Florida State Road 867
| ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| McGregor Boulevard | ||||
| Route information | ||||
| Maintained by FDOT | ||||
| Length: | 6.622 mi[1] (10.657 km) | |||
| Existed: | 1945 renumbering (definition) – present | |||
| Major junctions | ||||
| South end: |
 SR 865 in Iona | |||
| North end: |
 CR 884 in Fort Myers | |||
| Highway system | ||||
| ||||
State Road 867 (SR 867) and County Road 867 (CR 867) together create a 14.6-mile (23.5 km) roadway in Lee County, Florida paralleling the Caloosahatchee River between Punta Rassa and Fort Myers, Florida. The entire stretch used to be a State Road, but the southernmost 4.5 miles (7.2 km) have been redesignated County Road 867. Both SR 867 and CR 867 are known as McGregor Boulevard.
Route description
County Road 867
The southern terminus of Historic State Road 867 (now County Road 867) is located in Punta Rassa at the foot of the Sanibel Causeway, and it is the only access to Punta Rassa and Sanibel Island. From here, CR 867 is a four-lane divided highway as it travels east from the coast through Mangrove-rich mudflats of San Carlos Bay to Truckland. After the intersection with CR 869 (Summerlin Road) in Truckland, CR 867 continues northeast to the community of Iona. In Iona, it intersects with State/County Road 865 (San Carlos Boulevard/Gladiolus Drive), which is where the CR 867 designation ends.
State Road 867
State Road 867 signage begins where CR 867 left off at the SR 865/CR 865 intersection in Iona. It continues in a northeast trajectory to just west of Cypress Lake where it turns to a north-south trajectory. Just north of Cypress Lake is the intersection the southern terminus of County Road 867A, which crosses the Caloosahatchee River into Cape Coral on the Cape Coral Bridge. The route continues in the opposite direction as College Parkway.
SR 867 continues north and passes through the communities of McGregor and Whiskey Creek before entering Fort Myers' city limits. Once in Fort Myers, it terminates at County Road 884 (Colonial Boulevard), Lee County's main east-west thoroughfare.
SR 867 once continued north past CR 884 along McGregor Boulevard, but in the mid 2000s, this segment was relinquished to the city of Fort Myers.[2] McGregor Boulevard continues north as a city street, passing the Fort Myers Country Club and the Edison and Ford Winter Estates as it enters downtown Fort Myers, before terminating at U.S. 41 (Cleveland Avenue) at the historic Five Points intersection (the former terminus of SR 867, which is also the terminus of State Roads 80 and 82, making a five way intersection).
History
McGregor Boulevard, originally known as Riverside Avenue, was used historically by cattlemen to run cattle from Fort Myers to Punta Rassa, which was a significant cattle shipping town at the time. McGregor Boulevard is named after former Standard Oil executive Ambrose McGregor who, along with his wife Tootie, lived next door to Thomas Edison's estate in Fort Myers.[3]
After McGregor's death in 1900, Tootie and her second husband Dr. Marshall Orlando Terry (another local figure who donated land for Terry Park Ballfield) sought to have the road paved. They offered financial assistance to the county on the condition that it would be named McGregor Boulevard. Tootie McGregor died before the paving began, and Dr. Terry saw the paving to completion. McGregor Boulevard was officially completed in 1915.[4] In honor of Tootie, Dr. Terry had a fountain installed at the north end of McGregor Boulevard at Cleveland Avenue. The fountain was removed in the early 1960s to accommodate the construction of the Caloosahatchee Bridge and overpass over the intersection. The fountain was then relocated to Fort Myers Country Club, where it stands today.[5]
From 1923 to 1945, the road was designated State Road 25, and in the 1945 Florida state Road renumbering, the portion from US 41 in Fort Myers east to Palm Beach was transferred over to the new SR 80, with the sections of old SR 25 west of US 41 reassigned to SR 867.[6]
Major intersections
The entire route is in Lee County.
| Location | mi[7] | km | Destinations | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Punta Rassa | 0.0 | 0.0 | Sanibel Causeway / Punta Rassa Road - Sanibel Harbour Resort | Southern terminus of CR 867 | |
| Iona | 1.9 | 3.1 |     CR 869 north (Summerlin Road) to I-75 / US 41 – Fort Myers Beach, International Airport | Southern terminus of CR 869 | |
| 4.6 | 7.4 |  SR 865 south (San Carlos Boulevard) / CR 865 north (Gladiolus Drive) to I-75 / US 41 – Fort Myers Beach | south end of state maintenance | ||
| 7.4 | 11.9 | Cypress Lake Drive (CR 876 east) - International Airport | |||
| McGregor | 8.3 | 13.4 | College Parkway (CR 867A north) - Cape Coral, Edison State College, Barbara B. Mann Performing Arts Hall | interchange | |
| Fort Myers | 11.3 | 18.2 | CR 884 east (Colonial Boulevard) to I-75 | interchange; north end of state maintenance | |
| 14.3 | 23.0 | To US 41 / Victoria Avenue | |||
| 14.6 | 23.5 |   SR 80 east (Main Street) / SR 82 east (Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard) – Downtown Fort Myers | interchange with US 41 (SR 45) but no direct access to US 41 | ||
| 1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi | |||||
County Road 867A
| |
|---|---|
| Location: | McGregor-Cape Coral |
| Length: | 18.2 mi[8] (29.3 km) |
County Road 867A is the primary north–south arterial road for Cape Coral, Florida. Formerly State Road 867A, it essentially parallels SR 867 on the opposite side of the Caloosahatchee River.
Route description
The southern terminus of CR 867A is at an interchange with McGregor Boulevard (SR 867) in Fort Myers. The route in the opposite direction from the interchange continues 2.5 miles (4.0 km) east to US 41 (S. Cleveland Avenue) and is known as College Parkway (CR 882). From the southern terminus, CR 867A travels west and crosses the Caloosahatchee River via the Cape Coral Bridge into Cape Coral, Florida.
At the west side of the Cape Coral Bridge, CR 867A becomes known as Cape Coral Parkway. It follows Cape Coral Parkway for only 0.7 miles (1.1 km) until an intersection with Del Prado Boulevard. From here, CR 867A turns north and follows Del Prado Boulevard. Del Prado Boulevard continues north through most of Cape Coral, Florida and intersects the Veterans Parkway (CR 884). The Veterans Parkway is one of Cape Coral's major east–west routes, and it travels into Fort Myers via the Midpoint Memorial Bridge. Del Prado Boulevard continues northward to Pine Island Road (SR 78). North of Pine Island Road, addresses on Del Prado Boulevard have the attached "North" suffix to the name of the road; south of Pine Island Road uses "South." After Pine Island Road, CR 867A intersects the Diplomat Parkway and the Kismet Parkway, before intersecting with US 41 (Tamiami Trail) at the northern Cape Coral city limits. From U.S. 41, Del Prado continues east as a rural road along the northern edge of North Fort Myers. Just past the Prairie Pines Preserve, it briefly becomes Mellow Drive before it terminates at Slater Road.[9]
State Road 867A became a major route when the Cape Coral Bridge opened in 1964. The historic northern terminus of State Road 867A was at the intersection with SR 78 (Pine Island Road). After being converted to county control, CR 867A was extended north into North Fort Myers in the 1990s. Future plans call for Del Prado Boulevard to be extended north from Mellow Drive in North Fort Myers around the Prairie Pines Preserve to Interstate 75 with a new interchange near the Lee-Charlotte County border.[10]
Major intersections
The entire route is in Lee County.
| Location | mi[8] | km | Destinations | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| McGregor | 0.0 | 0.0 |  SR 867 (McGregor Boulevard) / Magnolia Pointe / Caloosa Y&R Club Drive | interchange | |
| 0.7 | 1.1 | toll plaza | |||
| 0.8– 1.5 | 1.3– 2.4 | Cape Coral Bridge over Caloosahatchee River | |||
| Cape Coral | 2.2 | 3.5 | Del Prado Boulevard / Cape Coral Parkway | CR 867A turns 90 degrees | |
| 5.2 | 8.4 | CR 884 (Veterans Parkway / Midpoint Memorial Bridge) to I-75 | interchange | ||
| 9.4 | 15.1 |  SR 78 (Pine Island Road) | |||
| 14.8 | 23.8 | US 41 (North Tamiami Trail / SR 45) | |||
| Slater | 18.2 | 29.3 | To I-75 / SR 78 / Slater Road | ||
| 1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi | |||||
References
- ↑ FDOT straight line diagrams, accessed March 2014
- ↑ "Florida 867 & Lee County 867". AA Roads. Retrieved 12 November 2015.
- ↑ Williamson, Jenny (10 August 2013). "Southwest Florida road names have a rich history". The News-Press. Retrieved 11 September 2013.
- ↑ WIlliams, Cynthia A. (8 November 2015). "The winding history of McGregor Boulevard". The News-Press. Retrieved 9 November 2015.
- ↑ Hall, Tom. "ArtSWFL". Tootie McGregor Fountain. Retrieved 18 September 2013.
- ↑ http://www.us-highways.com/of021040.htm Retrieved 6 April 2010.
- ↑ Google Maps distance
- 1 2 "Google Maps (CR 867A)".
- ↑ "Lee County General Highway Map" (PDF). Florida DOT Surveying and Mapping Office. 2007. Retrieved January 27, 2013.
- ↑ "Del Prado Extension Corridor Study" (PDF). Woodyard & Associates Commercial Real Estate. Woodyard & Associates, LLC. Retrieved 1 September 2015.