MIAMI.– The Florida Senate approved bill SB 628 to rename a major highway in honor of President Donald Trump for his close relationship with the state.
The legislation, voted 34-3, directs the Department of Transportation to install new markers on key routes from the south to the north of the peninsula to honor political leaders, sports figures and members of the armed forces.
The centerpiece of this initiative, sponsored by Republican Senator Don Gaetz, calls for naming 125 miles of State Highway 80 in Palm Beach County as the “President Donald J. Trump Highway.”
Since his move to the Mar-a-Lago residence, Trump consolidated Florida as his permanent home, his main base of operations and an impregnable electoral stronghold.
The road artery crosses precisely the county where the president maintains his epicenter of political and personal influence.
This is in addition to the Florida Congress passing a bill in mid-February to rename Palm Beach International Airport as “President Donald J. Trump International Airport.”
The official change would come into effect in July with an estimated cost of $5.5 million to update the visual identity of the air terminal, located a few minutes from the presidential residence.
Other recognitions
The measure incorporates an amendment by Senator Corey Simon to add the name of legendary coach Bobby Bowden to the Tallahassee International Airport.
Simon, a former player and national college football champion in 1999 under Bowden’s direction at Florida State University (FSU), promoted this posthumous tribute to his mentor.
Likewise, the law renames a stretch of College Avenue in the state capital as “President John Thrasher Memorial Boulevard,” to honor the former president of the academic institution and former Republican leader of the House of Representatives.
Memory for military heroes
In the northwest of the state, the bill also dedicates space to honor the sacrifice of the armed forces.
State Highway 295 in Escambia County will be named “Warrior Sacrifice Road.”
This change seeks to preserve the memory of Mohammed Sameh Haitham, Joshua Kaleb Watson and Cameron Scott Walters, soldiers who lost their lives during a terrorist attack at the Pensacola Naval Air Station in 2019.
After passing this process in the upper house, the proposal heads to the House of Representatives for consideration and final debate.
