Tamiami Canal

The Tamiami Canal, also called the C-4 Canal, is a man-made canal in southern Florida. It runs west to east from the Everglades, past Miami International Airport, to a salinity control structure near the Miami River. It averages 8 feet deep and is more than 100 feet wide in places. It is part of the connected network of southeast Florida canals, built mostly in the early 1900s for drainage, flood protection and water storage. After flooding from Hurricane Irene in 1999 and the "No Name Storm" in 2000, the South Florida Water Management District (SFWMD) began the Tamiami (C-4) Canal Flood Protection Project. The project includes flood walls and earthen berms along the canal in Sweetwater and unincorporated Miami-Dade County.

Public ramps along Tamiami Trail (US 41) are managed by SFWMD and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) as part of the Everglades and Francis S. Taylor Wildlife Management Area. They include the S-334 airboat ramps, the Three Mile Boat Ramp, ramps at S-12-C and S-12-D, and the ramp at Forty Mile Bend. SFWMD has closed the L-29, L-67A and L-67C canals near Tamiami Trail, and their banks, to all public access for maintenance, including boating and fishing. The canals are expected to reopen in March 2027.

FWC reports butterfly peacock bass and largemouth bass in Miami-Dade canals. It also notes that the endangered snail kite can be seen year-round along Tamiami Trail at 40-Mile Bend and other boat ramps. In 2019 a caecilian, Typhlonectes natans, was found living in the canal. The species is native to Venezuela and Colombia, and this was the first record of a caecilian in the United States.