State Road 116 (SR 116) is a

state highway A state highway, state road, or state route (and the equivalent provincial highway, provincial road, or provincial route) is usually a road that is either ''numbered'' or ''maintained'' by a sub-national state or province. A road numbered by a ...

in the northeastern part of the U.S. state of

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

. It travels nearly due west-east entirely within the

city limits City limits or city boundaries refer to the defined boundary or border of a city. The area within the city limit can be called the city proper. Town limit/boundary and village limit/boundary apply to towns and villages. Similarly, corporate limi ...

of Jacksonville, in Duval County. At its west terminus, SR 116 is signed as Merrill Road beginning at the intersection with Interstate 295 (I-295; Jacksonville East Beltway) and SR 113 (Southside Connector) near the

St. Johns River The St. Johns River ( es, Río San Juan) is the longest river in the U.S. state of Florida and its most significant one for commercial and recreational use. At long, it flows north and winds through or borders twelve counties. The drop in eleva ...

. At its eastern terminus, it is signed as Wonderwood Road, ending at the

intersection In mathematics, the intersection of two or more objects is another object consisting of everything that is contained in all of the objects simultaneously. For example, in Euclidean geometry, when two lines in a plane are not parallel, their i ...

with SR 101 (Mayport Road) just south of

Naval Station Mayport Naval Station Mayport is a major United States Navy base in Jacksonville, Florida. It contains a protected harbor that can accommodate aircraft carrier-size vessels, ship's intermediate maintenance activity (SIMA) and a military airfield (Admi ...

. Here, the Wonderwood Road designation continues to Hanna Park. Since the central purpose of SR 116 was to build a bridge over the Intracoastal Waterway connecting Wonderwood Drive to the rest of Jacksonville, locals often unofficially refer to SR 116 as "Wonderwood Connector" or simply "Wonderwood"."FDOT to fund Wonderwood Expressway". Jacksonville Business Journal
/ref> Officially, the stretch is signed as a number of existing local roads that were utilized as parts of the route of SR 116. These sections are known as Merrill Road, Ft. Caroline Road, McCormick Road, Mt. Pleasant Road, and Wonderwood Drive.

History

Due to rapid growth in the East Arlington area and near SR 105 (Zoo Parkway/Heckscher Drive), a connection from the I-295 corridor to Naval Station Mayport was seen as a great need. Over the years, traffic back-ups at the Atlantic Boulevard

flyover ramp An overpass (called an overbridge or flyover in the United Kingdom and some other Commonwealth countries) is a bridge, road, railway or similar structure that crosses over another road or railway. An ''overpass'' and ''underpass'' together form ...

escalated, as it was the only direct route to the base. These back-ups often took hours to clear, and with the rapid growth in the area, combined with the need for another hurricane evacuation route, a new road was a necessity. The base needed a more-direct route from the corridor since it was easy for new people to the area to get lost on previous directions from exits on I-295, such as SR 10 (Atlantic Boulevard) and Monument Road. The improvements to – and subsequent ''de facto'' replacement of – Merrill Road, Ft. Caroline Road, and McCormick Road occurred in stages. However, these roads are still in use today and are designated by signage still displayed on them.

Major intersections

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:FL116

116 116 (''one hundred and sixteen'') may refer to: *116 (number) *AD 116 * 116 BC * 116 (Devon and Cornwall) Engineer Regiment, Royal Engineers, a military unit * 116 (MBTA bus) * 116 (New Jersey bus) * 116 (hip hop group), a Christian hip hop collect ...

History

Major intersections

See also

References