Florida Turnpike - Wildwood Wide Spot

[Fred Defender]

Returning home to Alachua County from Orlando yesterday, I again wondered why there is a "wide spot" in the highway, just southeast of the US 301 interchange near Wildwood. The median width from the Turnpike's northern terminus at I-75 for a number of miles south is, I would estimate, about 30 feet. But immediately south of US 301, the median widens to several hundred feet. After a very short distance, the northbound and southbound lanes again converge back to the ~30 foot wide median.

Given its location less than five miles from I-75, I thought that it might have been a planned toll plaza. But I do not recall there ever having been a toll plaza there (not in the past 20 years at least) and the median is heavily wooded with mature trees. So if there ever was a toll plaza there, it was a long time ago. As a kid, my family always traversed I-75 to Tampa and points south. I do not believe that we ever drove the Turnpike (Sunshine State Parkway) in the 1960's/70's.

I'm betting that someone on this forum knows why Florida SRD did this.

[seicer]

There was a toll plaza just to the east of the wide spot (http://historicaerials.com?layer=1964&zoom=16&lat=28.832324346688516&lon=-82.03622102737427) and a turnaround. It could just be ... a wide spot. A lot of states do this to add some variety to highway driving (Virginia, Kentucky and others).

[jeffandnicole]

There was a toll plaza just to the east of the wide spot (http://historicaerials.com?layer=1964&zoom=16&lat=28.832324346688516&lon=-82.03622102737427) and a turnaround. It could just be ... a wide spot. A lot of states do this to add some variety to highway driving (Virginia, Kentucky and others).

But in the location where this wide spot exists, that explanation doesn't make sense.  It's near the northern terminus and it's the only unusually wide spot along the entire 300 mile Turnpike which doesn't have anything within it.

My guess would be it was for a planned toll plaza that was never built.

[SteveG1988]

There was a toll plaza just to the east of the wide spot (http://historicaerials.com?layer=1964&zoom=16&lat=28.832324346688516&lon=-82.03622102737427) and a turnaround. It could just be ... a wide spot. A lot of states do this to add some variety to highway driving (Virginia, Kentucky and others).

But in the location where this wide spot exists, that explanation doesn't make sense.  It's near the northern terminus and it's the only unusually wide spot along the entire 300 mile Turnpike which doesn't have anything within it.

My guess would be it was for a planned toll plaza that was never built.

Planned service plaza?

Wetlands?

Sinkholes in the area?

[NE2]

it's the only unusually wide spot along the entire 300 mile Turnpike which doesn't have anything within it.

Except for several south of Kissimmee.

[Fred Defender]

There was a toll plaza just to the east of the wide spot (http://historicaerials.com?layer=1964&zoom=16&lat=28.832324346688516&lon=-82.03622102737427) and a turnaround. It could just be ... a wide spot. A lot of states do this to add some variety to highway driving (Virginia, Kentucky and others).

But in the location where this wide spot exists, that explanation doesn't make sense.  It's near the northern terminus and it's the only unusually wide spot along the entire 300 mile Turnpike which doesn't have anything within it.

My guess would be it was for a planned toll plaza that was never built.

Planned service plaza?

Wetlands?

Sinkholes in the area?

The service plaza thought is a good one. Except for the fact that there is a service plaza less than ten miles south of this location. And in the aerial photo that Sherman linked to, that plaza was very nearly completed at the time (1964 - while the highway was still U/C). Also, I do not believe that this area is large enough for a service plaza.

Wetland and/or sinkhole is a possibility that I had not considered. But in that aerial, it appears that the area is simply graded. No trees visible.

Possibly, as Sherman also mentioned, merely for aesthetics.

[realjd]

I don't think it would have been for a toll plaza. Toll plazas don't need a wide median. I'm voting for a planned service plaza, FDOT facility, of FHP station that wasn't built. Maybe they found a scrub jay or something and had to move it to where the nearby service plaza is now?

[jeffandnicole]

it's the only unusually wide spot along the entire 300 mile Turnpike which doesn't have anything within it.

Except for several south of Kissimmee.

I see this one, which if you zoom in there's an access road and some sort of hole/lake in the middle. https://goo.gl/maps/rhJA91CyQCC2

But that's the only one which doesn't have a Service Plaza in the middle.  I certainly don't see "several" of them.

[lordsutch]

Only other thing I can figure is that FDOT originally planned for I-75 or the Tampa-Ocala-Jacksonville tollway to intersect the Turnpike at that point, rather than connecting west of Wildwood (don't forget the Turnpike itself was originally supposed to go to Tallahassee, so the route was going to continue west of US 301). If you draw a tangent line continuing the alignment of the I-75 swamp crossing a few miles to the southwest, it lines up almost perfectly with the wide spot.

[NE2]

it's the only unusually wide spot along the entire 300 mile Turnpike which doesn't have anything within it.

Except for several south of Kissimmee.

I see this one, which if you zoom in there's an access road and some sort of hole/lake in the middle. https://goo.gl/maps/rhJA91CyQCC2

But that's the only one which doesn't have a Service Plaza in the middle.  I certainly don't see "several" of them.

http://www.google.com/maps/@27.9653185,-81.1042051,1633m/data=!3m1!1e3

[D-Dey65]

The Suncoast Parkway has a couple of them north of SR 50. I think if the Turnpike Authority expands it to Red Level (which they should), they should have one last long wide spot from Citrus CR 495 to US 19-98.


BTW, that Historic Aerials link is broken.