Florida

[skatcher]

Anyone know why there's no access to 686 at the east end of 690? This seems like an obvious connection for getting between Clearwater and the Gandy Bridge.

Originally FL 690 was signed as CR 296 as a short freeway connecting the Howard Frankland Bridge to 118th Ave N (also CR 296) to primarily connect the industrial areas in northern Pinellas Park and southeastern Largo to Tampa and beyond. At that time, from 118th Ave N, taking 28th St N to Roosevelt Blvd (FL 686) was the route to the Gandy Bridge from 118th Ave N.

The current FL 690 is a connector from I-275 to the other freeway-style routes in the High Point area. Most of these routes already have direct access with FL 686 (Roosevelt Blvd/East Bay Dr), and US 19 already has a direct connection with Gandy Blvd, which would be useful for traffic coming from St Pete if there wasn't so much traffic along that stretch in Pinellas Park.

I never really thought about connecting FL 690 to FL 686, but I don't think the extra expense of building and maintaining such infrastructure is beneficial to the area. FL 690 was built solely to connect I-275 to more of central Pinellas County, acting as a distributor for the area. Most people travelling to/from this part of Pinellas County are not heading to the Gandy Bridge anyways. The only times people are taking the Gandy over the Howard Frankland or Courtney Campbell if those people are specifically heading to MacDill AFB or south Tampa, or if there is a major incident on the two previously mentioned bridges.

Just one more thought on the subject. Roosevelt Blvd is good at funneling most of central Pinellas' Gandy-bound traffic towards Gandy Blvd, but that intersection where Roosevelt meets with Gandy & 4th St N can be absolute nightmare, especially during rush hour. Gandy Blvd had an overpass built to carry through traffic over this intersection without the need to stop. There were no flyovers built to connect to Roosevelt, so traffic going between Roosevelt and Gandy have to travel through 3 traffic lights, and then get funneled into one lane to actually merge onto Gandy Blvd, then you have about a half mile before that merge lane ends to get over into another lane.

All in all, there isn't a noticeable enough need to expand FL 690. Let's save that money for something truly more extravagant: rebuilding Malfunction Junctions for the umpteenth time!!

[NJRoadfan]

Connections in that area were a bit weird before they completed the movements between I-275 and CR-296. Friend of mine lives near 66th and Ulmerton. Heading north on I-275, the easiest way to get back to their place was to exit at Gandy Blvd. and head west to US-19. After the flyover between I-275 N and CR-296 (later FL-686A) was finally built, it made life easier.

I am kinda pissed at FDOT though. There used to be a nice transition to the surface CR-296 from the I-275 exit that was removed to make way for the toll road. I still don't take that road out of spite and it really isn't worth the toll anyway if heading to Bryan Dairy Rd.

[roadman65]

https://youtu.be/G8UEGVnSyq0?is=SJlXBpW7hzICiI4-

I found this video on CFX website about the planned FL 515 ( Northeast Connector) that is another one a a few of the CFX expansion planned roadways in Central Florida.

[NE2]

There's also now a proposed SR 452, connecting SR 417 to the Sanford Airport: https://www.cfxway.com/seminoleconnector/

[ElishaGOtis]

There's also now a proposed SR 452, connecting SR 417 to the Sanford Airport: https://www.cfxway.com/seminoleconnector/

Can't wait for a 45mph divided super-2... 

[D-Dey65]

I took a trip to Folkston, Georgia yesterday, but on the way there I took a detour through Leesburg, Tavares, Salt Springs, Orange Springs, Interlachen and Mike Roess Gold Head Branch State Park. The thing about Leesburg is there are a pair of two-level distance signs east of the west end of the overlap with SR 44 and US 441. The first one says that Tavares is 8 miles away and Orlando is 40 miles away. A mile after that there's another one of these signs, which says that Tavares is 7 miles away and Orlando is still 40 miles away. One of these signs has to be wrong about Orlando.

Also, remember how I've declared that FDOT should build a pedestrian bridge over US 301 for the Palatka-Lake Butler State Trail? Well, it's finally being built!