Skip to main content

Clearwater Memorial Causeway (Florida State Road 60)

By


The Clearwater Memorial Causeway is a component of Florida State Road 60 located in the city of Clearwater.  The Clearwater Memorial Causeway connects Clearwater Beach to the rest of the city of Clearwater via the waters of Clearwater Bay.  The modernized Clearwater Memorial Causeway opened to traffic during August 2005 and features two concrete girder spans.  The Clearwater Causeway was originally opened during 1927 and was partially carried by a drawbridge.  




Part 1; the history of the Clearwater Memorial Causeway

The original Clearwater Causeway opened to traffic on November 11, 1927.  The original Clearwater Causeway was a two-lane drawbridge span.  The original Clearwater Causeway does not appear to be part of any pre-1945 Florida State Road (it may have been part of Florida State Road 314).  The Clearwater Memorial Causeway be seen on the 1943 United States Geological Survey map of Clearwater departing west from US Route 19 via Cleveland Street. 


The original Clearwater Causeway can be seen in an undated postcard photo. 


The Clearwater Causeway appears on the 1956 Shell Oil Company Map at the western terminus of post-1945 Florida State Road 60.  


The original Clearwater Causeway appears signed as Florida State Road 60 on a photo dated to 1960.  


The Clearwater Causeway drawbridge was rebuilt as an elevated four-lane span during 1963.  The original drawbridge was converted to a fishing pier.  Florida State Road 60 approached the second Clearwater Causeway drawbridge westbound via Gulf to Bay Boulevard and Cleveland Street.  The second Clearwater Causeway drawbridge can be seen in an undated photo by Pinellas Memory.  


Construction the modern double concrete girder Clearwater Causeway Bridges began during 2001 and was completed during August 2005.  The second Clearwater Causeway drawbridge was converted to a fishing pier at the end of Cleveland Street.  Florida State Road 60 west realigned onto one-way couplets along Court Street and Chestnut Street through downtown Clearwater.  The modern Clearwater Causeway Bridges can be seen on the 2012 United States Geological Survey map of Clearwater.  




Part 2; a drive on the Clearwater Memorial Causeway

 Pier 60 can be found at the mutual terminus of Pinellas County Route 183 and Florida State Road 60 on Clearwater Beach.  Pier 60 opened during June 1962 as an extension of Clearwater Municipal Pier.  Clearwater is one of the largest communities in the Tampa Bay area and incorporated as a city during 1891.  





Florida State Road 60 eastbound departs Clearwater Beach via Causeway Boulevard. 




Florida State Road 60 eastbound departs Clearwater Beach via a short bridge onto to the Clearwater Causeway.  




Florida State Road 60 eastbound follows the Clearwater Memorial Causeway and crosses the 2005 concrete girder span over Clearwater Bay to Chestnut Street in downtown Clearwater.  












Eastbound Florida State Road 60 follows a one-way alignment on Chestnut Street and intersects US Route 19A Myrtle Avenue.  Westbound Florida State Road 60 is carried through downtown Clearwater by Court Street.  




Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

I-40 rockslide uncovers old debates on highway

By
The Asheville Citizen-Times continues to do a great job covering all the angles of the Interstate 40 Haywood County rock slide. An article in Sunday's edition provides a strong historical perspective on how the Pigeon River routing of Interstate 40 came about. And perhaps most strikingly, in an article that ran just prior to the highway's opening in the fall of 1968, how engineers from both Tennessee and North Carolina warned "...that slides would probably be a major problem along the route for many years." On February 12, 1969, not long after the Interstate opened, the first rock slide that would close I-40 occurred. Like many other Interstates within North Carolina, Interstate 40 through the mountains has a history prior to formation of the Interstate Highway System and was also a heated political battle between local communities. The discussion for a road that would eventually become Interstate 40 dates back to the 1940's as the idea for interregional high
2 comments
Read more

Interstate 210 the Foothill Freeway

By
The combined Interstate 210/California State Route 210 corridor of the Foothill Freeway is approximately 85.31-miles.  The Interstate 210/California State Route 210 corridor begins at Interstate 5 at the northern outskirts of Los Angeles and travels east to Interstate 10 in Redlands of San Bernardino County.  Interstate 210 is presently signed on the 44.9-mile segment of the Foothill Freeway between Interstate 5 and California State Route 57.  California State Route 210 makes up the remaining 40.41 miles of the Foothill Freeway east to Interstate 10.  Interstate 210 is still classified by the Federal Highway Administration as existing on what is now signed as California State Route 57 from San Dimas south to Interstate 10.  The focus of this blog will mostly be on the history of Interstate 210 segment of the Foothill Freeway.   Part 1; the history of Interstate 210 and California State Route 210 Interstate 210 (I-210) was approved as a chargeable Interstate during September of
Post a Comment
Read more

Former California State Route 41 past Bates Station

By
When California State Route 41 was commissioned during August 1934 it was aligned along the then existing Fresno-Yosemite Road north of the San Joaquin River.  Within the Sierra Nevada foothills of Madera County, the original highway alignment ran past Bates Station via what is now Madera County Road 209, part of eastern Road 406 and Road 207.   Bates Station was a stage station plotted during the early 1880s at what was the intersection of the Coarsegold Road and Stockton-Los Angeles Road.   The modern alignment bypassing Bates Station to the east would be reopened to traffic during late 1939.   Part 1; the history of California State Route 41 past Bates Station Bates Station was featured as one of the many 1875-1899 Madera County era towns in the May 21, 1968, Madera Tribune .  Post Office Service at Bates Station is noted to have been established on November 23, 1883 and ran continuously until October 31, 1903.  The postal name was sourced from Bates Station owner/operator George Ba
Post a Comment
Read more