Florida State Road 60

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Please help improve this article or section by expanding it. Further information might be found on the talk page or at requests for expansion.

State Road 60 is an east-west route transversing Florida from the Gulf of Mexico to the Atlantic Ocean. The western terminus of SR-60 is at the Sunsets at Pier 60 in Clearwater. The eastern terminus is in Vero Beach near the Atlantic Coast just past State Road A1A.

State Road 60 (westbound) as it straddles the Lee Roy Selmon Crosstown Expressway's local viaduct and reversable lanes bridge near Tampa.

SR-60 is primarily a four lane divided highway from its western terminus through the town of Lake Wales to Polk County Highway 630 near Indian Lake Estates; from there it is a lonely two-lane road until reaching Interstate 95 near Vero Beach. Construction is underway that will make SR 60 a divided highway from Florida's Turnpike at Yeehaw Junction eastward to Interstate 95. From there until its eastern terminus it is a divided highway.

Entrance to Pier 60 Park at the western terminus of State Road 60.

Memorial Causeway Bridge looking left from under the bridge toward Clearwater, Beach.

In the Tampa Bay area it is the main route from Tampa to the Clearwater area beaches and from Tampa International Airport to northern Pinellas county. It also provides service from Tampa International Airport to the Suncoast Parkway. It is the main non-limited access route from downtown Tampa to Brandon, parallelling the Lee Roy Selmon Expressway.

As of 2005, SR-60 briefly divides into two, one-way streets in southern downtown Clearwater. This is a result of the recent reallignment of the SR-60 corridor in the area, following the completion of the new Memorial Causeway.

[edit] Cities and Other communities on SR-60

From west to east:

• Clearwater, Pinellas County
• Tampa, Hillsborough County
• Brandon, Hillsborough County (unincorporated),
• Mulberry, Polk County
• Bartow, Polk County
• Lake Wales, Polk County
• Yeehaw Junction, Osceola County (unincorporated)
• Vero Beach, Indian River County

[edit] Local Street names for SR-60

From west to east:

• Causeway Boulevard from Gulf Boulevard on Clearwater Beach to causeway.
• Memorial Causeway on causeway between Clearwater Beach and mainland Clearwater.
• SR-60 divides into Court Street (one-way westbound) and Chestnut Street (one-way eastbound) between Bay Ave and Ewing Ave.
• Court Street from Ewing Ave to S Highland Ave.
• Gulf to Bay Boulevard from S Highland Avenue to Tampa Bay.
• Courtney Campbell Causeway over Tampa Bay.
• West Columbus Drive from Rocky Point to Eisenhower Boulevard merger.
• Eisenhower Boulevard until south entrance of Tampa International Airport. (Briefly co-signed with SR-589)
• Memorial Highway from airport entrance to junction I-275
• John F. Kennedy Boulevard from I-275 to Channelside Drive. (Cosigned with Business U.S. Highway 41 most of that section)
• Channelside Drive until junction Adamo Drive.
• Adamo Drive until junction with Interstate 75.
• Brandon Boulevard from I-75 until around Dover Road.
• Simply signed SR-60 from there until reaching Mulberry city limits.
• Canal Street in Mulberry, resumes SR-60 signage east of Mulberry.
• West Main Street west of Bartow city limits.
• SR-60 divides into SR-60A(Bypass 60) and (Business) SR-60 at Baker Street in Bartow
  • Bypass 60 called Van Fleet Drive until rejoining business route. (cosigned with US-98 for part of that route)
  • Business 60 continues Main Street signage until US-17 then Flamingo Drive until merger back to Bypass.
• From east of Bartow through Lake Wales is simply called SR-60, although it is also called Hesperides Road especially in eastern Lake Wales and east of the city.
• Simply signed SR-60 until Interstate 95.
• Signed with 20th Street in Vero Beach until State Road 603.
• Cosigned with SR-603 as Vero Isles Boulevard until Merril P. Barber Bridge.
• Merril P. Barber Bridge over Indian River.
• Beachland Boulevard until Eastern Terminus.

[edit] Clearwater Realignment

Originally, State Road 60 in Clearwater split into two designations between the old Memorial Causeway and S Highland Ave; SR 60 (heading into downtown Clearwater via Gulf-to-Bay Blvd/cleveland St) and Bypass 60 (60A) (heading through the southern section of downtown Clearwater via Court St (Which split into Court St Westbound and Chestnut St eastbound between Ewing Ave and Pierce Blvd). When construction of the new Memorial Causeway began in 2001/2002, the Pierce Blvd connection was closed and the Bypass 60 designation disappeared. Upon completion of the new Memorial Causeway bridge in 2005, the SR 60 designation was realligned to the court St corridor since the causeway's east terminus feeders onto Chestnut and Court Streets. commuters using SR 60 west can still access downtown Clearwater using Gulf-to-Bay Blvd. However, eastbound SR 60 commuters will need to turn left on Ft Harrison Ave to access the central downtown region.