Florida

[emory]

FDOT article on Facebook concerning US 1 and SR 1, and changing SR 1 to SR AIA
https://www.facebook.com/FLDOT/photos/a.113761388710381.27211.112118172208036/790073677745812/?type=1&theater

Is that why they won't run it concurrent with US 1 between Cocoa and Port Orange?

There's a segment of SR A1A that branches off in New Smyrna Beach that eventually becomes CR A1A and dead ends on the beach. It makes the concurrency between Cocoa and Port Orange a bit difficult to pull off. I don't think they acknowledge a concurrency between Miami and Key West either.

[NE2]

In addition, A1A was continuous from Cocoa to New Smyrna before the space center.

[DeaconG]

Is that why they won't run it concurrent with US 1 between Cocoa and Port Orange?

Is what why? It overlaps US 1 in Fort Lauderdale.

It's not posted in Brevard, once you get to the US 1 exit on the Beachline northbound, it "disappears" until you get to Port Orange.
It "appears" on the Beachline eastbound just past the on-ramp for US 1.

EDIT: There are "TO A1A" trailblazers on US 1 at the interchange with the Beachline.

[jwolfer]

Just curious, what's the date on that map?

1968.

There's still sort of a need for direct Jacksonville-Tampa route, but US 301 is four lanes nearly throughout, and I don't think we'll see that freeway-grade anytime soon...perhaps expressway-grade in some places, such as the planned Starke bypass.

True, but for the time-being I-95 to I-4 into Tampa is a direct freeway route.

In the 1950s when the interstates were planned 95/4 would have been a good nearly direct freeway route between what was then the 2nd and 3rd largest cities in the state. But Disney and the explosion of Orlando from a regional city into a major metro area makes i4 less than optimal. I-4 through Orlando and the attractions is tied up all hours of the day not just rush hour weekends. Sunday mornings I have been on i4 going 30 mph for miles

[mstgator]

In other news, I94RoadRunner and I drove US 19 through Pinellas yesterday and the entire stretch from Evans Road south to CR 611/McMullen Booth Road is now a full freeway. Some work still remains to be completed where the road narrows to four lanes still, but all ramps exit are already open.

About time... only been working on that last secton for 4-5 years Too bad there are no plans to continue it north, that section of US-19 was.... interesting the last time I was on it.

There are plans, but construction on the next segment won't begin for at least another four to five years (if funding becomes available):

http://myus19.com/Pinellas-SR580toCR95.shtml

[emory]

There's a land dispute happening in Key Largo over a strip of land that used to house US 1/SR 4A before the road was paved over and US 1 realigned. FDOT is claiming they still own the land and it was never transferred to Monroe County. The local businesses on that land are fighting to keep the property.

http://www.keysnet.com/2015/02/20/501303/county-trying-to-avoid-involvement.html

Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/stopfdot

[roadman65]

The people of the Keys will never give up rural status of US 1 and even if it turns the Miami to Key West Drive to over 7 hours they still would not care.

They can be just as hot headed as the residents of Breezewood, PA with allowing traffic and pollution to grace their main streets than allow PTC or PennDOT to built ramps between the two freeways just so their local KFC, Taco Bell, and Sunoco can have customers.

[DeaconG]

It looks like Viera is finally going to get that interchange with Viera Boulevard and I-95 that they've been pushing for...and it's going to be a DDI to boot:

http://www.floridatoday.com/story/opinion/columnists/matt-reed/2015/04/04/matt-reed-diamond-vieras-next-driving-adventure/25271175/

Sounds like they're looking at the 2017-18 time frame. I'd really like an alternative to Wickham or Fiske/Stadium Blvd, this will work.

[FLRoads]

I-4 Ultimate work starting Sunday at Maitland interchange

The first of thousands of concrete barrier walls will be set in place Sunday night next to the Maitland interchange – ground zero for the Interstate 4 work that will last at least six years.

The right eastbound lane will be closed at 9:30 p.m. and likely will not reopen until the 7 a.m. morning rush hour to allow workers to place the 5,000-pound units. The same lane may be closed nightly until May 22.

The removal of the hill – actually dirt piled on top of a grout-filled sinkhole – represents the first major and widely visible job of the so-called I-4 Ultimate, the $2.3 billion rebuild of Metro Orlando's busiest highway.

Within a couple of weeks, more barriers will be sent to the eastbound exit ramp of Ivanhoe Boulevard on the north end of downtown Orlando. That ramp is being closed permanently, Olson said.

By June, walls will be showing up at the State Road 408 interchange with I-4, at the south end of downtown. That is considered the most critical task for the Ultimate because the work is so complex and will take years to complete.

The state, at its I4Ultimate.com website, has a camera trained on the intersection to allow people to monitor construction and the likely backups that will occur there. It can be seen at: http://i4ultimate.com/construction-info/live-construction-camera/

[Brian556]

Vintage FL TPK Pic:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/floridamemory/10818824564/in/photolist-hu2iC1-rST3FL-3gUtwq-76kyAe-2t8YQf-eamrUx-eR1h6t-7XkXDq-5Y2XD6-gvjSrM-7wd2YY-9BDKin-41C1UU-htZPZj-a5S5Sc-qTmVco-6kkmrc-5rkkVV-hu2w8a-8tqwHF-cHhdj-4qk24w-52ERF9-vcf3z-87qLac-hobGJj-9oh2LC-e8JFEx-7PdPxu-mfVe1-vcf3o-hu12yu-7bfrmu-vcf3A-4bQTS8-7XWkiU-jNGGt-bACZXv-7ghUcN-9niQRF-a5UVTS-rpEw7v-nB99EA-6kkuT2-dG6EeE-fSzsLb-i4iwVJ-5Y3dDr-7fW5PD-3FR81b

[1995hoo]

It looks like Viera is finally going to get that interchange with Viera Boulevard and I-95 that they've been pushing for...and it's going to be a DDI to boot:

http://www.floridatoday.com/story/opinion/columnists/matt-reed/2015/04/04/matt-reed-diamond-vieras-next-driving-adventure/25271175/

Sounds like they're looking at the 2017-18 time frame. I'd really like an alternative to Wickham or Fiske/Stadium Blvd, this will work.

Thanks for that info. My sister-in-law lives around the corner from there in the Sonoma neighborhood near the new Publix. She hates the Wickham Road roundabout but also hates the idea of this interchange. Some people..... I like the idea of the DDI because I haven't yet encountered one.

[formulanone]

I've driven through two DDIs (both in Missouri)...it doesn't feel like "driving the wrong way" until you're already in the middle of it.

[D-Dey65]

Remember that walled-off 7-Eleven in Orlando near Florida Hospital I told you people about? Here it is:

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Google_Street_View_Car_in_Orlando,_Florida.jpg

I walked there from Florida Hospital SunRail station and back to get some lunch, and the SunRail representative there thought I walked fast.

[sipes23]

Remember that walled-off 7-Eleven in Orlando near Florida Hospital I told you people about? Here it is:

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Google_Street_View_Car_in_Orlando,_Florida.jpg

I walked there from Florida Hospital SunRail station and back to get some lunch, and the SunRail representative there thought I walked fast.

I've been there. I bought saltines and Gatorade, because I was on the road for work and my hotel was near there. I was sick as a dog. I noted that it was really weird despite being delirious from some virus.

[Alex]

Construction signs are posted at both ends along CR 0361 and CR 151 respectively. The only work I noted was some initial land clearing at the east end. CR 0344 is unpaved and narrow, and I had little interest in driving that after taking a portion of unpaved CR 142 near Miccosukee last Friday.

The path of the parkway shows up on the Leon County GIS viewer as well. I will swing up that way on my next trip to NW Florida to see if any work is underway.

I saw this one via Tollroadnews, about a guy in Tallahasse who built his own toll road.
http://tollroadsnews.com/news/daily-news-briefs-for-mar-9-2015
http://www.tallahassee.com/story/news/local/2015/03/08/private-toll-road-intended-save-nature-wildlife/24519689/

You know the saying: If you want something done right, do it yourself.

So that's what Jeff Phipps is doing: He's building his own road.

Nearly four years after Phipps announced the project, construction began in January on the Orchard Pond Parkway – the first privately built toll road in Florida.

Scheduled for completion in spring 2016, the 5.2-mile, two-lane road will connect North Meridian Road to Old Bainbridge Road. It will provide what Phipps and others say is a necessary connection between Tallahassee's northeast neighborhoods and the Tallahassee International Airport.

[roadman65]

Should the FL 429 designation be extended southward when the Central Polk Parkway gets built?  Especially if it eventually ties into where FL 429 and I-4 currently interchange, I think that would be logical to do so instead of using another number.

True, it would not fit the E-W section from Lake Wales to Lakeland, but yes that could be overlooked as many other N-S roads actually run E-W and no one says anything.  Or just name it FL 429 to Lake Wales and then give it another number from there to Lakeland.  This would allow a future bypass of Avon Park and Sebring to use that number as well and have one nice long N-S freeway running through Central Florida.

[emory]

Should the FL 429 designation be extended southward when the Central Polk Parkway gets built?  Especially if it eventually ties into where FL 429 and I-4 currently interchange, I think that would be logical to do so instead of using another number.

True, it would not fit the E-W section from Lake Wales to Lakeland, but yes that could be overlooked as many other N-S roads actually run E-W and no one says anything.  Or just name it FL 429 to Lake Wales and then give it another number from there to Lakeland.  This would allow a future bypass of Avon Park and Sebring to use that number as well and have one nice long N-S freeway running through Central Florida.

I'd rather they re-route the FL 570 designation onto it and renumber the remaining segment, part of which isn't even built to freeway standards, to something else like FL 577.

[NE2]

I'd rather they re-route the FL 570 designation onto it and renumber the remaining segment, part of which isn't even built to freeway standards

It's a two-lane freeway.

[UCFKnights]

It looks like Viera is finally going to get that interchange with Viera Boulevard and I-95 that they've been pushing for...and it's going to be a DDI to boot:

http://www.floridatoday.com/story/opinion/columnists/matt-reed/2015/04/04/matt-reed-diamond-vieras-next-driving-adventure/25271175/

Sounds like they're looking at the 2017-18 time frame. I'd really like an alternative to Wickham or Fiske/Stadium Blvd, this will work.

I like the keep right signs in the middle of the DDI in the rendering video.

[Mergingtraffic]

any button copy or state-named interstate shields left in FL?

[FLRoads]

any button copy or state-named interstate shields left in FL?

As far as I know, button copy is virtually non-existent with the exception of a handful of overpass name placards (Airport Road overpass at I-75 in Charlotte County and the 9th Street overpass at I-10 in Pensacola come to mind) and a directional sign in Tampa, unless that's disappeared since the last time I checked. I know with construction along I-10 that 9th street placard will probably be removed.

There are not too many original state named shields left either (I can only think of one off the top of my head for I-95) but there are starting to be more and more contractor-based state named shields popping up across the state, including some on the mainlines (as seen on the shield gallery):

www.aaroads.com/shields/show.php?image=FL19780041

www.aaroads.com/shields/show.php?image=FL19790106

And here is a photo of that original I-95 state named shield:

www.aaroads.com/shields/show.php?image=FL19570951

[formulanone]

any button copy or state-named interstate shields left in FL?

I-95 around northern Boca Raton (Congress Ave exit) and Boynton Beach (Gateway Blvd). A few "upcoming exits" signs are also button copy. There's also one remaining red US 1 shield in Boca, as well...just drove by it on Friday afternoon. Some medium/large-sized cities have a state Farmers Market, and the old button copy signs still pop up from time to time. I have never seen reflective button copy in Florida, I don't think two were ever used together in the Sunshine State.

There's a quite a few recent-spec state-named interstate shields around the state, but they're all fairly new, with not many set to older specs. They tend to fade quite rapidly in Florida.

Old state road shields (Keys shields, pre-1978) are sprinkled around northern Florida and across the Panhandle. Some colored US shields remain, but they're increasingly rare.

[Mergingtraffic]

any button copy or state-named interstate shields left in FL?

As far as I know, button copy is virtually non-existent with the exception of a handful of overpass name placards (Airport Road overpass at I-75 in Charlotte County and the 9th Street overpass at I-10 in Pensacola come to mind) and a directional sign in Tampa, unless that's disappeared since the last time I checked. I know with construction along I-10 that 9th street placard will probably be removed.

There are not too many original state named shields left either (I can only think of one off the top of my head for I-95) but there are starting to be more and more contractor-based state named shields popping up across the state, including some on the mainlines (as seen on the shield gallery):

www.aaroads.com/shields/show.php?image=FL19780041

www.aaroads.com/shields/show.php?image=FL19790106

And here is a photo of that original I-95 state named shield:

www.aaroads.com/shields/show.php?image=FL19570951

Excellent I will check them out along with Formulaone's suggestions.  I'll be in Sebring at the end of the month.  Where is that I-95 original?

[Alex]

Ocala had one full on set of button copy signs on Florida 40 east. Haven't been through there in years though.

[clef]

any button copy or state-named interstate shields left in FL?

at least one JCT Florida I-4 is around: