, and operations of the
government of the State of Florida are defined and established by
the Florida
Constitution, which establishes the basic law of the state and
guarantees various rights and freedoms of the people. The legislature enacts bills,
which, if signed by the governor, become Florida Statutes.
The Florida
Legislature is comprised of the Florida Senate, which has
40 members, and the Florida
House of Representatives, which has 120 members. The current
Governor of
Florida is Republican Jeb Bush, brother of U.S. President George W. The Tampa area, once a
major center of Democratic union support, is now almost evenly split between
registered Republicans and Democrats, making it part of the
important I-4
Corridor swing region. The Walt Disney World
Resort, a mega-resort consisting of four theme parks, more than twenty
hotels, water parks, shopping centers, and other attractions, is an
important tourist attraction located in Lake Buena
Vista. Together, Walt Disney World, and other theme park
resorts such as Universal Orlando Resort and SeaWorld, are an important driver of the Central
Florida economy.
Other major industries include citrus fruit
and juice production, banking, and phosphate mining within the Bone Valley region. The
state did not have a state minimum wage law until November 2, 2004, when voters passed a
constitutional amendment establishing a state minimum wage and
mandating that it be adjusted for inflation every six months.
Historically, Florida's economy was based upon cattle farming and
agriculture (especially sugarcane, citrus, tomatoes, and strawberries). font-size: 95%;">
Historical
populations
|
Census
year |
Population
|
|
| 1830 |
34,730
|
| 1840 |
54,477
|
| 1850 |
87,445
|
| 1860 |
140,424
|
| 1870 |
187,748
|
| 1880 |
269,493
|
| 1890 |
391,422
|
| 1900 |
528,542
|
| 1910 |
752,619
|
| 1920 |
968,470
|
| 1930 |
1,468,211
|
| 1940 |
1,897,414
|
| 1950 |
2,771,305
|
| 1960 |
4,951,560
|
| 1970 |
6,789,443
|
| 1980 |
9,746,324
|
| 1990 |
12,937,926
|
| 2000 |
15,982,378
|
Race and ancestry
The largest reported ancestries in the 2000 Census were German (11.8%), Irish (10.3%), English (9.2%), American (8%) and Italian (6.3%).factfinder.census.gov/servlet/SAFFFacts?_event=Search&geo_id=&_geoContext=&_street=&_county=&_cityTown=&_state=04000US12&_zip=&_lang=en&_sse=on&pctxt=fph&pgsl=010
Before the American Civil War, when slavery was legal, and during the Reconstruction era that followed, African Americans made
up nearly half of the state's population.fisher.lib.virginia.edu/collections/stats/histcensus/Historical
Census Broswer at the University of Virginia (URL accessed 26
August 2006). Their proportion declined over the next century, as
many moved north in the Great Migration while large numbers of northern whites
moved to the state. Today, large concentrations of black residents
can be found in northern Florida (notably in Jacksonville,
Gainesville and Pensacola), the Tampa Bay area, and South Florida (where their numbers have been
bolstered by significant immigration from Haiti and Jamaica).
Florida's Hispanic
population includes large communities of Cuban Americans in
Miami and
Tampa, Puerto
Ricans in Tampa and Orlando, and Central American migrant workers in inland West-Central
and South Florida. The Hispanic community continues to grow more
affluent and mobile: between the years of 2000 and 2004, Lee County in southwest Florida, which is largely suburban in
character, had the fastest Hispanic population growth rate of any
county in the United States.www.news-press.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060309/NEWS01/603090396/1075
Whites of all
ethnicities are present in all areas of the state. There is a large
German population in
Southwest
Florida, a sizeable and historic Italian community in the
Miami area, and
white Floridians of longer-present generations in the culturally
southern areas of inland and northern Florida. Haitian Creole
is the third most spoken language at 2.2 percent, followed by
German at 0.6
percent and Italian at 0.4 percent.
Article II, Section 9, of the Florida
Constitution provides that "English is the official language of
the State of Florida." Florida's current religious affiliations are
shown in the table below:
-
Christian,
82%
-
Protestant, 54%
- Baptist,
19%
- Methodist, 6%
- Presbyterian, 4%
- Episcopal, 3%
- Lutheran, 3%
- Pentecostal, 3%
- Other Protestant, 16%
- Roman Catholic, 26%
- Other Christian, 2%
- Jewish,
4%
- Other Religions, 1%
- Non-Religious, 13%
Education
Florida's public primary and secondary schools are administered by
the Florida Department of Education.
Florida's public-school revenue per student and spending per $1000
of personal income usually rank in the bottom 25 percent of U.S.
states. Governor Jeb
Bush has been criticized by many Florida educators for a
program that penalizes underperforming schools (as indicated by
standardized
tests, most prominently the FCAT) with fewer funding dollars. www.sptimes.com/News/050801/State/Bush_s_trustees_mostl.shtml
In 2002, former governor and then U.S. Senator
Bob Graham (Dem.) led
a constitutional-amendment ballot referendum designed to
restore the board-of-regents system. -->
Transportation
Highways
Florida's interstates, state highways and U.S. Highways are maintained by the Florida
Department of Transportation.
Florida's interstate highway system contains 1,473 miles
(2,371 km) of highway, and there are 9,934 miles
(15,987 km) of non-interstate highway in the state, such as
Florida state
highways and U.S.
Highways.
Florida's primary interstate routes include:
- I-4, which
bisects the state, connecting Tampa, Lakeland, Orlando, and Daytona
Beach, having junctions with I-95 at Daytona Beach and I-75
at Tampa.
- I-10, which
traverses the panhandle, connecting Jacksonville,
Lake
City, Tallahassee and Pensacola, having junctions with I-95 at
Jacksonville and I-75 at Lake City.
- I-75, which
enters the state near Lake City (45 miles west of Jacksonville) and
continues southward through Gainesville,
Ocala,
Tampa's eastern suburbs, Bradenton, Sarasota, and Fort Myers to
Naples,
where it crosses the "Alligator Alley" as a toll road to Fort
Lauderdale before turning southward and terminating in
Hialeah/Miami Lakes having junctions with I-10 at Lake City
and I-4 at Tampa.
- I-95, which
enters the state near Jacksonville and continues along the
Atlantic Coast through Daytona Beach, Melbourne/Titusville,
Palm Bay,
Vero
Beach, Fort Pierce, Port Saint
Lucie, Stuart, West Palm Beach, and Ft. Lauderdale before
terminating in Miami, having junctions with I-10 at Jacksonville and
I-4 at Daytona Beach.
Florida's secondary interstate routes include:
- I-110, a spur from I-10 into downtown
Pensacola.
- I-175, which connects I-275 to southern downtown
St.
Petersburg.
- I-195, an extension of Miami's Airport Expressway
(S.R.
a spur eastward from I-95 to Miami
Beach.
- I-275, a sixty-mile (100 km)www.kurumi.com/roads/3di/i275.html
westward loop from I-75 north of Ellenton, over the
Sunshine
Skyway Bridge, through St. Petersburg, to Tampa
International Airport and downtown Tampa, reconnecting with
I-75 in Tampa's northern suburbs.
- I-295, a partial beltway around Jacksonville that will
loop completely around the city by 2007.
- I-375, which connects I-275 to northern downtown St.
Petersburg.
- I-395, an extension of Miami's Dolphin Expressway
(S.R.
a spur eastward from I-95 to Miami Beach.
- I-595, which connects I-75, I-95, Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport and
Port
Everglades.
Florida has several toll roads, totaling 515 miles (830 km) of the state
highway system. Major toll roads include:
- I-75, as it passes through the Everglades between Naples and Fort Lauderdale
has been grandfathered as a toll road from its original
construction as S.R. 84
- Florida's
Turnpike, which begins at Interstate 75 south of Ocala and
continues southeast through Orlando, Port Saint Lucie, and south
through the western suburbs of Fort Lauderdale and Miami to
Homestead
For more information about the myriad secondary toll expressways
in Florida, see articles detailing roads maintained by the Florida Turnpike
Authority, the Miami-Dade
Expressway Authority, and the Orlando-Orange County Expressway Authority.
Intercity rail
In 2000, voters approved a constitutional amendment to construct
a high-speed rail system to interconnect Florida's major cities.
The Florida
High Speed Rail Authority, originally formed to implement the
high-speed-rail amendment, has vowed to find a way to implement the
system without the amendment.
Amtrak service exists in
Florida: Sanford, in Greater Orlando, is the southern terminus of the
Amtrak Auto
Train, which originates at Lorton, Virginia, south of Washington, DC. Orlando
is also the eastern terminus of the Sunset Limited, which
travels across the southern United States via New Orleans,
Houston, and
San Antonio
to its western terminus of Los Angeles.
Florida is served by two additional Amtrak trains (the Silver Star and the Silver Meteor), which
operate between New York City and Miami. Miami has an automated guideway people-mover system, as
well as a 22-mile metro
system, and most cities have bus service.
Airports
Florida's major international airports, which processed more
than 15 million passengers in 2005, are Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport
(22,390,285), Miami International Airport (31,008,453), Orlando
International Airport (34,128,048) and Tampa
International Airport (19,045,390).
Secondary airports, with annual passenger traffic exceeding 5
million in 2005, include Jacksonville International Airport (5,741,652), Palm Beach
International Airport (West Palm Beach) (7,014,237) and
Southwest Florida International Airport (Fort Myers)
(7,518,169).
Other smaller, regional airports with commercial service (with
passengers served in 2005, where available) include those at
Daytona Beach (615,841), Fort Walton
Beach, Gainesville (345,788), Key West,
Melbourne (466,367) ,Naples,
Panama City (382,551), Pensacola
(1,638,605), Sarasota-Bradenton (1,337,571), St. Petersburg-Clearwater (596,510) and Tallahassee
(1,129,947). Sanford (1,649,237) is primarily served by international
charter airlines.2005 North America Airports Traffic
Statistics URL retrieved September 15, 2006
Metropolitan areas
Florida has nineteen Metropolitan
Statistical Areas (MSAs) defined by the United States Office of Management and Budget
(OMB).
|
Metropolitan
Statistical Areas |
2005
Population |
|
Cape Coral-Fort Myers Metropolitan Statistical
Area |
549,442 |
|
Deltona-Daytona Beach-Ormond Beach Metropolitan
Statistical Area |
494,649 |
|
Fort Walton Beach-Crestview-Destin Metropolitan
Statistical Area |
188,939 |
|
Gainesville Metropolitan Statistical Area |
256,985 |
|
Jacksonville Metropolitan Statistical Area |
1,277,763 |
|
Lakeland Metropolitan Statistical Area |
541,840 |
|
Miami-Ft.Lauderdale-West Palm Beach Metropolitan
Statistical Area |
5,422,200 |
|
Naples-Marco Island Metropolitan Statistical
Area |
317,788 |
|
Ocala Metropolitan Statistical Area |
304,926 |
|
Orlando-Kissimmee Metropolitan Statistical
Area |
1,861,707 |
|
Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville Metropolitan
Statistical Area |
531,970 |
|
Panama City-Lynn Haven Metropolitan Statistical
Area |
161,721 |
|
Pensacola-Ferry Pass-Brent, Florida Metropolitan
Statistical Area |
439,877 |
|
Port St. Lucie-Fort Pierce Metropolitan
Statistical Area |
381,033 |
|
Punta Gorda Metropolitan Statistical Area |
154,030 |
|
Sarasota-Bradenton-Venice Metropolitan Statistical
Area |
673,035 |
|
Sebastian-Vero Beach Metropolitan Statistical
Area |
130,043 |
|
Tallahassee Metropolitan Statistical Area |
334,886 |
|
Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater Metropolitan
Statistical Area |
2,589,637 |
Important cities and towns
City Population > 700,000
City Population > 300,000
City Population > 200,000
- Hialeah
- Orlando
- St. Petersburg
City Population > 100,000
- Cape Coral
- Clearwater
- Coral Springs
- Fort Lauderdale
- Gainesville
- Hollywood
- Miami Gardens
- Pembroke Pines
- Miramar
- Palm
Bay
- Port Saint Lucie
- Pompano Beach
- Tallahassee
City Population > 75,000
- Boca Raton
- Brandon
- Davie
- Deltona
- Kendall
- Lakeland
- Melbourne
- Miami Beach
- Plantation
- Sunrise
- West Palm Beach
|
City Population > 50,000
- Boynton Beach
- Bradenton
- Daytona Beach
- Deerfield Beach
- Delray Beach
- Fort Myers
- Fountainbleau
- Kendale Lakes
- Kissimmee
- Largo
- Lauderhill
- Margate
- North Miami
- North Miami Beach
- Palm Coast
- Palm Harbor
- Pensacola
- Sarasota
- Spring Hill
- Tamarac
- Tamiami
- Town 'n' Country
- Weston
City Population > 25,000
- Altamonte Springs
- Aventura
- Apopka
- Bartow
- Bonita Springs
- Coconut Creek
- Cooper City
- Coral Gables
- De
Land
- Dunedin
|
- East Lake
- Egypt Lake-Leto
- Fort Pierce
- Greater Carrollwood
- Greenacres
- Hallandale Beach
- Homestead
- Jupiter
- Kendall West
- Key
West
- Lake Magdalene
- Lake Worth
- Lauderdale Lakes
- Lehigh Acres
- North Fort Myers
- North Lauderdale
- Ocala
- Ocoee
- Oakland Park
- Ormond Beach
- Oviedo
- Palm Beach Gardens
- Panama City
- Pinellas Park
- Plant City
- Port Orange
- Port Charlotte
- Riviera Beach
- Royal Palm Beach
- Sanford
- South Fort Myers
- Titusville
- University
- Wellington
- Westchester
- Winter Haven
- Winter Park
- Winter Springs
|
Professional sports teams
Club
|
Sport
|
League
|
| Jacksonville Jaguars |
Football |
National Football League |
| Tampa
Bay Buccaneers |
Football
|
National Football League
|
| Miami
Dolphins |
Football
|
National Football League
|
| Orlando
Magic |
Basketball |
National Basketball Association |
| Miami
Heat |
Basketball
|
National Basketball Association
|
| Tampa
Bay Lightning |
Ice
hockey |
National Hockey League |
| Florida
Panthers |
Ice hockey
|
National Hockey League
|
| Tampa
Bay Devil Rays |
Baseball |
Major
League Baseball |
| Florida
Marlins |
Baseball
|
Major League Baseball
|
| Orlando
Predators |
Arena
football |
Arena
Football League |
| Tampa Bay
Storm |
Arena football
|
Arena Football League
|
| Brevard County Manatees |
Baseball
|
Minor
League BaseballFlorida State League
|
| Clearwater Threshers |
Baseball
|
Minor
League BaseballFlorida State League
|
| Daytona
Cubs |
Baseball
|
Minor
League BaseballFlorida State League
|
| Dunedin
Blue Jays |
Baseball
|
Minor
League BaseballFlorida State League
|
| Fort
Myers Miracle |
Baseball
|
Minor
League BaseballFlorida State League
|
| Jacksonville Suns |
Baseball
|
Minor League Baseball
|
| Jupiter
Hammerheads |
Baseball
|
Minor
League BaseballFlorida State League
|
| Lakeland
Tigers |
Baseball
|
Minor
League BaseballFlorida State League
|
| Sarasota
Reds |
Baseball
|
Minor
League BaseballFlorida State League
|
| St. Lucie
Mets |
Baseball
|
Minor
League BaseballFlorida State League
|
| Tampa
Yankees |
Baseball
|
Minor
League BaseballFlorida State League
|
| Palm
Beach Cardinals |
Baseball
|
Minor
League BaseballFlorida State League
|
| Vero
Beach Dodgers |
Baseball
|
Minor
League BaseballFlorida State League
|
| Miami FC |
Soccer |
USL First
Division |
| Ajax
Orlando Prospects |
Soccer
|
USL Premier Development League |
| Bradenton Academics |
Soccer
|
USL Premier Development League
|
| Central Florida Kraze |
Soccer
|
USL Premier Development League
|
| Cocoa
Expos |
Soccer
|
USL Premier Development League
|
| Palm Beach
Pumas |
Soccer
|
USL Premier Development League
|
| Bradenton Athletics |
Soccer
|
W-League |
| Central Florida Krush |
Soccer
|
W-League
|
| Cocoa
Expos |
Soccer
|
W-League
|
| Central Florida Strikers |
Soccer
|
Women?s Premier Soccer League |
| Miami
Surf |
Soccer
|
Women?s Premier Soccer League
|
| Orlando
Falcons |
Soccer
|
Women?s Premier Soccer League
|
| Palm Beach
United |
Soccer
|
Women?s Premier Soccer League
|
| South
Florida Breeze |
Soccer
|
Women?s Premier Soccer League
|
| Tampa Bay
United |
Soccer
|
Women?s Premier Soccer League
|
| Florida
Everblades |
Ice hockey
|
East Coast Hockey League |
| Florida
Seals |
Ice hockey
|
Southern Professional Hockey League |
| Jacksonville Barracudas |
Ice hockey
|
Southern Professional Hockey League
|
| Pensacola Ice Pilots |
Ice hockey
|
East Coast Hockey League
|
Orlando, Florida (Name TBA)
|
Basketball
|
American Basketball Association |
| Palm
Beach Imperials |
Basketball
|
American Basketball Association |
| Pensacola
Aviators |
Basketball
|
American Basketball Association |
| Jacksonville Jam |
Basketball
|
American Basketball Association |
| Tampa
Bay Strong Dogs |
Basketball
|
American Basketball Association |
Spring training
Florida is the traditional home for Major League Baseball spring
training, with teams informally organized into the "Grapefruit League."
As of 2004, Florida
hosts the following major league teams for spring training:
Club
|
Location
|
| Atlanta
Braves |
Walt Disney World
|
| Baltimore
Orioles |
Fort Lauderdale
|
|
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