Florida State Road 76

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The 35-mile-long State Road 76 is a northeast-southwest (signed east-west) highway connecting Stuart on the shore of the St. Lucie River near the Atlantic Ocean and the Treasure Coast to Port Mayaca on the shore of Lake Okeechobee. Its western terminus is an intersection with US 98-441 (SR 700-SR 15); the eastern terminus is an intersection with US 1 (SR 5). It parallels the nearby St. Lucie Canal, a navigable waterway connecting the lake and the ocean.

West of Florida's Turnpike (SR 91) and Interstate 95 (SR 5), SR 76 crosses the woodland and wetlands typifying Florida northeast of Lake Okeechobee. With the exception of Indiantown on the opposite (northern) side of St. Lucie Canal near the intersection of SR 76 and SR 710, very little human habitation exists along the southwestern 30 miles of SR 76 (locally known as Kanner Highway); northeast of the two expressways, the human presence is more pronounced (a marina is located on the canal between the turnpike and I-95, for example) as the urbanization undergone by Florida’s extreme southeastern counties has penetrated Martin County.

[edit] An alternate route: the former State Road 76A (now Martin County Road 76A)

Until the mid 1990s, Florida Department of Transportation had State Road 76A signs along Pratt Whitney Road west of SR 76 in Tropical Park and Southwest 48th Street south of Martin Highway (SR 714) near Palm City (an eastward continuation of Pratt Whitney Road is the former SR 711, now Martin County Road 711).

After FDOT removed its State Road signs from the alternate route, new Martin County Road 76A signs lined the rural streets in their place. The County Road 76A designation still applies to the former SR 76A.

[edit] A spur route: the former State Road 722 (now Martin County Road 722)

At the same time that SR 76A signs were erected, Salerno Road between SR 76 and Dixie Highway (Martin County Road A1A) in Port Salerno sported State Road 722 signs. Like SR 76A to the west, Salerno Road lost its FDOT State Road designation and became Martin County Road 722 in the mid-1990s; unlike the former SR 76A, the former SR 722 is not primarily a rural route, but a road making a direct connection between SR 76 and US 1 (East Federal Highway) in Coral Gardens, thus giving motorists an opportunity to shorten their drive from SR 76 to US 1 by ten miles. Recently, the urbanization that is now occurring on the northeastern end of SR 76 is also occurring along the eastern half of CR 722 as construction of new residential developments continues.