Florida State Road 520
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State Road 520 (SR 520) is a 34.52-mile (55.56 km) east-west state highway in central Florida, United States, connecting the Orlando area with Cocoa and Cocoa Beach, ending at State Road A1A in the latter city. It runs from State Road 50 in Orange County east of Bithlo, southeast across the Beachline Expressway (State Road 528). It intersects with County Road 532 before crossing the St. Johns River into Brevard County. In that county it intersects State Road 524 (the original approach to the Bennett Causeway) and State Road 9 (Interstate 95), before entering Cocoa and intersecting State Road 501, State Road 519 and State Road 5 (U.S. Route 1). It then heads onto the Merritt Island Causeway, a series of bridges crossing the Indian River, Newfound Harbor and the Banana River. Between the Indian River and Newfound Harbor, it crosses through Merritt Island, intersecting State Road 3.
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[edit] "Bloody 520"
"Bloody 520" is a popular nickname for the 22-mile (35 km) stretch of SR 520 between its western terminus and Interstate 95. Numerous fatalities have occurred on this stretch. In 2002, the Florida Department of Transportation began a project to widen the entire stretch to four lanes.[1] The project was completed in 2007, and the entire length of the road is now at least four lanes.
[edit] History
State Road 206 was legislated in 1931 to run from pre-1945 State Road 4 (U.S. Route 1) in Cocoa east across the Indian River to Merritt Island. There it would split, with one leg running south to Georgiana and the other north to Courtenay. (In 1937, both of these branches from Merritt Island became part of pre-1945 State Road 219, later part of State Road 3.)
A 1935 law extended SR 206 west to Orlando along the planned Cocoa-Orlando Highway, which used Lake Road in the Cocoa area[2]. Plans made by the State Road Department would have taken it into Orlando on Curry Ford Road (also defined as part of pre-1945 State Road 411 in 1939).
State Road 70 was defined in 1933, running from SR 206 at Merritt Island east over the Banana River to pre-1945 State Road 140 at Cocoa Beach. A branch would run north along the west side of the Banana River to connect with pre-1945 State Road 219 at Orsino.
Finally, State Road 418 was defined along the existing Taylor Creek Road, running from pre-1945 State Road 22 at Christmas south to the Osceola County line, crossing the planned SR 206 about two-thirds of the way.
By the 1945 renumbering, only the section of SR 206 and SR 70 east of Cocoa was completed. State Road 520 was defined to use sections of SR 418, SR 206 and SR 70. It would begin at State Road 50 (former SR 22) near Christmas and run southeast along the general alignment of SR 418, switching to SR 206 where its planned alignment crossed. (SR 418 south of that crossing later became State Road 532.) From there it would take SR 206 to Merritt Island, and SR 70 the rest of the way to end at State Road 1 (former SR 140).
The section west of Cocoa was built in the 1950s. It used very little of the existing Taylor Creek Road, instead being built further west, joining SR 50 much closer to Bithlo than Christmas.
At some point, Alafaya Trail was taken over from SR 50 north past the University of Central Florida to downtown Oviedo. SR 520 was extended west on SR 50 and then north on Alafaya Trail, ending at State Road 419 and State Road 426 in Oviedo. In the 1980s, SR 520 was truncated back to SR 50, and Alafaya became an extension of State Road 434.
[edit] The former State Road 520A, a spur from SR 520
Until about 2000[3], a 0.6-mile-long spur from SR 520 to Lake Poinsett was designated State Road 520A by FDOT and its predecessor, the State Road Department. Known locally as Lake Poinsett Road, the former SR 520A is the sole access road to Poinsett Groves and Poinsett Shores. The northern end is an intersection with King Street just west of Interstate 95 (SR 9) near Rockledge[4].
[edit] References
- ^ Laurin Sellers, Work on Perilous S.R. 520 is under way, Orlando Sentinel June 17, 2002
- ^ Brevard County Plat Book #8, Page 43 (1936) (PDF)
- ^ American Automobile Association, AAA North American Road Atlas 2001 ISBN 1-56251-550-0
- ^ Champion Map of Cocoa and Melbourne (1975)
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