State Road 60

Florida State Road 60

SR 60 is a 160.82 mile long trans-peninsular route that connects Clearwater to the west with Vero Beach in the east. The state road is mostly four lanes, traveling across Old Tampa Bay via Courtney Campbell Causeway between urban Pinellas County and Hillsborough County, and Kennedy Boulevard through the city of Tampa. A short overlap with U.S. 41 Business takes the state road through Downtown Tampa to Adamo Drive, an industrial arterial parallel to the Selmon Expressway (SR 618) east to Brandon.

Through Brandon, SR 60 comprises a busy arterial with up to eight lanes of capacity. As the main route through the unincorporated suburb, the route is extremely busy. East from the county line, SR 60 drops southward to Mulberry and Bartow, where it utilizes a bypass alongside a portion of U.S. 98. Beyond the Polk County seat, SR 60 becomes more rural to Lake Wales.

Once at Lake Wales, SR 60 shifts southward to bypass the city center from a folded diamond interchange with U.S. 27 to the south of Lake Wales itself. The remainder of the highway southeast to Avon Park Bombing Range and Yeehaw Junction (where it meets both U.S. 441 and Florida's Turnpike) is rural.

It is not until Vero Beach and the interchange with I-95 that SR 60 again transitions to a commercial arterial. The state road bee lines east toward Downtown Vero Beach, where it separates into a one-way couplet before taking a dog leg north and east across the Indian River to end at SR A1A, 0.3 miles from the Atlantic Ocean beaches.

An unsigned branch of SR 60 lines West Kennedy Boulevard from Hoover Boulevard and Memorial Highway at Westshore in Tampa. The 0.311 mile segment connects the ramps with I-275 at the Howard Frankland Bridge approach with the SR 60 mainline transition from the Memorial Highway freeway to Kennedy Boulevard.

Florida State Road 60 Guides

East

West

Clearwater Memorial Causeway

The first bridge joining Clearwater Beach and Clearwater was constructed in 1916. The wooden structure utilized a hand-cranked boat opening at midspan. It was replaced in November 1927 with a higher bridge allowing smaller boats to pass unimpeded. A double-lift span situated along the bridge allowed larger vessels passage along the Intracoastal Waterway. Work followed in 1963 with a new bridge and upgrade of the causeway leading to it.1

A new high-level fixed span for Memorial Causeway was planned as the crossing built in 1963 reached the end of its lifespan. Construction, which was delayed by 18 months due to structural deficiencies in four of the main columns, ran from December 2002 to August 18, 2005. The new 74 foot high bridge cost $69.3 million.1,2

Heading east from Downtown Clearwater, SR 60 follows Gulf to Bay Boulevard to Courtney Campbell Causeway. A SPUI joins SR 60 with U.S. 19 along this stretch. A grade separated interchange between the two routes was proposed going back to at least June 1955, when blueprints for a cloverleaf interchange were prepared for construction of the exchange at SR 60 (Gulf to Bay Boulevard) and U.S. 19. Pinellas County and the City of Clearwater previously agreed to cooperate on the acquisition of the 24 acres of right of way needed for the project. The bulk of the area was vacant land populated by orange groves, though seven houses required relocation. The project was estimated to cost $500,000 with partial or full funding by Federal aid.3

Plans for the grade separation at U.S. 19 and SR 60 (Gulf to Bay Boulevard) advanced into 1956, when it was discussed at a meeting held on January 20 between municipal officials of Pinellas County, the County Commission and State Road Board member Al Rogero. Rogero urged the city of Clearwater and the county at the meeting to acquire the right of way needed for the "four quadrant cloverleaf traffic interchange". Rogero pledged that construction of the exchange would "definitely" be part of the State Road Department's five year program.4

Plans for the proposed interchange were presented at a public hearing in the Pinellas County Commission meeting room on July 9, 1969. Estimated to cost $1.7 million, plans for the project were included in the state's 1970-71 primary road building program. They called for elevating U.S. 19 from a point 1,000 feet north of SR 60 (Gulf to Bay Boulevard) to 1,200 feet south of SR 60. This included a 208 foot long span over Gulf to Bay Boulevard. Frontage roads would also be built along U.S. 19 to service adjacent motels and shopping centers. Nearly all construction was to take place within the existing right of way. Engineers estimated that project could be built in 15 miles, with the service roads built first and traffic temporarily shifting onto them while the overpass was constructed. Associated work would improve about 1,000 feet of SR 60 to accommodate future widening plans.5

Construction on the interchange commenced in September 1971. The four lane overpass taking U.S. 19 across SR 60 (Gulf to Bay Boulevard) eventually opened to traffic on August 20, 1973. Construction on the $3 million project was anticipated for completion in October 1973 with final work under the span along SR 60 and landscaping.6,7 Work however continued into November 1973.8

Courtney Campbell Causeway

Originally named Davis Causeway, the roadway spanning northern reaches of Old Tampa Bay opened on June 28, 1934. It was named for Ben T. Davis, proponent for the road. The causeway was tolled until 1944, when the federal government paid the bridge owners $1.1 million to remove them them in an effort to speed up wartime traffic. Courtney Campbell, a state road board member from Clearwater, lobbied for causeway improvements including a rebuild of its base and landscaping. His efforts led the renaming of the causeway in his name in 1948, despite objections from many including Campbell himself. The state road board named the parks and beaches lining the causeway after Ben Davis, who died in 1947.9

References:

  1. "Pinellas Bridges and Causeways." Bayciti - Tampa Bay Urban Blog. Cozart, Justin, April 8, 2005. September 18, 2015.
  2. "Open at Last." St. Petersburg Times (FL), August 18, 2005.
  3. "Progress in Pinellas." St. Petersburg Times (FL), June 27, 1955.
  4. "Priorities Set on Highway Improvements." St. Petersburg Times (FL), January 21, 1956.
  5. "Interchange Plans Described." St. Petersburg Times (FL), July 10, 1969.
  6. "U.S. 19 Overpass Opens This Week." St. Petersburg Times (FL), August 14, 1973.
  7. "U.S. 19-Gulf-To-Bay Overpass Readied for Opening." St. Petersburg Times (FL), August 14, 1973.
  8. "U.S. 19 Overpass Adjacent to Mall." St. Petersburg Times (FL), November 8, 1973.
  9. "Bridges (Hillsborough)." Bayciti - Tampa Bay Urban Blog. Cozart, Justin, October 24, 2004. September 18, 2015.

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Page Updated Friday December 02, 2022.