In the game
Trailer 2 has a road shot with a very particular flavor: a highway running straight to the vanishing point across flat swamp, a canal alongside, no buildings, no curves, just sky. Fans have matched it to Alligator Alley, and the match rests on that geometry. Florida has plenty of straight roads but only one that crosses the Everglades with a canal on one side for its entire length.
Rockstar hasn’t named it, and a straight road across marsh could be a composite of several. But if Grassrivers has a highway across the swamp, this is the road it’s built from, and it’s the road you’ll drive if you’re touring the real places on this site in one trip.
The real place
Alligator Alley opened in 1968 as a two-lane toll road, and the name began as an insult: the auto club said it would be good only for alligators. It was rebuilt as four-lane I-75 between 1986 and 1992, with fences and dozens of wildlife underpasses so that panthers and gators could cross beneath it. It runs about 80 miles from the western edge of Fort Lauderdale’s suburbs to the eastern edge of Naples with almost nothing in between.
Driving it today is a strange, meditative thing. The canal on the north side was dug for the fill the road was built on, and you’ll see gators sunning on its bank every few hundred yards if you’re paying attention. The detail a GTA fan will recognize is the emptiness: 80 miles at 70 mph with the same view the whole way, cypress heads on the horizon, and the feeling that the road is the only man-made object for miles.
Go there
Tolls and payment
Check the official SunPass toll calculator for Alligator Alley, your payment method and axle count before setting off. Older toll charts can remain online after rates or payment arrangements change. Florida’s Turnpike lists Alligator Alley among its electronic toll facilities; do not plan on cash as your only payment option. If you are renting, ask how the rental company’s toll program and service fees work.
Rest stops and the crossing
Use designated rest areas rather than the highway shoulder to stop for the landscape. FDOT’s rest-area directory is the place to check facilities along your route. The agency reported completion of the Broward County Alligator Alley Rest Area and Environmental Education Center in August 2025, with exhibits, boardwalks and an observation tower. Confirm access before making it the centerpiece of a day out.
Fuel up before the crossing and carry water. Check FL511 for current incidents, closures and travel conditions; leave room in your schedule for weather and stops. Use marked public access areas, keep away from wildlife and never stop on the travel lanes to photograph the canals.
Alligator Alley or Tamiami Trail?
I-75 is the interstate crossing. For a Miami-based day focused on visitor stops, compare our Grassrivers day trip, which uses the Tamiami Trail area and Shark Valley. They are different routes, so choose the itinerary before entering destinations in your navigation app.
Nearby
- The gator in the pool: the Alley starts where Weston’s last subdivision ends.
- Big Cypress: take exit 80 (SR 29) south and you’re in the preserve within minutes.
- Everglades City and Chokoloskee: 20 minutes south of exit 80, the fishing town at the end of the swamp.
On the map
Photo: Linda72 via Pixabay. Updated September 17, 2026. Spotted an error? Tell us.
