Skip to main content

Former Florida State Road 758 on Siesta Key

By

As of September 2020 Florida State Road 758 west of US Route 41 on Siesta Key has been relinquished to Sarasota County.  I happened to be staying on Siesta Key during June of 2021 and thought it would be an opportune time to see if any signage changes to Florida State Road 758 had occurred (spoiler; there hasn't been any).  As an active highway Florida State Road 758 begins at US Route 41 in Sarasota and extends 5.432 miles east  to Interstate 75.  


Part 1; the history of Florida State Road 758 on Siesta Key

Prior to being truncated to US Route 41 the alignment of Florida State Route 758 ("FL 758") began at the western terminus of FL 72 on Siesta Key.  FL 758 followed Midnight Pass Road northward to High Avenue.  FL 758 followed High Avenue north to Siesta Drive in the fringe City Limits of Sarasota and began an eastward trek towards US Route 41.  FL 758 followed Siesta Drive over Bay Island and the Sarasota Bay Bridge to Osprey Avenue.  From Osprey Avenue FL 758 followed Bay Road to a junction with US Route 41.  

It is unclear when FL 758 on Siesta Key was incorporated into the State Road System.  FL 789 can be seen originating from the southern tip of Siesta Key at Midnight Pass and ending at US Route 41/FL 72 on the 1956 Shell Highway Map of Florida  It is likely the road network of Siesta Key was added to the State Road System due to the expensive swing bridge structures that existed there at the time.  USGS maps show a change in designation from FL 789 to FL 758 occurring at some point between 1992 and 2000. 

In 2018 Sarasota County accepted a $40,000,000 dollar road transfer offer with the Florida Department of Transportation.  This transfer offer included relinquishing all of FL 758 west of US Route 41 sans the Sarasota Bay Bridge to Sarasota County.  The transfer offer between Sarasota County and the Florida Department of Transportation was finalized during September of 2020.  Interestingly all FL 758 signage remains active in-field as of June 2021.  


Part 2; a drive on former Florida State Road 758 on Siesta Key

FL 758 began from the western terminus of FL 72 which has also been truncated to US Route 41 on Stickney Point Road.  West of US Route 41 Stickney Point Road is stilled signed as FL 72 onto Siesta Key.  Stickney Point Road crosses the Siesta Key Bridge and terminates at the Midnight Pass Road on Siesta Key.  The Siesta Key Bridge was constructed in 1968 as a replacement for an earlier bridge and features a dual bascule draw span design.  The Siesta Key Bridge is 567.6 feet in length and is still maintained by the Florida Department of Transportation.















Old Stickney Point Road can be found on Siesta Key.  As indicated on the 1956 Shell Highway Map of Florida this would have once been FL 782 before FL 72 realigned.  




Siesta Key has been previously called "Little Sarasota Key" and "Sarasota Key."  Siesta Key was largely plotted out and subdivided by the Siesta Land Company beginning in 1907.  Access to Siesta Key was connected by ferry until 1917 when the first bridge over Sarasota Bay was built.  This bridge was supplemented by the first Stickney Point Bridge being constructed in 1927.  Siesta Key largely is recognized as one of the more notable Gulf Coast resort communities in Florida. 


Former FL 758 follows Midnight Pass Road northward towards an intersection with Beach Road.  Beach Road is signed as the Siesta Key business district and was once part of County Route 789A.  The FL 758 signage directs traffic following the former State Road to stay on Midnight Pass Road.  










Former FL 758 continues north on Midnight Pass Road and turns right onto High Avenue. 













Former FL 758 continues north on High Avenue into the City Limits of Sarasota and swings eastward over the Hanson Bayou Bridge onto Siesta Drive on Bay Island.  The Hanson Bayou Bridge is a concrete tee beam design which opened in 1928.  








Former FL 758 follows Siesta Drive eastbound over the Sarasota Bay Bridge to Osprey Avenue.  The Sarasota Bay Bridge was constructed in 1972 as a replacement for a previous span in the same location which was built during 1926.  The Sarasota Bay Bridge is bascule design which is 1,278.3 feet in length.  Downtown Sarasota and the Ringling Causeway of FL 789 can be seen from the Sarasota Bay Bridge.  


























As noted in Part 1 FL 758 followed Osprey Avenue and Bay Road to US Route 41.  







Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

May 2023 Ontario Trip (Part 3 of 3)

By
  Over the years, I have made plenty of trips to Ontario, crisscrossing the southern, central and eastern parts of the province. Living in Upstate New York, it's pretty easy to visit our neighbor to the north, or is that our neighbor to the west? Ottawa is one of my favorite cities to visit anywhere in the world, plus I've discovered the charm of Kingston, the waterfalls of Hamilton (which is on the same Niagara Escarpment that brings us Niagara Falls), the sheer beauty of the Bruce Peninsula, and more. But I hadn't explored much of Cottage Country. So I decided to change that, and what better time to go than over Memorial Day weekend, when the daylight is long and I have an extra day to explore. On the third and final day of my trip, I started in Huntsville and made my way through Muskoka District and Haliburton County, passing by many lakes along the way. I stopped in towns such as Dorset, Haliburton and Bancroft before making a beeline down to Belleville and then over th...
Post a Comment
Read more

Abandoned Fowler Avenue in Clovis, California

By
Originally Fowler Avenue in the city of Clovis had a brief discontinuation approaching Herndon Avenue.  Fowler Avenue traffic heading northbound was required to detour briefly onto westbound Herndon Avenue.  During 2001 this discontinuation was removed when Fowler Avenue was reconfigured to access the Sierra Freeway (California State Route 168) via an interchange.  This led to a segment of the original alignment of Fowler Avenue just south of Herndon Avenue to be abandoned.  Despite a shopping center opening over part of the original Fowler Avenue alignment in 2016 much of the abandoned roadway remains.   The history of the abandoned original alignment of Fowler Avenue in Clovis The original alignment of California State Route 168 departed downtown Clovis eastbound along Tollhouse Road.  This original alignment did not interact with Fowler Avenue at the Herndon Avenue intersection.  Fowler Avenue north of Tollhouse Road ran north to Herndon Avenue...
Post a Comment
Read more

Hot Springs Drive (Tulare County Mountain Road 56)

By
Hot Springs Drive is an approximately twenty-mile rural highway in the Sierra Nevada foothills of Tulare County.  The Hot Springs Drive corridor begins at Old Stage Road at Fountain Springs and extends eastward to Parker Pass Road near California Hot Springs.  Hot Springs Drive is carried by Tulare County Mountain Road 56 and acts as an extension of Avenue 56 (Tulare County Route J22).   What is now California Hot Springs originated as the Deer Creek Hot Springs Resort in 1882.  The resort on Deer Creek was originally served by a Control Road which required traffic alternate at different times of the day.  The modern California Hot Springs resort would incorporate in 1905 following an ownership change.  The Control Road corridor was replaced by Hot Springs Drive around 1915 which intended to serve increasing amount of automotive traffic to California Hot Springs.  Much of the resort would later burn in 1968 but was rebuilt in the 1980s. ...
Post a Comment
Read more