State Road 368 was defined by state law in 1937. This route ran along Red Road from pre-1945 SR 26 in Hialeah north to Opa Locka Road. There it turned west until County Road 80, where it turned back south to SR 26. The other section of present SR 823 was defined in 1939 as State Road 517, running along Flamingo Road from Pembroke Road north to a branch of pre-1945 SR 26. In the 1945 renumbering, all but the southernmost mile of SR 517 became State Road 823. At some point, it was extended south to Snake Creek Canal and Northwest 202nd Street, just south of the Dade County boundary. The other piece, partly former SR 368, was designated State Road 819 in the 1945 renumbering. This ran from SR 25 north to Golden Glades Drive, using former SR 368 south of Northwest 138th Street. The rest of SR 368 was not assigned a number, but part of it is now SR 916. This was extended north to SR 860 at some point; SR 819 was redesignated State Road 955 in 1983 as part of a statewide reorganization of State Roads. Around 1992, the diagonal connection between Red Road and Flamingo Road was built, allowing SR 823 to extend south over that connection, first ending at SR 860, then taking over SR 955 in the mid 1990s. The former piece of SR 823 on Flamingo Road to the county line was kept as an unsigned State Road.
"The Most Dangerous Intersection in America"
In 2001, State Farm Insurance ranked the intersection of Flamingo Road and Pines Boulevard in Pembroke Pines, "The Most Dangerous Intersection in America". Using data from over a two-year period, the company found that 357 vehicular accidents happened during their study at the intersection, which is where C. B. Smith Park, Pembroke Lakes Mall, a hospital, and two shopping centers are located. This prompted the city to make drastic changes to the intersection, which included lengthening the turning lanes and adding red light cameras. The number of accidents have since dropped significantly at the intersection.
State Road 9823
In the early 1980s, there was apparently a reconfiguration of SR 823 in the Miami-Lakes area, but sources from FDOT to Miami-Dade County Planning to various commercial road maps disagree. The majority of the sources contend that by 1983, SR 823 was rerouted along Northwest 68th Avenue and Miami Gardens Drive before returning to Ludlam Road. After the shifting of SR 823 to Red Road, some sources indicated that FDOT was maintaining an "unsigned State Road 9823" that was part of an earlier configuration of SR 823 that had since been orphaned. One FDOT document indicated that SR 9823 was the stretch of Flamingo Road from the Red Road connector to a point under the Florida's Turnpike underpass; another FDOT document indicated it extended to the Miami-Dade/Broward County line or the original southern terminus near Snake Creek Canal. Yet other FDOT documents don't even indicate it ever existed. Miami-Dade County planning maps do not show any indication of the existence of SR 9823, except for one that indicated the segment from the Palmetto Expressway to Broward County via Ludlam Road was SR 9823. This is also indicated by a handful of commercially prepared road maps. Yet other sources do not indicate the existence of such a "hidden" State Road at all. While there is a preponderance of evidence indicating SR 9823 having existed and taken the "Miami Lakes detour", this remains an open question.
