State Road 300 / County Road 300

Florida State Road 300Franklin County Road 300
The Gulf of America from St. George Island Park, located by the south end of State Road 300 (Franklin Boulevard). 07/31/06

State Road 300 spans the waterway joining Apalachicola Bay with St. George Sound south from Eastpoint to St. George Island in coastal Franklin County. The bulk of the 5.36 mile route crosses the Bryant Grady Patton Bridge from east of Cat Point to west of Bulkhead Point.

County Road 300 (Gulf Beach Drive) spurs 4.22 miles east from the south end of SR 300 at St. George Island Lighthouse to the entrance of Dr. Julian G. Bruce St. George Island State Park.

The original Bryant-Patton Bridge connecting the Franklin County mainland with St. George Island opened to traffic on December 17, 1965. The 4.6 mile route cost $3.3 million to build. Tolls were charged at a rate of $2.00 per passenger vehicle.1 The replacement Bryant Patton Bridge was completed on February 13, 2004. Costing $74 million, the 4.1 mile long span was designed to reduce ecological impacts for Apalachicola Bay and its thriving oyster producing habitat. The bridge accommodates two 12 foot lanes of traffic with 11 foot wide shoulders in each direction. It crests at 65 feet, 15 feet higher than the previous crossing.2

References:

  1. "St. George Island Toll Bridge to Open." St. Petersburg Times (FL), December 17, 1965.
  2. "Rain Delays Bridge Debut." Orlando Sentinel, The (FL) , February 13, 2004.

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Page Updated Monday March 22, 2021.