State Road 293 (SR 293) is a

limited-access A limited-access road, known by various terms worldwide, including limited-access highway, dual-carriageway, expressway, limited access freeway, and partial controlled access highway, is a highway or arterial road for high-speed traffic which ...

tollway A toll road, also known as a turnpike or tollway, is a public or private road (almost always a controlled-access highway in the present day) for which a fee (or ''toll'') is assessed for passage. It is a form of road pricing typically implemented ...

, extending from U.S. Route 98 in Destin, north across the

Mid-Bay Bridge The Mid-Bay Bridge is a 141-span, , two-lane toll bridge in Okaloosa County in the Florida Panhandle. It connects U.S. Highway 98 in Destin to State Road 20 in Niceville. The bridge generally runs north-south; the approaches to the bridge car ...

, a toll bridge, around Niceville to State Road 85. Initially ending at

Florida State Road 20 State Road 20 (SR 20) is a east-to-west route across northern Florida and the Florida Panhandle in the United States. Route description Okaloosa County (Niceville and Bluewater Bay) SR 20 starts at SR 85 in Niceville as John Sims Parkway, ...

west of where they intersect today, SR 293 has served as a very important bypass to the Niceville community, and as a

hurricane evacuation route Hurricane evacuation is the immediate and rapid movement of people away from the threat or actual occurrence of a hurricane. County judges, emergency managers and other officials may recommend a voluntary evacuation or order a mandatory evacuatio ...

. From the Mid-Bay Bridge and to points north, the roadway is known as the Walter Francis Spence Parkway.

Route description

State Road 293 begins at the intersection with Hutchinson Street and US 98 in Destin near many Shopping Centers. SR 293 continues north from here as a 4-laned arterial surface road, named Danny Wuerffel Way, with a Speed Limit of 45 MPH. SR 293 turns slightly east as it passes by Turnberry Harbor and Destin Middle School. It then crosses the 3.6 mile long

over

Choctawhatchee Bay Choctawhatchee Bay is a bay in the Emerald Coast region of the Florida Panhandle. The bay, located within Okaloosa and Walton counties, has a surface area of . It is an inlet of the Gulf of Mexico, connected to it through East Pass (also known ...

, where at the northern end of the bridge, tolls are collected ($4.00 Cash, $3.00

SunPass SunPass is an electronic toll collection system within the state of Florida, United States. It was created in 1999 by the Florida Department of Transportation's (FDOT's) Office of Toll Operations, operating now as a division of Florida's Turnpik ...

). From here, SR 293 continues north, developing the name of the Walter Francis Spence Parkway as it sharply turns northeast at the Lakeshore Drive Interchange. From this point north, the Speed Limit increases to 55 MPH. It extends for another two miles as a 4-lane divided limited access parkway, traveling northward around the

Bluewater Bay Bluewater Bay, Florida is a planned community in Okaloosa County, Florida Okaloosa County is located in the northwestern portion of the U.S. state of Florida, extending from the Gulf of Mexico to the Alabama state line. As of the 2020 census, ...

community and intersects

with a

Single point urban interchange A single-point urban interchange (SPUI, or ), also called a single-point interchange (SPI) or single-point diamond interchange (SPDI), is a type of highway interchange. The design was created in order to help move large volumes of traffic thro ...

. SR 293 has an interchange with Range Road, and continues north as a

Super Two A super two, super two-lane highway or wide two-lane is a two-lane surface road built to highway standards with wide lanes and other safety features normally present on a freeway with more lanes, typically including partial control of access, o ...

, while retaining a Speed Limit of 55 MPH. Still heading north, it crosses the Rocky Creek Bridge. It then passes the second tolling point: the electronic toll gantry ($2.00

Toll by plate Video tolling (sometimes referred to as video billing, toll by plate, pay by mail, or pay by plate) is a form of electronic toll collection, which uses video or still images of a vehicle's license plate to identify a vehicle liable to pay a road ...

/ $1.50

). SR 293 then intersects an access road to a master-planned subdivision. It then turns to a direction of West-by-Northwest and intersects with Forest Road and

Florida State Road 285 State Road 285 (SR 285) is a north–south state road in Florida’s western panhandle. Route description SR 285's south end is at SR 20 in downtown Niceville. From there, it head northwest through town as Partin Drive. After several blocks, it ...

, before continuing west, crossing bridges over Swift Creek, Fox Head Branch, and Mill Creek to terminate at Florida State Road 85 at a

Trumpet Interchange In the field of road transport, an interchange (American English) or a grade-separated junction (British English) is a road junction that uses grade separations to allow for the movement of traffic between two or more roadways or highways, using ...

History

The State Road was established in June 1993 when the

was opened. Originally, the northern terminus of the road was at the toll plaza at the northern end of the bridge. The northern approached was accessed via White Point Road. In 2011, the road was opened to SR 20. State Road 293 was extended around the Niceville area in 3 stages, starting with an extension north to Range Road, completed in 2011. It was followed by extensions to SR 285, then SR 85 both completed in January 2014.. Proposals have been made to extend SR 293 to

Florida State Road 123 State Road 123 (SR 123) is a north–south state highway that bypasses the stretch of State Road 85 through Niceville, Florida. The highway is a more direct route to Fort Walton Beach Fort Walton Beach is a city in southern Okaloosa Coun ...

and reconnect with US Route 98 and extend west to

Florida State Road 87 State Road 87 (SR 87; sometimes called the Navarre Beach Expressway) is a north–south highway in the state of Florida that extends from U.S. Route 98 (US 98) to the Alabama state line where it becomes State Route 41. All of SR 87 is conta ...

,NFTCA Master Plan Ch4
/ref> but proposals for this further extension have been placed on indefinite hold due to environmental concerns.

Summertime traffic concerns

The high demand for the Mid-Bay Bridge has caused many backups on SR 293 in both directions due to the high amount of cash users and the lower speed limit in the

lane. Mostly throughout Florida, the speed limit in the SunPass lanes are 25 MPH, whereas this one is 15 MPH. Motorists attempted to use local roadways as alternative routes to the delay, but the high demand for access created additional congestion. As a remedy to this, the southbound entrance ramp from Lakeshore Drive was closed on select days from 12 PM to 6 PM. Also,

Variable-message sign A variable- (also changeable-, electronic-, or dynamic-) message sign, often abbreviated VMS, CMS, or DMS, and in the UK known as a matrix sign, is an electronic traffic sign often used on roadways to give travelers information about special ...

s were placed north of

in summer 2017 to inform drivers that the exits provide local access only and are not to be used as detours.

Toll-by-plate controversy

When the roadway first opened, the electronic tolling point east of Niceville was not adequately marked, and vacationers without a

were confusing it with an error in the toll payment on the Mid-Bay Bridge. Many were receiving bills in the mail, along with a $2.50 administrative charge. Changes were not made to the signage until 2016.

Major intersections

References

External links

{{Attached KML, display=inline, title 293 293