Florida State Road 68

State Road 68 marker

State Road 68
Orange Avenue
Route information
Maintained by FDOT
Length: 4.495 mi[1] (7.234 km)
Major junctions
West end: SR 713 / CR 68 near Fort Pierce
East end: US 1 in Fort Pierce
Location
Counties: St. Lucie
Highway system
SR 66SR 69

Known locally as Orange Avenue, State Road 68 (SR 68) is a 4.5-mile-long east–west street in Fort Pierce, Florida. 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

The entire route is in St. Lucie County.

Locationmi[1]kmDestinationsNotes
 0.0000.000 SR 713 (Kings Highway) / CR 68 west (Orange Avenue) to Turnpike Airport
 0.310.50 I95 (SR 9) Daytona Beach, West Palm Beach
 1.0061.619 CR 611 south (Jenkins Road)
Fort Pierce2.5244.062 CR 607A west (Angle Road)
3.0224.863 SR 615 (M.L. King Jr. Boulevard / 25th Street)
4.4957.234 US 1 (SR 5) – Navy SEAL Museum
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 FDOT straight line diagrams, accessed February 2014

External links