Florida State Road 68
State Road 68 and County Road 68 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Route information | ||||
| Maintained by FDOT and St. Lucie County | ||||
| Length | 29.695 mi[1] (47.789 km) 4.495 miles (7.234 km) as SR 68 | |||
| Major junctions | ||||
| West end |  US 441 near Okeechobee | |||
 SR 713 near Fort Pierce I-95 near Fort Pierce | ||||
| East end |  US 1 in Fort Pierce | |||
| Location | ||||
| Country | United States | |||
| State | Florida | |||
| County | St. Lucie | |||
| Highway system | ||||
| ||||
Known locally as Orange Avenue, State Road 68 (SR 68) is a 4.5-mile-long east–west street in Fort Pierce, Florida. The road continues west for 25.2 miles (40.6 km) as County Road 68 to meet US 441 in Okeechobee County.[2]
Its current western terminus is an intersection with Kings Highway (SR 713) west of the city limits; the eastern terminus is an intersection with North Fourth Street (US 1-SR 5), just three blocks from Indian River Drive (County Road 707) in downtown Fort Pierce.
Initially a key road in the citrus industry, SR 68 has become an important commuter road serving the residences of central Fort Pierce and an interchange with Interstate 95 (SR 9) 0.3 miles from SR 713. The rural nature of the western end of SR 68 is giving way to urbanization, a trend throughout the Atlantic coast of the State of Florida, as orange groves are gradually being replaced by residential developments.
History
The historic western terminus of State Road 68 is about 42 miles (68 km) west of the current one. Originally, SR 68 extended from Micco Bluff Road west of Basinger near the Kissimmee River, following US 98-SR 700, Northeast 160th Street (present County Road 68), Parrott Avenue (US 441-SR 15), Northeast 224th Street (present County Road 68), and the aptly named Orange Avenue (present County Road 68) to SR 713 as it cuts across the wetlands and the orange groves of central Florida to Fort Pierce. Most of SR 68 was reverted to county control in the mid 1980s.
Major intersections
| County | Location | mi[2][1] | km | Destinations | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Okeechobee | | 0.0 | 0.0 | US 441 | Road is unsigned SR 15 |
| St. Lucie | | 17.2 | 27.7 |   CR 613 south (Sneed Road) | Northern terminus of CR 613 |
| | 19.2 | 30.9 |  CR 609 south (Header Canal Road) | Northern terminus of CR 609 | |
| | 19.7 | 31.7 |  CR 609A south (Shinn Road) | Northern terminus of CR 609A | |
| | 25.2 0.000 | 40.6 0.000 |    SR 713 (Kings Highway) to Florida's Turnpike – Airport | Transition from CR 68 to SR 68 | |
| | 0.31 | 0.50 | I-95 – Daytona Beach, West Palm Beach | Exit 131 on I-95 (SR 9) | |
| | 1.006 | 1.619 |  CR 611 south (Jenkins Road) | Northern terminus of CR 611 | |
| Fort Pierce | 2.524 | 4.062 |   CR 607A west (Angle Road) | Eastern terminus of CR 607A | |
| 3.022 | 4.863 |  SR 615 (25th Street) | |||
| 4.495 | 7.234 | US 1 (SR 5) | Continues east without designation | ||
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi
| |||||
References
- ^ a b FDOT straight line diagrams Archived March 6, 2014, at the Wayback Machine, accessed February 2014
- ^ a b Google (June 23, 2019). "County Road 68" (Map). Google Maps. Google. Retrieved June 23, 2019.
External links
