State Road 579(SR 579) is a 0.5-mile (0.80 km) stretch of Fletcher Avenue between Florida Avenue and Nebraska Avenue inTampa, Florida.Similar toSR 678to the north, it exists to connectU.S. Route 41(US 41 orSR 45),Interstate 275(SR 93), andUS 41 Business(US 41 Bus. orSR 685). Despite its odd-numberedFlorida Department of Transportationdesignation, SR 579 is signed east–west.[2]
 State Road 579 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fletcher Avenue | ||||
 | ||||
| Route information | ||||
| Maintained byFDOT | ||||
| Length | 0.499 mi[1](803 m) | |||
| Major junctions | ||||
| West end |   US 41 Bus.nearTampa | |||
 I-275near Tampa | ||||
| East end | US 41near Tampa | |||
| Location | ||||
| Country | United States | |||
| State | Florida | |||
| Counties | Hillsborough | |||
| Highway system | ||||
| ||||
History
editThe current SR 579 is a remnant of a much longer one,[3]extending from the current western terminus to an intersection withSR 54nearZephyrhills,following Fletcher Avenue to an interchange withInterstate 75(I-75 orSR 93A), then turning northeastward and following Morris Bridge Road throughBranchtonand toward SR 54. Fletcher Avenue between Nebraska Avenue and I-75 was later redesignatedState Road 582A(and a spur, 50th Street between Fletcher Avenue andFowler Avenueadjacent toUniversity of South Florida,becameState Road 582B) while Morris Bridge Road was transitioned toCounty Road 579.Eventually SR 582A and SR 582B were transferred to county control.
Major intersections
editThe entire route is inHillsborough County.
| Location | mi[1] | km | Destinations | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | 0.000 | 0.000 |   US 41 Bus.(North Florida Avenue /SR 685) /CR 582Awest (West Fletcher Avenue) –Tampa,Lutz | ||
| | 0.29 | 0.47 | I-275(SR 93) –Ocala,St. Petersburg | I-275 exit 52 | |
| | 0.499 | 0.803 |  US 41(North Nebraska Avenue /SR 45) /CR 582Aeast (East Fletcher Avenue) | ||
| 1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi | |||||
Other segments
editThere are two other segments in Hillsborough County that carry the County Road 579 designation - one stretch fromUS 301inThonotosassatoSR 574inMango;and another fromSR 674inWimaumatoSR 62east ofParrishinManatee County.
Historic State Road 579
editIn the 1950s and 1960s a different SR 579 was in existence, not inHillsborough CountybutDade(now Miami-Dade) County. Locally known as Biscayne Drive and Southwest 288th Street, the historicState Road 579was a 3.2-mile (5.1 km) east–west street connectingSouth Dixie Highway(U.S. Route 1/SR 5) inHomesteadto the west (primary) gate ofHomestead Air Force Base.[4][5][6][7]
While Homestead AFB was downgraded to a smallerHomestead Air Reserve Baseafter its destruction byHurricane Andrewin 1993,Coral Castle,atourist attractionat the western end of historic SR 579, has remained essentially unchanged since the FDOT signs were removed from Biscayne Drive in the late 1960s. The predominantly rural nature of the area on both sides of the street in the 1950s and 1960s has been gradually giving way tourbanizationsince the 1980s and the trend appears to be accelerating throughout the former Homestead AFB property and further south in Miami-Dade County, particularly along the nearby Homestead Extension ofFlorida's Turnpike.
References
edit- ^abFDOT straight line diagramsArchivedMarch 6, 2014, at theWayback Machine,accessed March 2014
- ^American Map,Florida State Road Atlas,2003ISBN0-87530-450-8
- ^Trakker Maps,Florida State Road Atlas 1994ISBN1-877651-01-X
- ^Dolph Maps,Map of South Dade County, Florida,1954
- ^Official Map of Dade County, Florida,1961
- ^Official Map of Dade County, Florida,1962
- ^General Highway and Transportation Map - Dade County, Florida(Map) (Revised December 1943 ed.). Florida State Road Department. 1936.RetrievedApril 3,2020.