Pre-1945 Florida State Roads
Encyclopedia
History
The earliest evidence found of the old state road system is on a 1917 State Road DepartmentFlorida Department of Transportation
The Florida Department of Transportation is a decentralized agency charged with the establishment, maintenance, and regulation of public transportation in the state of Florida. The department was formed in 1969. It absorbed the powers of the Florida State Road Department...
map; in 1923 the Florida State Legislature began writing the routes into law. Every two years, when the legislature met, new roads were added, at first by number, and later giving the SRD the ability to choose a number. Many routes, specifically SR 2, had not only a main route, but spurs and loops to different places. These were mostly caused by the Legislature. Even when a road was also a U.S. Highway, the State Road number was signed.
Up to and including 1939, every road written into law by the Legislature was given a number by the SRD. This included the range from SR 397 to SR 449, which included most of the 1926 Bond Issue Roads in Orange County and some other major roads. The 1939 numbering ended with SR 545; 546 to 549 were skipped.
In 1941, many laws were passed assigning not only the main roads, as had been done in Orange County
Orange County, Florida
Orange County is a county located in the U.S. state of Florida and is part of the Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford Metropolitan Statistical Area . As of 2010 U.S. Census, the county had a population of 1,145,956....
, but a lot of minor roads, to the State Road System in many counties. FDOT did not give these all numbers. Unfortunately information about which ones were assigned is sparse. Very few roads were added in 1943 and 1945 due to World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
; the system got to at least SR 625, added in 1945. A state law passed in 1941 authorized a renumbering
1945 Florida State Road renumbering
On June 11, 1945, Florida's state roads were renumbered. The old system numbered routes in the order they were legislated, while the new system used a grid.For more detailed information on where each road was, go to the corresponding page.-See also:...
; this didn't happen until 1945, also because of the war.
A list of State Roads
Not all routes after 545 are in the table, since that information is much more limited.Current Florida State Roads are on a separate page.
External links
- Blue Diamonds, an unofficial route log of the pre-1945 routes