State Road 31 (SR 31) is a state highway in Southwest Florida in Lee, Charlotte, and DeSoto counties. It is about 36 miles (58 kilometers) long. The entire roadway is two lanes wide, even near Fort Myers. The highway crosses the Caloosahatchee River via the Wilson Pigott Bridge, a small drawbridge, a mile north of the southern terminus. The northern terminus is with an intersection of SR 70 near Arcadia. The southern terminus is with an intersection of SR 80 near Fort Myers Shores. The route is home to G. Pierce Wood Memorial Hospital, replacing the old De Soto Aircraft Field.
 State Road 31 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Route information | ||||
| Maintained by FDOT | ||||
| Length | 36.357 mi[1] (58.511 km) | |||
| Existed | 1945–present | |||
| Major junctions | ||||
| South end |  SR 80 near Fort Myers Shores | |||
| North end |  SR 70 near Arcadia | |||
| Location | ||||
| Country | United States | |||
| State | Florida | |||
| Counties | Lee, Charlotte, DeSoto | |||
| Highway system | ||||
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History
editOriginally designated State Road 2, the route was redesignated State Road 31 in 1945 as part of a statewide renumbering.[2][3]
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Prior to the construction of the Wilson Pigott Bridge in 1960, State Road 31 crossed the Caloosahatchee River about three miles farther east of the current bridge. Just north of Fort Myers Shores, it travelled east along North River Road (then-State Road 78) and crossed the river on a swing bridge into Olga, where it continued to State Road 80 along what is today Olga Drive.[4] The current route south of North River Road carried State Road 78 at the time.
In 2006, Cameratta Properties purchased 5,860 acres (24 km2) of land along SR 31 in DeSoto County for a master-planned community that upon completion will add approximately 17,000 homes and 500,000 square feet (50,000 m2) of retail and office space. The entity formed to Babcock Ranch.
Former Naples segment
editPrior to the 1980s, a north-south route near Naples was designated as a secondary state road with the designation of SR 31.[5] This segment, locally known as Airport-Pulling Road, became (CR 31) when it was turned over to county control in the 1980s.[6]
Major intersections
edit| County | Location | mi[1] | km | Destinations | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lee | Fort Myers Shores | 0.000 | 0.000 | SR 80 (Palm Beach Boulevard) – LaBelle, Fort Myers | |
| Caloosahatchee River (Okeechobee Waterway) | 1.04 | 1.67 | Wilson Pigott Bridge | ||
| | 1.407 | 2.264 |   SR 78 west (Bayshore Road) – Lee Civic Center | ||
| | 2.670 | 4.297 |   CR 78 east (North River Road) – Caloosahatchee Regional Park, W.P. Franklin Campground | ||
| Charlotte | Bermont | 16.990 | 27.343 |  CR 74 – Palmdale, Punta Gorda | |
| DeSoto | | 25.541 | 41.104 |   CR 763 west | |
| | 31.893 | 51.327 |  CR 760A west | ||
| | 34.102 | 54.882 |  CR 760 east | ||
| | 36.357 | 58.511 | SR 70 – Arcadia, Okeechobee | ||
| 1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi | |||||
References
edit- ^ a b FDOT straight line diagrams Archived March 6, 2014, at the Wayback Machine, accessed February 2014
- ^ "Lee Middle, 1936". Florida Center for Instructional Technology. University of South Florida. Retrieved 14 November 2015.
- ^ "East Desoto, 1936". Florida Center for Instructional Technology. University of South Florida. Retrieved 14 November 2015.
- ^ "North Olga Community Plan" (PDF). Lee County, Florida. Archived from the original (PDF) on 17 November 2015. Retrieved 15 November 2015.
- ^ [General Highway Map, Collier County, April 1966, reprinted January 1976]
- ^ "County Road 31 - Airport-Pulling Road". AARoads. Retrieved 29 February 2024.
External links
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