Florida State Road 80
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|---|---|---|---|---|
| Route information | ||||
| Maintained by FDOT | ||||
| Length: | 123.480 mi[1] (198.722 km) | |||
| Existed: | 1945 renumbering (definition) – present | |||
| Major junctions | ||||
| West end: |
 US 41 in Fort Myers | |||
 SR 29 in LaBelle US 27 in South Bay  US 98 / US 441 near Belle Glade I-95 in West Palm Beach | ||||
| East end: |
 SR A1A in Palm Beach | |||
| Location | ||||
| Counties: | Lee, Hendry, Palm Beach | |||
| Highway system | ||||
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State Road 80 (SR 80) (also known as Palm Beach Boulevard in Lee County and Southern Boulevard in Palm Beach County) is a 123.5 miles (198.8 km) route linking US 41 Business in Fort Myers and State Road A1A in Palm Beach. The road is the northernmost of three linking Southwest Florida to South Florida via the Everglades (Alligator Alley and Tamiami Trail being the other two). Due to increasing traffic, State Road 80 has experienced upgrades and widening in various sections since 2000.
Route description
Lee and Hendry Counties
State Road 80 begins at an intersection with US 41 (Tamiami Trail) in downtown Fort Myers. From the terminus, it runs briefly along Main Street and Monroe Street though historic downtown Fort Myers to State Road 82, where it becomes discontinuous. State Road 80 resumes at Fowler Street (US 41 Business/SR 739), where it runs east as a pair of two lane, one-way streets weaving through central Fort Myers, with westbound lanes on First Street, and the eastbound lanes running on Second Street. The eastbound lanes rejoin the westbound lanes via Seaboard Street (a former Seaboard Air Line Railroad corridor) just east of Dean Park, forming the four-lane divided Palm Beach Boulevard. From there, it follows the Caloosahatchee River east out of the city, expanding to six lanes east of the Ortiz Avenue (CR 865) intersection in Tice. It has an interchange with Interstate 75 as it passes through the eastern suburbs of Fort Myers before being reduced to four lanes east of SR 31 before leaving Lee County and entering Hendry County. At its county seat, LaBelle, it serves as the town's main street and intersects SR 29. After LaBelle, it becomes a two-lane highway until an interchange with US 27, where the two roads run concurrently as a four-lane highway as it heads east towards Clewiston and the southern coast of Lake Okeechobee.[2][3]
Palm Beach County
In Palm Beach County, it serves as a commuter route between South Bay and Belle Glade at the western end, growing suburbs Loxahatchee, Wellington, Royal Palm Beach and county seat West Palm Beach. In South Bay, US 27 heads south towards Miami, following the North New River Canal. Between Belle Glade and Loxahatchee, the roads are surrounded by sugarcane fields, with US 441 and US 98 both joining State Road 80 during this stretch. Lion Country Safari marks the beginning of a rural to urban transition of the road for the remainder of its journey. The road doubles from four to eight lanes in Royal Palm Beach, as the road serves as the border between Royal Palm Beach and Wellington. At the State Road 7 intersection, US 441 turns south towards Miami. The South Florida Fairgrounds and the Coral Sky Amphitheater, where the South Florida Fair takes place, are next on the route, just east of SR 7. After passing Florida's Turnpike, it gains two more lanes and becomes an expressway, with diamond interchanges with Jog Road, Haverhill Road and Military Trail. East of Military Trail, it loses a lane in each direction as it straddles the southern end of Palm Beach International Airport, where private aircraft are serviced, with commercial access to the airport available via SR 704A. It then approaches a bridge over the Tri-Rail main line as it intersects Interstate 95 at Exit 68, then becomes a four-lane road in several older, high-density neighborhoods in West Palm Beach. East of the Florida East Coast Railway bridge crossing, it intersects US 1 and SR 5, reducing to two lanes as it crosses Lake Worth Lagoon on two bridges, and ending on a roundabout with SR A1A in Palm Beach near the Mar-a-Lago estate.[2][3]
History
The section from Twenty Mile Bend to West Palm Beach was opened as part of the Conners Highway on July 4, 1924.
The route was first designated State Road 25 in 1923, running from Palm Beach to Punta Rassa. As a result of the 1945 Florida State Road renumbering, the route became State Road 80 from Fort Myers to Palm Beach, and the segment west of Fort Myers to Punta Rassa became State Road 867. (Ironically, State Road 25 still applies today to the concurrency with US 27 as that is now US 27’s hidden designation).[4]
The segment between Belle Glade and Twenty Mile Bend, known as the Kenneth C. Mock Memorial Highway was completed in 1989, making SR 80 a four-lane divided highway between Belle Glade and West Palm Beach. Prior to this, SR 80 (and US 441) ran just to the south along what is now County Road 880.[5] US 98 would later be rerouted onto this route beginning around 2000.
Until 2002, Palm Beach County's Southern Boulevard was a four lane road with a center left-turn lane, causing high gridlock due to the rapidly growing western suburbs of Loxahatchee, Royal Palm Beach and Wellington.[6] The road was known as "Killer 80" due to its high fatality rate.[7] In 2002, after many years of debate, the Florida Department of Transportation embarked on a $78 million project to upgrade and widen Southern Boulevard from I-95 to US 441/SR 7.[6] Between 2003 and 2008, it was transformed into a limited-access highway with freeway-grade diamond interchanges at the most congested intersections, with traffic signals remaining at others.[8][9]
Prior to 2006, SR 80 continued through downtown Fort Myers along Second and Bay Streets. This segment was then relinquished to the city as part of the downtown redevelopment and streetscape effort.[10] This created the gap that exists today.
In Hendry County, a project to improve the intersection between SR 80 and US 27 and add an overpass was completed at the end of 2014.[11]
Future
The two bridges crossing Lake Worth Lagoon, built in 1950, are currently in the planning stages for replacement, with construction expected to begin in 2015.[12]
Major intersections
| County | Location | mi[1] | km | Destinations | Notes | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lee | Fort Myers | 0.000 | 0.000 |  US 41 (Cleveland Avenue) to SR 867 south (McGregor Boulevard) | |||
| 0.168 | 0.270 | Monroe Street / Main Street - Downtown Fort Myers | |||||
| 0.242 | 0.389 | Second Street | former SR 80 east | ||||
| 0.316 | 0.509 |    SR 82 (Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard) to US 41 Bus. | |||||
| Gap in route | |||||||
| 0.000 | 0.000 | US 41 Bus. south (Fowler Street / SR 739) | west end of state maintenance | ||||
| 0.237 | 0.381 | US 41 Bus. north (Park Avenue / SR 739) – North Fort Myers | |||||
| 0.8 | 1.3 | Billy's Creek Bridge over Billy Creek (westbound only) | |||||
| Tice | 3.861 | 6.214 | Ortiz Avenue (CR 865 south) | ||||
| 5.06 | 8.14 |  I-75 (SR 93) – Naples, Tampa | Exit 141 (I-75) | ||||
| 7.746 | 12.466 |  SR 31 north – Arcadia | |||||
| 10.238 | 16.476 | Old Olga Road / Buckingham Road - Lehigh Acres | |||||
| 17.151 | 27.602 | Broadway Street (CR 78) - Alva, Caloosahatchee Regional Park | |||||
| 17.724 | 28.524 |  CR 884 west (Joel Boulevard) – Lehigh Acres | |||||
| Hendry | 22.860 | 36.790 | Fort Denaud Road (CR 78A east) - Fort Denaud | ||||
| LaBelle | 27.325 | 43.975 |   CR 80A east (Cowboy Way) / Fort Denaud Road – Airport | ||||
| 28.450 | 45.786 | Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard (CR 731 south) | |||||
| 29.210 | 47.009 | SR 29 south (Main Street) – Immokalee | Western end of SR 29 concurrency | ||||
| 29.277 | 47.117 | SR 29 north (Bridge Street) – Palmdale | Eastern end of SR 29 concurrency | ||||
| Port LaBelle | 34.230 | 55.088 | CR 80A west (Cowboy Way) – Edison State College | ||||
| 48.709 | 78.390 |  CR 833 south – Big Cypress Seminole Reservation | |||||
| Whidden Corner | 51.677 | 83.166 | US 27 north (SR 25) – Moore Haven, Haines City | Western end of US 27 / SR 25 concurrency | |||
| 58.096 | 93.496 |  CR 720 west | |||||
| Clewiston | 60.670 | 97.639 | W.C. Owen Avenue (CR 832) | ||||
| 62.851 | 101.149 |  CR 835 south (Evercane Road) | |||||
| Palm Beach | South Bay | 76.526 | 123.157 | US 27 south (SR 25) – Fort Lauderdale | Eastern end of US 27 / SR 25 concurrency | ||
| Belle Glade | 78.329 | 126.058 |  SR 715 north (Southwest 16th Street) – Pahokee, truck bypass to West Palm Beach, Pahokee, Canal Point | ||||
| 79.391 | 127.767 |  CR 827A south | |||||
| 80.524 | 129.591 |  CR 880 east (Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard) | Southern end of SR 15 concurrency; former SR 80 | ||||
| 80.766 | 129.980 | East Canal Street South (SR 717 east) | south end of SR 717 overlap | ||||
| 80.814 | 130.058 |  SR 717 west (West Canal Street North) | north end of SR 717 overlap | ||||
| 83.534 | 134.435 |  US 98 west / US 441 north / SR 15 north – truck by-pass to Pahokee, Canal Point SR 812 west (Hooker Highway) – Pahokee, Canal Point, Palm Beach Community College, truck by-pass to South Bay | east end of SR 15 overlap; west end of US 98 / US 441 overlap | ||||
| 96.871 | 155.899 |   SR 700 west / CR 700 east – Canal Point | |||||
| Twenty Mile Bend | 101.780 | 163.799 | CR 880 west | former SR 80 | |||
| Wellington / Royal Palm Beach | 110.479 | 177.799 | Forest Hill Boulevard / Crestwood Boulevard | ||||
| Royal Palm Beach | 113.25 | 182.26 |  US 441 south / SR 7 north | Interchange; eastern end of US 441 concurrency | |||
| 115.47 | 185.83 |  Turnpike (SR 91) – Miami, Orlando | Exit 97 (Florida's Turnpike) | ||||
| 116.79 | 187.96 | Jog Road | interchange | ||||
| 118.32– 118.83 | 190.42– 191.24 |  SR 809 (Military Trail) / Haverhill Road | interchange | ||||
| Glen Ridge | 120.68 | 194.22 |  SR 807 south (Congress Avenue) / Australian Avenue (CR 704A north) – Palm Beach International Airport | interchange | |||
| West Palm Beach | 121.47 | 195.49 | I-95 (SR 9) – Miami, West Palm Beach | Exit 68 (I-95) | |||
| 122.392 | 196.971 |  US 1 (Dixie Highway / SR 805) | |||||
| 122.538 | 197.206 |  SR 5 (South Olive Avenue) | |||||
| Lake Worth Lagoon | 122.87 | 197.74 | Southern Boulevard Bridge | ||||
| Palm Beach | 123.480 | 198.722 | SR A1A (South Ocean Boulevard) | Roundabout; east end of US 98 overlap | |||
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi
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References
- 1 2 FDOT straight line diagrams, accessed January 2014
- 1 2 Google (2010-05-03). "overview map of State Road 80" (Map). Google Maps. Google. Retrieved 2010-05-03.
- 1 2 Google Inc. (July 8, 2008). Google Earth (4.3.7284.3916) [beta]. Retrieved July 25, 2009. <http://earth.google.com/>
- ↑ http://www.us-highways.com/of021040.htm Retrieved 6 April 2010.
- ↑ Lowery, Fred (17 June 1985). "Highway Name To Pay Tribute To Area Engineer". Sun Sentinel. Retrieved 29 March 2016.
- 1 2 "As County Booms, State's Plans For Widening Roads Often Bust". Miami Herald 15 Feb 1987: 3PBS
- ↑ "Four Die in Crash on State Road 80". Miami Herald 23 Apr 1984: 15BR
- ↑ Palm Beach FDOT. "Southern Blvd. (SR 80) Projects". Retrieved July 25, 2009.
- ↑ Regnier & Associates, Inc. "State Road 80 Expansion". Retrieved July 25, 2009.
- ↑ "Fort Myers Streetscape". Retrieved 30 March 2016.
- ↑ Cella Molnar & Associates, Inc. "State Road 80, US 27". Retrieved December 8, 2013.
- ↑ FDOT. "SR 80 (Southern Blvd) Bridges". Retrieved July 25, 2009.