State Road 30A (SR 30A) is a

Florida Department of Transportation The Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) is a decentralized agency charged with the establishment, maintenance, and regulation of public transportation in the U.S. state of Florida. The department was formed in 1969. It absorbed the power ...

designation shared by four alternate routings of SR 30 in the

Florida panhandle The Florida panhandle (also known as West Florida and Northwest Florida) is the northwestern part of the U.S. state of Florida. It is a Salient (geography), salient roughly long, bordered by Alabama on the west and north, Georgia (U.S. state ...

. Two segments have SR 30A signage; the other two do not as they are segments of

U.S. Route 98 U.S. Route 98 (US 98) is an east–west United States Highway in the Southeastern United States that runs from western Mississippi to southern Florida. It was established in 1933 as a route between Pensacola and Apalachicola, Florida, and has sin ...

(US 98). Three of the four SR 30A segments are next to the shore of the

Gulf of Mexico The Gulf of Mexico () is an oceanic basin and a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean, mostly surrounded by the North American continent. It is bounded on the northeast, north, and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United States; on the southw ...

for most (if not all) of their length.

CR 30A: Point Washington State Forest segment

Just west of Santa Rosa Beach, near East Hewett Road, CR 30A branches off Reddick Road (US 98/SR 30) and heads southeastward toward the shore of the

. While US 98/SR 30 continues through the heart of Point Washington State Forest, CR 30A follows the shoreline, passing through Grayton Beach and Seaside, before rejoining SR 30 near Inlet Beach. While US 98/SR 30 spans the length of Point Washington State Forest, CR 30A doesn't avoid it completely: the westernmost mile (1.6 km) forms the boundary between the state forest and

Topsail Hill Preserve State Park Topsail Hill Preserve State Park is a Florida State Park located in Santa Rosa Beach, east of Destin, off U.S. 98, in northwestern Florida. The address is 7525 W. Scenic Highway 30A. The park has over three miles of white sand beaches, ...

. Continuing along the Gulf of Mexico, CR 30A cuts through approximately three miles (4.8 km) of state forest between Blue Mountain Beach and Seaside and another of Deer Lake State Park to the southeast of Seagrove Beach.

SR 30A: Panama City Beach segment

About to the east of the eastern terminus of the Point Washington State Forest segment of SR 30A, and west of Hollywood Beach (not to be confused with the city of

Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywood ...

between

Miami Miami is a East Coast of the United States, coastal city in the U.S. state of Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County in South Florida. It is the core of the Miami metropolitan area, which, with a populat ...

and

Fort Lauderdale Fort Lauderdale ( ) is a coastal city located in the U.S. state of Florida, north of Miami along the Atlantic Ocean. It is the county seat of and most populous city in Broward County with a population of 182,760 at the 2020 census, making it ...

), US 98 and (unsigned) SR 30 separate. While SR 30 continues along the shore of the Gulf of Mexico as Front Beach Road, US 98 continues roughly inland (as Panama City Beach Parkway) with the unsigned FDOT designation SR 30A. The Panama City Beach Segment ends from the western terminus, as traffic on US 98/SR 30A rejoins SR 30 on the approach to the Hathaway Bridge crossing St. Andrews Bay and entering

Panama City Panama City, also known as Panama, is the capital and largest city of Panama. It has a total population of 1,086,990, with over 2,100,000 in its metropolitan area. The city is located at the Pacific Ocean, Pacific entrance of the Panama Canal, i ...

SR 30A: US 98 through Panama City and Callaway

On the eastern approach to the Hathaway Bridge, SR 30 and US 98 separate at the corner of 18th Street and Beck Avenue in

. US 98 and SR 30A continues eastward along 15th Street, passing through Cedar Grove and Springfield before a southward 90-degree turn onto North Tyndall Parkway in Callaway. As US 98/SR 30A approach the New DuPont Bridge across

East Bay The East Bay is the eastern region of the San Francisco Bay Area and includes cities along the eastern shores of San Francisco Bay and San Pablo Bay. The region has grown to include inland communities in Alameda and Contra Costa counties. Wi ...

, its run ends with the merge with Business US 98/SR 30 near Long Point.

US 98 Business and SR 30 in Panama City and Callaway

While US 98/SR 30A follows 15th Street through Panama City and Callaway before reaching North Tyndall Parkway, US 98 Business and SR 30 follows Ninth Street, Beach Dr, Sixth Street, and Fifth Street before curving southward (near School Avenue) and eastward (through

Parker Parker may refer to: People * Parker (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * Parker (surname), including a list of people and fictional characters with the surname Arts and entertainment * ''Parke ...

before rejoining US 98 on the approach to the New Dupont Bridge. The merge marks the eastern terminus of the US 98 Business.

Former and current SR 30A: a loop near Port St. Joe

After FDOT started phasing out a set of

Florida State Roads The State Highway System of the U.S. state of Florida comprises the roads maintained by the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) or a toll authority. The components are referred to officially as state roads, abbreviated as SR. His ...

in the late 1970s and early 1980s and reverted them to county maintenance, many State Roads disappeared from road maps, and many others were greatly truncated or transformed. One such drastically-affected road was SR 30A, which formed a loop in

Gulf A gulf is a large inlet from an ocean or their seas into a landmass, larger and typically (though not always) with a narrower opening than a bay (geography), bay. The term was used traditionally for large, highly indented navigable bodies of s ...

and

Franklin Franklin may refer to: People and characters * Franklin (given name), including list of people and characters with the name * Franklin (surname), including list of people and characters with the name * Franklin (class), a member of a historic ...

counties. Historically, SR 30A veered southward from US 98/SR 30 south of

Port St. Joe Port St. Joe is a city and the county seat of Gulf County, Florida, United States. It is located at the intersection of U.S. Highway 98 and State Road 71. As of the 2020 census, the population was 3,357. History St. Joseph was founded in 18 ...

, near the communities of Oak Grove and Ward Ridge, and followed Sand Bar Road along the

shoreline A coast (coastline, shoreline, seashore) is the land next to the sea or the line that forms the boundary between the land and the ocean or a lake. Coasts are influenced by the topography of the surrounding landscape and by aquatic erosion, su ...

of St. Joseph Bay past the

St. Joseph Point Lighthouse The St. Joseph Point Light was a lighthouse on the mainland north of present-day Port St. Joe, Florida, across the entrance to St. Joseph Bay from St. Joseph Point. St. Joseph Bay is enclosed by St. Joseph Peninsula, which runs west some thre ...

before turning to the east to follow the shore of Bay San Blas, Indian Lagoon, and Saint Vincent Sound before rejoining US 98/SR 30 east of Nine Mile. Today, only the north–south section is still signed SR 30A. The east–west stretch is now County Road 30A, as is a short north-south segment of Garrison Avenue in Port St. Joe.

References

{{Reflist

External links

Scenic Highway 30A (Florida Scenic Highways)

30A.com

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