State Road 56 (SR 56) is a six lane
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 length that runs from
State Road 54 east to
US 301
U.S. Route 301 (US 301) is a spur of U.S. Route 1 running through the South Atlantic States. It runs from Biddles Corner, Delaware at Delaware Route 1 to Sarasota, Florida at U.S. Route 41. It passes through the states of Delaware, Mar ...
in
Zephyrhills
Zephyrhills is a city in Pasco County, Florida, United States. The population was counted at 17,194 in the 2020 census. It is a suburb of the Tampa Bay Metropolitan Statistical Area. Zephyrhills is also known as the headquarters of the Zephyrhil ...
.
Route description
State Road 56 begins at a three-way intersection with State Road 54. At this point, State Road 54 makes a sharp left turn while State Road 56 continues straight on the same roadway. The state road at the beginning of its route is a 6 lane avenue that passes through a rural area of
Wesley Chapel. After 0.9 miles, State Road 56 comes to an interchange with
Interstate 75
Interstate 75 (I-75) is a major north–south Interstate Highway in the Great Lakes and Southeastern regions of the United States. As with most Interstates that end in 5, it is a major cross-country, north–south route, traveling from S ...
, which is exit 275 on the highway. The on-ramps allow access to both northbound and southbound I-75.
After its intersection with I-75, State Road 56 enters the commercial district of Wesley Chapel. It travels 2.1 miles through the town before reaching a four-way intersection with
State Road 581. After this intersection, the speed limit increases to 55 mph, and State Road 56 travels another 3.8 miles through rural Wesley Chapel before approaching an intersection with Meadow Pointe Boulevard The road continues to pass through rural surroundings, and crosses a pair of bridges over the New River (a tributary to the Hillsborough River), entering Zephyrhills, where it has one last major intersection with Morris Bridge Road (CR 579) before terminating at US 301 across from Festival Park.
History
The first segment of SR 56, which stretched from SR 54 to Bruce B. Downs Boulevard (
SR/CR 581), opened on March 28, 2002 after three years of construction. The highway allows a more-direct access to
Interstate 75
Interstate 75 (I-75) is a major north–south Interstate Highway in the Great Lakes and Southeastern regions of the United States. As with most Interstates that end in 5, it is a major cross-country, north–south route, traveling from S ...
two miles (3 km) north of the northern terminus of
Interstate 275, as opposed to SR 54, which parallelled I-75 for about three miles before meeting at its interchange.
The first phase of expansion, from Bruce B. Downs to Meadow Pointe Boulevard, began construction in March 2008 to mark the imminent opening of the
Shops at Wiregrass
The Shops at Wiregrass is an open-air lifestyle center in Wesley Chapel, Pasco County, Florida. In addition to free parking lots, valet parking, and a parking structure, there are streetside parking spaces at meters along its central street, Pas ...
.
On July 31, 2010, after numerous delays, this extension of SR 56 opened for vehicular traffic. An extension to
US 301
U.S. Route 301 (US 301) is a spur of U.S. Route 1 running through the South Atlantic States. It runs from Biddles Corner, Delaware at Delaware Route 1 to Sarasota, Florida at U.S. Route 41. It passes through the states of Delaware, Mar ...
in
Zephyrhills
Zephyrhills is a city in Pasco County, Florida, United States. The population was counted at 17,194 in the 2020 census. It is a suburb of the Tampa Bay Metropolitan Statistical Area. Zephyrhills is also known as the headquarters of the Zephyrhil ...
was being planned by the FDOT, and has been part of the plan since the highway's conception.
The project was previously expected to be completed by the end of 2019, but finally reached US 301 on July 10, 2019.
Future
A
diverging diamond interchange
A diverging diamond interchange (DDI), also called a double crossover diamond interchange (DCD), is a subset of diamond interchange in which the opposing directions of travel on the non-freeway road cross each other on either side of the inte ...
with I-75 was initially proposed in May 2018; construction on the revamped interchange began in February 2019, and was completed in 2022.
Major intersections
References
{{reflist
External links
Florida Route Log (SR 56)
056
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