I'd appreciate any details or corrections from those who know the topic.
A 1941 law (ch. 20720) authorized renumbering. The State Road Department (SRD) waited until after the war; a handwritten note on my copy of the log (https://www.dropbox.com/sh/wsn20pnohhqtw5z/AAA9GgGSXsU_3Q_KEIX3PwpVa?dl=0) states that it took place on June 11, 1945 (before the war was actually over), which matches the meeting minutes from that day:
QuoteRENUMBERING OF FLORIDA ROADS
On motion of Mr. Guernsey, seconded by Mr. Fultz, the plan for renumbering the State Road System, as prepared by Mr. W. M. Parker, division Engineer of Research and Records, be and it is hereby approved and accepted.
The plan included every road that was currently under maintenance by the state (and maybe a few like 382 and 683 that were planned to be in the near future), the entire federal aid system, and a few filled gaps (such as parts of A1A that were not yet built). Signs were not changed until the second half of 1946. Subsequently, as roads were built or taken over, the SRD assigned them numbers in the grid. Note that many of these federal aid roads were not built for many years, if at all.
A 1949 law (ch. 26321) created the secondary system. 1 cent of the gas tax would be set aside for construction and maintenance on this system (and on desired primary system projects, apparently including right-of-way for primary roads), which would be chosen by the counties on a yearly basis (subject to state approval). The existing maintained state roads became the primary system, with a few exceptions that were transferred. For the next couple decades, the two systems both grew, but transfers were relatively rare. Some secondary projects were for minor city and town streets; these generally did not get numbers, and it's not clear if they were permanently maintained in the secondary system. At least in the later days, it seems that counties would choose whether a road would stay in the secondary system for maintenance after a project rebuilt it.
A 1977 law (ch. 77-165) eliminated the secondary system. Other than already-in-progress projects, FDOT would not participate in planned secondary projects anymore. Instead, the county would essentially manage its own income from the 1 cent tax as it wished. Although the default was for primary roads to stay state and secondary roads to become county, a lot of transfers were made between the systems over the next few years. I would appreciate some more details on how this process worked; what I could find from Orange County records only painted a partial picture.
When did the X00 State Roads come into the picture? They are mentioned prominently in letters describing the 1951 extension of US 98, but it isn't exactly explicit when they were added.
Quote from: Max Rockatansky on July 08, 2023, 08:00:28 PM
When did the X00 State Roads come into the picture? They are mentioned prominently in letters describing the 1951 extension of US 98, but it isn't exactly explicit when they were added.
1945, with the rest. 700 came a bit later.