Florida State Road 80

State Road 80 marker

State Road 80
Route information
Maintained by FDOT
Length 123.500 mi[1] (198.754 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
US 1 in West Palm Beach
East end SR A1A in Palm Beach
Location
Counties Lee, Hendry, Palm Beach
Highway system
← SR 79SR 81 →

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

Former SR 80 through downtown Fort Myers as First Street. The street is paved with brick to preserve the historic nature of the area.

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

SR 80, looking east

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 route of State Road 80 was largely built in the 1920s. The first vehicle to travel the route from Belle Glade to Palm Beach was in 1923.[4] The section from Twenty Mile Bend to West Palm Beach was considered part of the Conners Highway, which opened on July 4, 1924. Segments west of Lake Okeechobee would be completed by 1926.[5]

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).

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.[6] US 98, which previously ran along SR 700 (Conners Highway), 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.[7] The road was known as "Killer 80" due to its high fatality rate.[8] 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.[7] 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.[9][10]

State Road 80's routing through downtown Fort Myers has changed a few times over the years. When designated in 1945, State Road 80 terminated at First and Fowler Streets (which carried US 41 when it crossed the Edison Bridge). SR 80 would be extended through downtown in 1964 when US 41 was rerouted over the Caloosahatchee Bridge (with First Street also carrying the U.S. Route 41 Business route concurrently).[11] In the 1980s, SR 80 was split into one-way street pairs from Monroe Street to Palm Beach Boulevard and Seaboard Street, with eastbound traffic using Second and Seaboard Streets, and with westbound traffic using First and Bay Streets.[12] The segment between Monroe and Fowler Streets was relinquished to the city of Fort Myers on January 11, 2006 as part of the downtown redevelopment and streetscape effort, creating the gap in the route that exists today.[1][13]

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.[14]

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.[15]

Construction is underway to widen SR 80 east of LaBelle from Dalton Lane to CR 833 to a four-lane divided highway. This is the only remaining undivided two-lane segment of SR 80 between Fort Myers and West Palm Beach. Completion is expected in the summer of 2020.[16][17]

Major intersections

CountyLocationmi[1]kmDestinationsNotes
LeeFort Myers0.0000.000 US 41 (Cleveland Avenue) to CR 867 south (McGregor Boulevard)
0.1680.270Monroe Street south / Main Street east - Downtown
0.2420.389Second StreetFormer routing of SR 80 east until 2006
0.3160.509
SR 82 (Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard) to US 41 Bus.
Gap in route
0.0000.000
US 41 Bus. south (Fowler Street / SR 739)		One-way southbound
0.2370.381
US 41 Bus. north (Park Avenue / SR 739) – North Fort Myers		One-way northbound
0.8311.337Billy's Creek Bridge over Billy Creek (westbound only)
Tice3.8616.214Ortiz Avenue (CR 865 south)Northern terminus of CR 865
​5.0608.143 I-75 – Naples, TampaExit 141 on I-75
Fort Myers Shores7.74612.466 SR 31 north – ArcadiaSouthern terminus of SR 31
Buckingham Road (CR 876 west) – Lehigh AcresEastern terminus of CR 876
Alva17.15127.602Broadway Street to CR 78 – Alva
17.72428.524 CR 884 west (Joel Boulevard) – Lehigh AcresWestern terminus of CR 884
Hendry​22.86036.790Fort Denaud Road (CR 78A east) – Fort DenaudWestern terminus of CR 78A
For Denaud27.32543.975Fort Denaud Road (CR 78A west) / Cowboy Way (CR 80A east)Eastern terminus of CR 78A; western terminus of CR 80A
LaBelle28.45045.786Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard (CR 731 south)
29.21047.009 SR 29 south (Main Street) – ImmokaleeWestern terminus of concurrency with SR 29
29.27747.117 SR 29 north (Bridge Street) – PalmdaleEastern terminus of concurrency with SR 29
Port LaBelle34.23055.088 CR 80A south (Cowboy Way)Northern terminus of CR 80A
​48.70978.390 CR 833 south – Big Cypress Seminole ReservationNorthern terminus of CR 833
Whidden Corner51.67783.166 US 27 north – SebringInterchange; western terminus of concurrency with US 27
​58.09693.496 CR 720 westEastern terminus of CR 720
Clewiston60.67097.639W.C. Owen Avenue (CR 832 east)Western terminus of CR 832
​62.851101.149 CR 835 south (Evercane Road)Northern terminus of CR 835
Palm BeachSouth Bay76.526123.157 US 27 south – Fort LauderdaleEastern terminus of concurrency with US 27
Belle Glade78.329126.058 SR 715 north (SW 16th Street) – PahokeeSouthern terminus of SR 715; truck bypass to West Palm Beach, Pahokee, and Canal Point}
79.391127.767 CR 827A southNorthern terminus of CR 827A
80.524129.591Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard (CR 880 east)
SR 15		Former routing of SR 80 until 1989; western terminus of CR 880; southern terminus of SR 15
80.766129.980Canal Street South (SR 717)
​83.534134.435 US 98 west / US 441 north / SR 15 north (Hooker Highway) / SR 812 west – Pahokee, Canal PointEastern terminus of concurrency with SR 15; western terminus of concurrency with US 98 / US 441;
truck bypass to Pahokee, Canal Point, South Bay
​96.871155.899 SR 700 west / CR 700 east (Conners Highway) – Canal PointEastern terminus of SR 700; western terminus of CR 700
Twenty Mile Bend101.780163.799 CR 880 westFormer routing of SR 80 until 1989
Wellington–Royal Palm Beach line110.479177.799Forest Hill Boulevard / Crestwood BoulevardTo SR 882
Royal Palm Beach113.25182.26 US 441 south / SR 7Interchange; eastern terminus of concurrency with US 441
​115.47185.83 Florida's Turnpike / Pike Road – Miami, OrlandoSouthbound Turnpike is accessed via Pike Road; exit 97 on Turnpike
​116.79187.96Jog RoadInterchange
​118.32–
118.83		190.42–
191.24		 SR 809 (Military Trail) / Haverhill RoadInterchange
Glen Ridge120.68194.22 SR 807 south (Congress Avenue) / Australian Avenue (CR 704A north) – Palm Beach International AirportInterchange; northern terminus of SR 807; southern terminus of CR 704A (former SR 704A)
West Palm Beach121.47195.49 I-95 – Miami, West Palm BeachExit 68 on I-95
122.392196.971 US 1 (Dixie Highway / SR 805)
122.538197.206 SR 5 (Olive Avenue)
Lake Worth Lagoon122.87197.74Southern Boulevard Bridge
Palm Beach123.480198.722 SR A1A (Ocean Boulevard)Traffic circle; eastern terminus of US 98
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi

References

  1. 1 2 3 FDOT straight line diagrams Archived March 6, 2014, at the Wayback Machine., accessed January 2014
  2. 1 2 Google (2010-05-03). "overview map of State Road 80" (Map). Google Maps. Google. Retrieved 2010-05-03.
  3. 1 2 Google Inc. (July 8, 2008). Google Earth (4.3.7284.3916) [beta]. Retrieved July 25, 2009. <http://earth.google.com/>
  4. ↑ Oeffner, Barbara D.; Dunning, Amie (2010). Images of America: Around Lake Okeechobee. Arcadia Publishing. |access-date= requires |url= (help)
  5. ↑ "Historic and Architectural Resources of laBelle". National Park Service. Retrieved 27 June 2016.
  6. ↑ Lowery, Fred (17 June 1985). "Highway Name To Pay Tribute To Area Engineer". Sun Sentinel. Retrieved 29 March 2016.
  7. 1 2 "As County Booms, State's Plans For Widening Roads Often Bust". Miami Herald 15 Feb 1987: 3PBS
  8. ↑ "Four Die in Crash on State Road 80". Miami Herald 23 Apr 1984: 15BR
  9. ↑ Palm Beach FDOT. "Southern Blvd. (SR 80) Projects". Archived from the original on 2009-04-03. Retrieved July 25, 2009.
  10. ↑ Regnier & Associates, Inc. "State Road 80 Expansion". Archived from the original on 2009-09-13. Retrieved July 25, 2009.
  11. ↑ Board, Prudy Taylor; Bartlett, Patricia Pope (1985). Lee County: A Pictorial History. Norfolk, VA: Donning Company. ISBN 0-89865-443-2.
  12. ↑ "Fort Myers Mobility Plan" (PDF). Spikowski Planning Associates. Retrieved 27 June 2016.
  13. ↑ "Fort Myers Streetscape". Retrieved 30 March 2016.
  14. ↑ Cella Molnar & Associates, Inc. "State Road 80, US 27". Archived from the original on 2011-02-07. Retrieved December 8, 2013.
  15. ↑ FDOT. "SR 80 (Southern Blvd) Bridges". Retrieved July 25, 2009.
  16. ↑ "Hendry County Road Watch: resurfacing project of SR 80". The Clewiston News. 1 May 2017. Retrieved 21 May 2017.
  17. ↑ "SR 80 Improvements From Dalton Lane to CR 833, Hendry County" (PDF). Florida Department of Transportation. Retrieved 21 May 2017.

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