Florida State Road 611

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Locally known as Jenkins Road, Edwards Road, and Edwards Boulevard, the former State Road 611 (now St. Lucie County Road 611) serves areas south and west of Fort Pierce, Florida. The 6.4-mile-long route's northern terminus is an intersection of Jenkins Road with Orange Avenue (SR 68) close to an Interstate 95 (SR 9) interchange; the eastern terminus of SR 611 was an intersection of Edwards Road with South Fourth Street (US 1/SR 5) on the southern city limit of Fort Pierce. The route was transitioned from state to county control in the 1990s, along with spur route SR 611B.

While the north-south segment of CR 611 retains the rural setting that it had upon its construction, it is the site of increased urbanization that is common in southeastern Florida, with its rapid population growth since the 1960s. The east-west portion of the former State Road is still sparsely populated west of Hawley Road (SR 615) and well-developed east of it, serving Breenwood.

Also signed CR 611 is the north-south Selvitz Road, extending 2.3 miles from Edwards Boulevard/Edwards Road to Midway Road (former SR 712, now CR 712) in Port St. Lucie. In the years in which Jenkins Boulevard was signed SR 611, Selvitz Road was signed State Road 611B.

[edit] A second State Road 611 at roughly the same time

At about the same time, a stretch of 43rd Avenue (also known as Clemann Avenue) between Osceola Boulevard (SR 60) in Vero Beach and the St. Lucie County boundary line near Lakewood Park was also designated State Road 611 (this is not unprecedented in this region, as the SR 607 designation was originally applied to three different streets near Fort Pierce at the same time). A southbound continuation of the rural road into St. Lucie County is Johnston Road (former State Road 603 north of Indrio Road/current SR 614). Both 43rd Avenue and Johnston Road are now County Road 611.

[edit] A bypass and a connector: the former State Road 611B

While the former SR 611 was primarily a commuter route, the former SR 611B was, and is, both a bypass of the rapidly-growing developments along the Indian River and an access road to the Glades Cutoff Road (former SR 609, which provides an alternative to SR 70 for motorists traveling from Fort Pierce to Lake Okeechobee). In addition, Selvitz Road is often used as an alternative whenever a stretch of nearby Florida's Turnpike becomes impassable.

About 1988, SR 611B absorbed the part of SR 611 east of Selvitz Road. The newly-configured State Road retained the Edwards-Selvitz alignment for roughly a decade.