Florida

[florida]

On a happy note, there's lots of old sign relics in Alachua/Bradford County that caught my attention this week.

Bradford County has been great with not replacing many, though they did replace a few keys shields along CR 18 from Brooker to US 301.

[realjd]

The only two lane sections of I-95 south of South Carolina are the stretch between I-4 and SR-528 (being widened currently) and the stretch between SR-514 and SR-70. I know there are plans to widen the stretch between SR-514 and the Indian River County line in the near future; I'm glad to hear that they're working on the rest of it also. Now if they'd only widen the Turnpike between SR-70 and Fort Lauderdale, I'd be happy!

how long of a section is that greater than two lanes?  I remember in some other thread we were discussing the longest length of more-than-two-lane freeway in the US, and the record holder was, I think, I-5 from the East LA Interchange heading south... about 133 miles.

250 miles, give or take a few. I haven't been to the new 95/10 interchange in Jax so I can't say for sure that it doesn't drop to 2 lanes for a couple hundred yards or so there...

I75 is six lanes (or will be soon - I'm assuming the construction in GA is done by now) from around Chattenooga to Florida's Turnpike except for a brief 2 lane section in Macon at the interchange with I16. That's over 500 miles. Even the Macon-Turnpike stretch is over 300 miles.

I was wrong about those two sections of I95 being the only 2 lane stretches south of SC. There's also a brief 2-lane stretch between Exit 1 and mile zero at US1 in Miami.

[DeaconG]

Had to take my car to my dealer down in Fort Pierce today and noticed that they have begun work on widening I-95 from four to six lanes from the St. Lucie/Indian River county line to State Road 70 in Fort Pierce.  More information can be found here (about midway down the page):

http://www.dot.state.fl.us/publicinformationoffice/construc/district4pio/stlucie.shtm

Be aware the FHPs are out in force in that area, so slow your roll!

Also, construction continues on widening I-95 in Brevard County between the Beachline and SR 406 in Titusville.  Center lane guard rails and new inner lane pavement is done from SR 528 to between Citrus Blvd. and Port St. John Parkway and from between SR 406 to Fox Lake Road, including sound walls on the east side of the interstate.

The only two lane sections of I-95 south of South Carolina are the stretch between I-4 and SR-528 (being widened currently) and the stretch between SR-514 and SR-70. I know there are plans to widen the stretch between SR-514 and the Indian River County line in the near future; I'm glad to hear that they're working on the rest of it also. Now if they'd only widen the Turnpike between SR-70 and Fort Lauderdale, I'd be happy!

It's already programmed, they're just waiting on the money:

http://www.cflroads.com/Project/Details/76/413072_1_I_95_Widening_from_Indian_River_County_Line_to_Malabar_Road

There's also a move to put an interchange north of Micco Road between Malabar and the southern part of Palm Bay:

http://www.palmbayinterchange.com/

And they rolled three contracts into one to six lane between SR 406 in Titusville and SR 44 in southern Volusia County:

http://www.cflroads.com/Project/Details/256/406869_8_I_95_Widening_from_South_of_SR_406_to_North_of_SR_44

(I have to give FDOT District 5 credit, they've really improved their website over the years...)

[formulanone]

They saved a few oldies:

This one was a little out of the way ('71)...


...this was along the way ('79).


Not just one ('78), but...


...another, too! ('75)


I just like the "End Of" included on this one:


Old 301 with a County Route shield together, a rare pair:

[rickmastfan67]

250 miles, give or take a few. I haven't been to the new 95/10 interchange in Jax so I can't say for sure that it doesn't drop to 2 lanes for a couple hundred yards or so there...

Yep, I-95 does drop to two lanes in each direction on the "mainline" in the I-10/I-95 interchange. [NB] [SB]

[jwolfer]

250 miles, give or take a few. I haven't been to the new 95/10 interchange in Jax so I can't say for sure that it doesn't drop to 2 lanes for a couple hundred yards or so there...

Yep, I-95 does drop to two lanes in each direction on the "mainline" in the I-10/I-95 interchange. [NB] [SB]

The local lanes ( to use NJ parlance) has at 1 lane for I-95 SB... so there are a total of 3 going SB... going NB there is only 2 lanes unless you consider the ramp from I-10 that is 3 lanes

[cpzilliacus]

AP via N.Y. Times: Florida Highway Pileup Kills at Least 10 People

Authorities were still trying to determine what caused the pileup south of Gainesville on Interstate 75, which had been closed for a time before the accidents because of the mixture of fog and heavy smoke from a brush fire that may have been intentionally set. At least a dozen cars and six tractor-trailers were involved, and some burst into flames.

[DeaconG]

The local news stations in Orlando are reporting that northbound I-75 is open,however, southbound traffic is being diverted onto SR 121 to US 27 in Williston, no timetable set for reopening southbound.

[D-Dey65]

Old 301 with a County Route shield together, a rare pair:

That reminds me; I have to make more County Road shield requests on Wikipedia, including for Alachua County.

[formulanone]

^ Heh...if I get around to it, I've probably taken a bunch of county road photos that could use some uploading. Just don't have the time I used to...

Wow, I was just driving past that horrible sight I-75 on Friday afternoon; how terrible.

[D-Dey65]

Wow, I was just driving past that horrible sight I-75 on Friday afternoon; how terrible.

You know, yesterday BayNews 9 was getting reports from an Orlando area network claiming it was just in Ocala, and then brought up Gainesville.

[formulanone]

I took this photo on Friday afternoon, just before I left:



From a decent height (there's rest stop with an elevated vantage point), traffic just appears to crawl.

[cpzilliacus]

Reason's Out of Control blog: Florida Toll Agencies Should Not Be Consolidated

[NE2]

Good job finding a blog worse than TollRoadsNews.

[roadman65]

I was on FL 414 at FL 429 and it looks like some of the new flyovers are open.  The old bridge carrying FL 429 over FL 414 has been demolished and the interchange from CR 437A to FL 429 is moved one mile south as a complete diamond.   

When this is completed there will be no access between FL 414 and CR 437A and the new interchange south of there will provide the movements.

I also see that the FL 408 and FL 417 interchange is under a major overhaul!  The connector road (old unnumbered 408 to its original terminus) from EB to NB and SB to WB is going to be ripped up for new ramps and flyovers.  To compensate for the loss of the Valencia CC Lane interchange on the current connector freeway  a new interchange between FL 408 and Chickasaw Trail is being constructed as well.  That will eliminate EB FL 408 and SB FL 417 from exiting itself and new land open for development.

[NE2]

New access between SR 417 and International Parkway:



Jumping the gun on route designations:



Future CR 437A exit:

[roadman65]

I saw the new opened FL 451 to FL 429 connection.  I was on it and captured it!  I did not see the new FL 451 mile marker, though.  Plus, I have not been in the Lake Mary area for some time, so your photos are enjoyable news.

I do not know if you yet got to the east end at FL 417 and FL 408.  The new flyovers are something.

[florida]

I went on a trip to Ocala and surrounding areas. Wanted to see how a couple of CR switch-offs were handled and tried to explore Ocala for one last time. In the Williston area, the extremely faded brown US 41 shield on CR 323/CR 326 has been replaced, and so has the green US 27 shield on CR 323

On CR 335 southbound. The northbound signage is just normal shields, but I was looking for this one.



Major fail on Marion County's behalf. This is eastbound.



This hasn't yet been replaced.


And neither has this...


[The SR 40 bridge over the railroad tracks is dated 1983, for those button-copy enthusiasts.]

[florida]

As I got under this sign, the "Bus District" looked to have some ghost reflector spots in the letters.


Gotta love good ol' Osceola Ave with the railroad track down the center.


The only 12-8-8s in the area. I think this makes maybe three across the whole state.


Last known green shield in Marion County! Oh..

[agentsteel53]

And neither has this...
[button copy, 40 @ 27-301-441]

[The SR 40 bridge over the railroad tracks is dated 1983, for those button-copy enthusiasts.]

those shields are patches.  Were there at one point '61-spec shields on that gantry?  Florida rarely used colored shields on green signs, but they did use (possibly non-reflective) older-spec shields, as seen here:

[florida]

There had to have been at some point, plus a probable cut-out for the SR 40 shield. The 4 on this shield is starting to peel.

[D-Dey65]

This hasn't yet been replaced.

A gantry would make more sense.

And neither has this...

To be honest, I can't think of any reason it should be replaced.

[D-Dey65]

I've got some potential Wikipedia article improvements riding on this question;

In northern Jacksonville, FDOT lists two county suffixes of Florida State Road 21 that run north of the northern terminus;

Duval County Road 21B: Commonwealth Avenue east of I-295.
Duval County Road 21D: Moncrief Road southeast of FL 111 at least to SR 122.

No evidence of either county roads can be found on Google Maps, which also lists CR 21D as State Road 210.

http://www.dot.state.fl.us/surveyingandmapping/geomap/duva_c.pdf

So what's right here?

[NE2]

I've got some potential Wikipedia article improvements riding on this question;

In northern Jacksonville, FDOT lists two county suffixes of Florida State Road 21 that run north of the northern terminus;

Duval County Road 21B: Commonwealth Avenue east of I-295.
Duval County Road 21D: Moncrief Road southeast of FL 111 at least to SR 122.

No evidence of either county roads can be found on Google Maps, which also lists CR 21D as State Road 210.

http://www.dot.state.fl.us/surveyingandmapping/geomap/duva_c.pdf

So what's right here?

Why would either FDOT or Google Maps be a source for what county roads exist in Duval County?

[florida]

I've got some potential Wikipedia article improvements riding on this question;

In northern Jacksonville, FDOT lists two county suffixes of Florida State Road 21 that run north of the northern terminus;

Duval County Road 21B: Commonwealth Avenue east of I-295.
Duval County Road 21D: Moncrief Road southeast of FL 111 at least to SR 122.

No evidence of either county roads can be found on Google Maps, which also lists CR 21D as State Road 210.

http://www.dot.state.fl.us/surveyingandmapping/geomap/duva_c.pdf

So what's right here?

They're leftovers from yesteryear. 21D originally ran from SR 111 to US 1/23, then it was changed to run south of 111 to I-95. SR 21B did exist along Commonwealth from SR 103 to McDuff, and starting in 1981, it was also the original number for SR 129 along McDuff (after before the Commonwealth routing was decommissioned to CR 21B in 1983), which in itself (McDuff) was renumbered to its current number in 1985. There was also a 21G along Collins Road, but that looks to have been completely removed in the 60s.

Here's the 1974 reprint http://ufdc.ufl.edu/UF00016165/00001/1x?search=duval&vo=13&vp=2622,1554