Known locally as Orange Avenue, State Road 68 (SR 68) is a 4.5-mile-long east–west street in

Fort Pierce, Florida Fort Pierce is a city in and the county seat of St. Lucie County, Florida, United States. The city is part of the Treasure Coast region of Atlantic Coast Florida. It is also known as the Sunrise City, sister to San Francisco, California, the Suns ...

. The eastern terminus of SR 68 is at an intersection with North Fourth Street (

US 1 U.S. Route 1 or U.S. Highway 1 (US 1) is a major north–south United States Numbered Highway that serves the East Coast of the United States. It runs from Key West, Florida, north to Fort Kent, Maine, at the Canadian border, making ...

- SR 5); the roadway continues east a short distance towards Indian River Drive ( County Road 707) in downtown Fort Pierce without state or county designation. The western terminus is with Kings Highway ( SR 713), just west of

Interstate 95 Interstate 95 (I-95) is the main north–south Interstate Highway on the East Coast of the United States, running from U.S. Route 1, US Route 1 (US 1) in Miami, Miami, Florida, to the Houlton–Woodstock Border Crossing between M ...

( SR 9). West of Kings Highway, Orange Avenue transitions into County Road 68, heading west for another , maintaining the CR 68 designation as it crosses into

Okeechobee County Okeechobee County () is a county located in the Florida Heartland region of the state of Florida. As of the 2020 census, the population was 39,644. The county seat is Okeechobee. Okeechobee County comprises the Okeechobee, FL Micropolitan St ...

before ending at an intersection with

US 441 U.S. Route 441 (US 441) is a auxiliary route of U.S. Route 41. It extends from US 41 in Miami, Florida to US 25W in Rocky Top, Tennessee. Between its termini, US 441 travels through the states of Florida, Georgia, North ...

. Initially a key road in the citrus

industry Industry may refer to: Economics * Industry (economics), a generally categorized branch of economic activity * Industry (manufacturing), a specific branch of economic activity, typically in factories with machinery * The wider industrial sector ...

, SR 68 has since become an important commuter road providing the residences of central Fort Pierce with access to

( SR 9) 0.3 miles east of SR 713. The rural nature of the western end of SR 68 is slowly giving way to

urbanization Urbanization (or urbanisation) refers to the population shift from rural to urban areas, the corresponding decrease in the proportion of people living in rural areas, and the ways in which societies adapt to this change. It is predominantly t ...

, a trend throughout the

Atlantic The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe an ...

coast of the State of Florida, as orange groves are gradually being replaced by residential developments.

History

The historic western terminus of State Road 68 is about west of the current one. Originally, SR 68 extended from Micco Bluff Road in Okeechobee County west of Basinger near the

Kissimmee River The Kissimmee River is a river in south-central Florida, United States that forms the north part of the Everglades wetlands area. The river begins at East Lake Tohopekaliga south of Orlando, flowing south through Lake Kissimmee into the large, s ...

, following US 98- SR 700, Northeast 160th Street (present County Road 68), Parrott Avenue (

SR 15 Route 15, or Highway 15, can refer to: For roads named A15, see A15 roads. International * Asian Highway 15 * European route E15 * European route E015 Australia New South Wales * Hunter Expressway * New England Highway and other local Ne ...

), Northeast 224th Street (present County Road 68), and the aptly named Orange Avenue (present County Road 68) to SR 713 as it cuts across the

wetland A wetland is a distinct ecosystem that is flooded or saturated by water, either permanently (for years or decades) or seasonally (for weeks or months). Flooding results in oxygen-free (anoxic) processes prevailing, especially in the soils. The ...

s and the

orange Orange most often refers to: *Orange (fruit), the fruit of the tree species '' Citrus'' × ''sinensis'' ** Orange blossom, its fragrant flower *Orange (colour), from the color of an orange, occurs between red and yellow in the visible spectrum * ...

groves of central

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 ...

to Fort Pierce. All portions of SR 68 in Okeechobee County as well as the portion from the St. Lucie County east to Kings Highway were transferred to county control in the mid-1980s. In the late 1990s, the alignment of SR 68 immediately west of US1 was changed - Orange Avenue between N 7th Street and US1 was made into an eastbound one-way road, carrying SR 68 along its 2 lanes towards US1; westbound SR 68 was rerouted one block north of Orange Avenue along Avenue A. From US1, Avenue A headed west as a 4-lane one-way street for two blocks before ending at N 7th Street. Traffic wishing to follow SR 68 west were forced to turn left onto N 7th Street, then immediately turn right one block later onto Orange Avenue and SR 68 west. A few years later, in the late 2000s, Orange Avenue between N 7th Street and US1 was restored to two-way traffic, ending the ill-advised and short-lived Avenue A and N 7th Street's SR 68 designation.

Major intersections

References

External links

{{Commons category, Florida State Road 68
Florida Route Log (SR 68)
068 068 068 068 Fort Pierce, Florida