West end: SR 85 in Niceville | Length 576.4 km | |
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East end: US 1 / SR 100 in Bunnell Counties Okaloosa County, Florida, Walton County, Florida | ||
State Road 20 (SR 20) is an east-to-west route across northern Florida and the Florida Panhandle in the United States.
Contents
Map of FL-20, Florida, USA
Route description
The western terminus of State Road 20 is at State Road 85 in Niceville. The route proceeds east along the northern coast of the Choctawhatchee Bay through Freeport, where it leaves the Gulf coast behind, as it heads through Blountstown and the Florida Panhandle. SR 20 crosses the Apalachicola River on the Trammell Bridge, then proceeds though the Apalachicola National Forest and Tallahassee. It then becomes a hidden route briefly along US 90 in Tallahassee, then along US 27 in Tallahassee where it joins the Apalachee Parkway, a major east-west thoroughfare in the city. Constructed in 1957, the Apalachee Parkway starts at Monroe Street in front of the Florida State Capitol building. It has a short expressway section just east of the capitol, then is a busy four-lane surface boulevard with service roads for the next few miles, passing the Governor's Square Mall and state office buildings.
After the Parkway ends, SR 20 remains a hidden route along US 27 as they run through Capps, Florida, where US 19 joins US 27 until they reach Perry where US 19 continues south towards the Tampa Bay Metropolitan Area, while US 27-SR 20 run east to High Springs.
After a brief signed portion in High Springs, State Road 20 is again hidden along US 441 to Gainesville, where it becomes a stand-alone route along Northwest 6th Street, then turns east onto Northwest 8th Avenue, until running south again onto North Main Street before it overlaps such roads as SR 24 and 26. East of Gainesville, the road again becomes a stand-alone route that is four lanes wide as it runs through Lochloosa Wildlife Conservation Area to the interchange with US 301 in Hawthorne. The road has since been widened along the route between Interlachen and Francis as it heads into Palatka, finally (and, again, "secretly") joining with southbound US 17 which itself is in a concurrency with State Road 100.
All three routes cross the Palatka Memorial Bridge over the St. Johns River toward East Palatka and San Mateo, where SR 20 follows SR 100 to a terminus at US 1 in Bunnell.
History
The portion of SR 20 running through all of Calhoun County was designated as "Fuller Warren Parkway" by the Florida State Legislature in 1999.
The portion of SR 20 that is co-signed with US 27 in Leon County was designated as "Apalachee Parkway" by the Florida State Legislature in 1961.
The portion of SR 20 that is co-signed with US 27 in Leon, Jefferson, Madison, and Taylor counties was designated as "Blue Star Memorial Highway" by the Florida State Legislature in 1957. The same portion of SR 20 in Taylor, Jefferson, and Leon counties was also designated as "Paradise Drive" by the Florida State Legislature in 1951.
The portion of SR 20 from Perry to High Springs in Columbia County, as well as all of SR 20 that is co-signed with US 27 in Lafayette and Suwannee counties, was designated as "Fred P Parker Memorial Highway" by the Florida State Legislature in 1941.
The portion of SR 20 in Alachua County that is co-signed with US 441 was designated as "Martin Luther King Jr. Highway" by the Florida State Legislature in 1988.
The portion of SR 20 in Alachua County that is co-signed with US 27 was designated as "United Spanish War Veterans Memorial Highway" by the Florida State Legislature in 1947.
The entire portion of SR 20 that is co-signed with US 27 was designated as "Claude Pepper Memorial Highway" by the Florida State Legislature in 1999. Further, the same co-signed portion of SR 20 was designated as "Purple Heart Highway" by the Florida State Highway Board in 2010.
County Road 0120
County Road 0120 (CR 0120) is a short piece of an old alignment of State Road 20, at the Liberty/Leon County Line. CR 0120 only extends a couple of tenths of a mile (about 300 m) to the Ochlockonee River, where the old bridge has been dismantled; thus, it no longer connects, to Leon County CR 20, on the other side of the river.
The reasons for a realignment were to straighten out the curve on the Leon County side and to bypass a residential area. Along CR 0120, are entrances to a couple of residences and an abandoned gas station.
County Road 20A
County Road 20A is a suffixed county alternate route on the south side of SR 20 in western Putnam County. It begins at the southern terminus of State Road 21 in McMeekin, and runs southeast towards Johnson, and Edgar, finally reaching Interlachen, where it turns north to meet SR 20 again.