Florida State Road 4 (pre-1945)

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State Road 4 marker

State Road 4
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Route information
Maintained by FDOT
Existed: 1923 – 1945
Highway system

Legal description

SR 4 was defined by number in 1923 state law, chapter 9311, approved June 8, 1923:

SR 4 was redefined by number in St. Augustine by 1945 state law, chapter 23014, to have several routes through downtown.

History

Other than that one change, SR 4's definition has not changed. However, its route has been changed many times within the constraints of the 1923 law.

SR 4 began as the John Anderson Highway from Miami to Jacksonville, which became part of the east mainline of the Dixie Highway. It was the South Georgia Connector of the Dixie Highway north of Jacksonville.

In 1926, when the U.S. Highway System was being planned, U.S. Route 1 was assigned to the whole route.

In the 1945 renumbering, SR 4 became the following roads:

Sections bypassed

As mentioned above, large portions of the route have been modified since the original laying out of the State Road, and the even earlier laying out of the Dixie Highway and John Anderson Highway. Here is a list of bypassed sections from south to north:

All the bypassed sections south of the Martin/Palm Beach county line (just north of Jupiter) became SR 176 in 1931. Other numbers given to bypassed sections are covered in their individual entries below.

This transport-related list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.

Miami to Dania

The old mainline used the following roads:

By 1925, a new road named East Dixie Highway had been built, avoiding two railroad crossings on the main route. The route south of NE 82nd Street in northern Miami is unknown, but it probably used Federal Highway, splitting from the main route at NE 36th Street, which joins the current route near NE 54th Street. From there it would have used the current route to or south of NE 82nd Street, running east a block to NE 7th Avenue and north to the road still known as East Dixie Highway. The East Dixie Highway then used NE 10th Avenue, NE 92nd Street, and another diagonal road still called East Dixie Highway. The road now dead-ends at the Biscayne Canal, but it used to continue and merge with the current route near NE 110th Street. It left the current route near NE 203rd Street, onto what's now known as Old Federal Highway. After entering Broward County, the old bypass route is unknown. It may have angled back to the current route on Old Federal Highway, rejoining the original route in Dania, it could have stayed right next to the east side of the Florida East Coast Railway all the way to Dania, or it could have crossed the railroad to end at the old route somewhere south of Dania.

By 1925, the current route had been built north of NE 54th Street, where it used Federal Highway south to the old route at NE 36th St. The current route south of there was built later.

Fort Lauderdale to Delray Beach

In northern Dania, the route was realigned at some time, when Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport was expanded. North of the airport, the original road may have continued straight on Miami Road, hitting the current route at SE 12th Street, or forked left onto Andrews Avenue. The route through downtown Fort Lauderdale is unknown, but a road named Old Dixie Highway, beginning on NE 7th Avenue north of NE 14th Street, is likely the old road. (This part of the road was redesignated as "Dixie Highway" around 2005. The word "Old" no longer appears on the signposts.) This road can be followed all the way to SE 10th Street in Delray Beach (the southbound alignment in Pompano Beach is probably the old road). At SE 10th St traffic probably turned right and then left at Se 5th Ave .

Delray Beach to Boynton Beach

Another section of old road begins at NE 8th Street and NE 5th Avenue (now the southbound route) in Delray Beach. This returns to the current route in Boynton Beach.

Lake Worth to West Palm Beach

In this area, SR 805, which carries U.S. Route 1, uses the old Dixie Highway, with SR 5 on its own on a newer route. At the one-way pair in West Palm Beach, the southbound route is the original road.

Riviera Beach to Fort Pierce

The original road left the current route somewhere in Riviera Beach and went west to the west side of the Florida East Coast Railway, where it headed north. A bit north of Richard Road, it crossed to the east side of the tracks. It crossed back to the west side north of Frederick Small Road, and back to the east side just south of the Loxahatchee River. From there it stayed with the railroad through Jonathan Dickinson State Park (part of this road is closed). It crossed back to the west side of the tracks near where the current route crosses the tracks, and used what's now CR A1A into Stuart. From there it used SR 707 and CR 707 in Martin and St. Lucie Counties, probably all the way to Fort Pierce (though one map shows it crossing the railroad south of Fort Pierce, no road exists there now). Assuming it stayed on the east side of the tracks to Fort Pierce, it entered on Indian River Drive, and somewhere crossed the railroad to the current alignment.

An intermediate alignment exists between North Palm Beach and Jupiter; this was bypassed in 1956 and is now CR A1A.

The bridge over the St. Lucie River at Stuart was only bypassed around 2000.

The section from Stuart to Fort Pierce was bypassed by 1930.

In addition to SR 176 (which ended at the line with Martin County, north of Stuart, the old road was also assigned SR 197 south of the second railroad crossing, SR 196 from the second to the third, and SR 200 from the third crossing to the crossing of the new road north of Jonathan Dickinson State Park. The old road from the county line to the crossing of the new road was also given the number SR 223. All these numbers were assigned in 1931.

When SR 140 was designated in 1927, it included the old road from Hobe Sound to Stuart and south of Jensen Beach to Fort Pierce.

Fort Pierce to Vero Beach

The old alignment is now CR 605 in St. Lucie and Indian River Counties, along the west side of the Florida East Coast Railway. It runs from the current route in Fort Pierce to current SR 60 in Vero Beach, from where it probably used westbound SR 60 and a block of Commerce Avenue to the current alignment.

The old road was probably assigned SR 140 in 1927. The new road was built in 1928.

Vero Beach to Wabasso

Here the old road is named Old Dixie Highway, and lies between the current road and the Florida East Coast Railway.

Through Sebastian

South of Sebastian, the old road splits from the current road, lying between the current road and the Indian River. Another alignment lies between the two from Sebastian to the road to Roseland; it is not known which was used when. The original crossing of the Sebastian River was probably due west from where the old and new alignments meet on the south shore, and then along the north shore back to the current alignment.

One direction of the current Sebastian River bridge was built in 1924.

Micco to Malabar

At Shell Pit Point, a road runs west across the Florida East Coast Railway, connecting to a road running north along the west side. This is probably the original road. It runs north through Valkaria and ends on the west side of the tracks; it used to cross in that area, connecting to the old alignment near Pams Cove on the Indian River.

Short realignments were built later at Shell Pit Point and north of Valkaria, moving the road inland from the Indian River.

Palm Bay

The old road crossed Turkey Creek east of the current bridge, went west of the current road downtown, and then east of the current road north of downtown. The old road downtown and north of downtown still exists. This was realigned by 1925.

Melbourne

The old road split from the current one south of Melbourne, at Riverview Drive. It ran west on University Boulevard and north on Irwin Street, including a now-gone section of Irwin Street from Jerrigan Avenue to the current alignment, and then continued on Irwin Street east of the current road at least to Prospect Avenue, after which the old road is unknown.

The route through downtown is also unknown. A one-block road extending Morningside Drive south from Hibiscus Boulevard to Silver Palm Avenue was part of the old road, but the rest of the northern approach is unknown.

The current road through Melbourne was built in 1923 or 1924.

Eau Gallie

The old road turned west off the current road south of downtown, at Laurie Street. It turned north on Magnolia Avenue to rejoin the current alignment.

In downtown, the old road probably went east on the westbound half of SR 518 and north on Pineapple Avenue, rejoining the current road several miles north.

At the Pineda Causeway

West of the current road, on both sides of the Pineda Causeway (SR 404), are roads named Old Dixie Highway. It went north at least to Otter Creek Lane, with the connection back to the current alignment unclear; most of the alignment south of SR 404 has been removed for subdivisions, but it once made it at least a mile before returning to the current road.

Through Cocoa

A long old road (Rockledge Drive, also state-designated as "The Scenic Drive") exists along the Indian River; it was at one time SR 515. The route through downtown Cocoa is unknown.

This old road was assigned SR 140 by 1939.

Titusville to Mims

The northbound side in Titusville is the original road. In downtown, it turned west on Main Street and north on Dixie Avenue, which becomes Old Dixie Highway and runs to Mims. The original road crossed the tracks at Parker Street and ran north along the east side (on Broadway Avenue), probably to Main Street (current SR 46), which it went east on to the current alignment.

The current alignment in downtown Mims was built by 1924. The current alignment in Titusville (including the railroad overpass) was built in 1936; previously it may have used almost the current alignment, instead entering from the north via Norwood Avenue and then heading east on Garden Street.

Mims to Turnbull

The old road is named Old Dixie Highway, lying east of the current road.

North from Scottsmoor

The old road went east from the current road on Huntingdon Avenue, and turned north on Dixie Way. Dixie Way returns to the current road, but I think the original road used a now-closed alignment about a mile south of the current road, connecting to Kennedy Parkway and then running north to the current road.

New Smyrna Beach

The route in use in 1956 entered from the south on Magnolia Street, turned west on Canal Street (current SR 44), and left on Orange Street.

An older route may have existed.

Daytona Beach to Bunnell

By 1919, the current route was in use south of downtown Daytona Beach. The old road used either South Avenue or Volusia Avenue to get to Beach Street, along the Halifax River. At Fairview Avenue it jogged west a block to stay on Beach Street. That road continues north through Ormond Beach, and eventually becomes Old Dixie Highway, rejoining the current road at Korona. Even earlier, at the sharp curve to the west, the road instead went east, and then north on a road still named John Anderson Highway, from which it went west on current SR 100 to Bunnell. Even earlier than that, the road crossed one of the bridges at Daytona Beach and headed north along the east side of the Halifax River on what is now John Anderson Drive, crossing west to John Anderson Highway at the Knox Memorial Bridge.

The current road was built in 1931 and 1932.

Bunnell to St. Augustine

The old road is now CR 13 out of Bunnell, though the railroad crossing didn't exist at the time, and so the road just went straight. The old road continued to Hastings and then to the outskirts of St. Augustine on current SR 207. A small realignment has been made at the railroad crossing at Spuds. At St. Augustine, instead of going all the way to the current alignment, the old road turned north on Old Dixie Highway and east on King Street, which becomes Bus US 1 (SR 5A) at the current road, and continues back to the current road north of the city (the northbound side was used at the short one-way pair).

When the cutoff was built, the north end was connected to the intersection of current SR 207 and Old Dixie Highway; a bypass of that to the east and then of downtown to the west was built later.

The old road via Hastings was assigned SR 189 in 1931; the north part became part of SR 14 in 1935. The part south of Hastings may have been signed as SR 28 before the new alignment from Palatka to Bunnell was built.

The cutoff north from Bunnell was built in 1927 and 1928; the bypass of downtown St. Augustine was built in 1960 (though a modified version using Malaga Street may have been in use previously).

St. Augustine to Bayard

Several probable old alignments exist here. One is east of the current road, just north of the St. Augustine Airport. Further north, a road lies east of the current road; it may not have ever been paved but may have been part of the even older Kings Road.

Bayard to Jacksonville

The old road went west from Bayard on Old St. Augustine Road, and then north on SR 13, using San Jose Boulevard at Miramar Terrace, and maybe San Marco Boulevard at the north end. An even older road lies between this and the current alignment, on St. Augustine Road; the south end of this is unknown.

The part of this on current SR 13 became SR 47 in 1931.

Downtown Jacksonville to Callahan

The original route through South Jacksonville is unknown.

Before the Acosta Bridge was built in 1921, a ferry was provided from Flagler Street in South Jacksonville to Main Street downtown. Main Street connected to State Street and Kings Road out from downtown. After the bridge, the through route probably went north on Broad Street from the bridge to State Street.

Kings Road and Old Kings Road continue west of the current road to south of Callahan.

Callahan to Hilliard

Old Kings Road may have been used here at one time.

See also

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