Florida State Road 29

State Road 29 (SR 29) is a state highway that runs north–south through Southwest Florida. A rural road, it runs mostly through uninhabited farmland in its northern half, and along wetlands in its southern half.

State Road 29
SR 29 highlighted in red
Route information
Maintained by FDOT
Length	75.820 mi[1] (122.020 km)
Major junctions
South end	US 41 / CR 29 at Carnestown
	I-75 in Miles City SR 82 near Immokalee SR 80 in LaBelle
North end	US 27 near Palmdale
Highway system
Florida State Highway System Interstate U.S. SR Former Pre-1945 Toll Scenic ← US 29 → SR 30

Route description

North end of State Road 29

State Road 29 begins at an intersection with U.S. Route 41 (Tamiami Trail) in the small community of Carnestown, located just 4 miles north of Everglades City. From there, it travels north along the western edge of the Big Cypress National Preserve and the eastern edge of the Fakahatchee Strand Preserve State Forest, which the road borders until it reaches Interstate 75 (Alligator Alley) at Miles City.

Florida State Road 29, just north of US Route 41 in Carnestown.

North of I-75, State Road 29 borders the Florida Panther National Wildlife Refuge to the west and continues to border the Big Cypress National Preserve up to a point just south of Sunniland.

SR 29 turns west briefly and back north through the city of Immokalee, a small farming town with large migrant populations. Just north of Immokalee, SR 29 intersects with State Road 82, which travels west to Fort Myers. SR 29 continues due north through more agricultural areas until it reaches the city of LaBelle, where it runs through the city center and intersects State Road 80, a transpeninsular route connecting Fort Myers and West Palm Beach.

After crossing the Caloosahatchee River on a small drawbridge, SR 29 turns northeast and continues to its northern terminus at an intersection with US 27 (unsigned SR 25), just south of Palmdale.

History

A Florida State Road 29 sign located in Miles City, just south of Interstate 75.

State Road 29 was extended from Immokalee to Everglades City in the 1920s around the same time as the construction of the Tamiami Trail. Its construction was championed by Barron Collier as a land connection to Everglades City (the county seat of Collier County at the time).[2] The route was designated State Road 164 until 1945, when it was changed to State Road 29 as part of a statewide renumbering.[3] State Road 29 was extended from Everglades City to Chokoloskee in 1956 upon the completion of a causeway across Chokoloskee Bay[4]

South of Immokalee, SR 29 ran alongside the now-abandoned Atlantic Coast Line Railroad Haines City Branch from Harrisburg (just south of Palmdale) to Everglades City, which was also built in the 1920s. Part of this line was once the Deep Lake Railroad, which was once owned by Barron Collier. The railroad was removed from Sunniland south to Everglades City in 1957, and the rest of it was removed in the 1980s.[5]

Before the Florida Department of Transportation removed a large number of State Roads from its list for state control and maintenance, SR 29 continued south through the towns of Jerome, Copeland, and then meeting Everglades City just outside the Everglades National Park. Now designated County Road 29 north of Everglades City and County Road 29A south of it, the historic southern terminus of SR 29 is in Chokoloskee, on Chokoloskee Island within the National Park.

When plans were made to upgrade Alligator Alley to carry Interstate 75 in 1973, State Road 29 was not initially planned to have an interchange with the freeway due to environmental concerns. This decision was reversed in 1989 during construction of I-75 and interchange ramps were included after steps were taken to protect the endangered Florida panther.[6]

Related routes

LaBelle truck route

State Road 29 Truck
Location	LaBelle

State Road 29 Truck is a truck detour along South Bridge Street. It begins at the northwest corner of LaBelle Airport south of the southeast corner of SR 29 and CR 80A. SR 29 Truck also intersects CR 80A, and runs along the east side of SR 29 until it reaches SR 80 near the Old Hendry County Courthouse.

Collier County

New Market Road
Location	Immokalee

County Road 29A is a route bypassing Immokalee to the northeast. It runs mostly southeast to northwest, and is named New Market Road.

County Road 29A begins as New Market Road East, as a straight south to north road until it approaches a local fire station on the northeast corner of an access road to Immokalee Airport, and curves to the northwest. The road serves as the headquarters for the Immokalee State Farmer's Market. At Charlotte Street New Market Road East becomes New Market Road West. The straight northwestern to southeastern pattern continues until it curves to the west and approaches the terminus at SR 29 and Westclox Road north of the city, but not before a northbound turning ramp forks off to the right.

Hendry County

North Main Street
Location	LaBelle

County Road 29A is a short, former segment of State Road 29 in LaBelle. It runs north along North Main Street from the SR 29-80 multiplex at the Hendry County Courthouse to Park Avenue, where it turns east terminating a block later at Bridge Street(SR 29) at the foot of the drawbridge over Caloosahatchee River.

Major intersections

County	Location	mi[1]	km	Destinations	Notes
Collier	Carnestown	0.000	0.000	US 41 (Tamiami Trail) / CR 29 south – Miami, Naples
	Copeland	2.495	4.015	CR 837 west (Janes Scenic Drive) – Fakahatchee Strand State Preserve
	​	3.844	6.186	CR 837 east (Wagon Wheel Road)
	Miles City	16.98	27.33	I-75 (SR 93) – Naples, Fort Lauderdale	Exit 80 on I-75
	​	27.208	43.787	CR 858 – Ave Maria, Hendry Correctional Institution
	Immokalee	36.770	59.176	CR 846 east – Airport
		36.902	59.388	CR 29A north (Newmarket Road East)
		37.309	60.043	CR 846 west (1st Street) – Naples, Bonita Springs, Seminole Casino, Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary
		39.183	63.059	CR 890 west (Lake Trafford Road) – Ann Olesky Park on Lake Trafford
		39.761	63.989	CR 29A east (Newmarket Road West)
	​	41.231	66.355	CR 894 west (Experimental Road)
	​	42.798	68.877	SR 82 west – Fort Myers
Hendry	​	45.829	73.755	CR 830A east
	Felda	46.777	75.280	CR 830 east
	​	50.415	81.135	CR 832 east (Keri Road) – Okaloacoochee Slough State Forest
	LaBelle	60.713	97.708	SR 29 Truck north (North Bridge Street) to SR 80 east – Florida Southwestern State College
		60.806	97.858	CR 80A (West Cowboy Way)
		61.828	99.503	SR 80 west (Hickpochee Avenue) – Alva	South end of SR 80 overlap
		61.893	99.607	SR 80 east (Hickpochee Avenue) / SR 29 Truck south (Bridge Street) – Clewiston	North end of SR 80 overlap
	​	62.42	100.46	LaBelle Drawbridge over Caloosahatchee River (Okeechobee Waterway)
	​	62.878	101.192	CR 78 west – Fort Denaud
Hendry–Glades county line	​	63.383	102.005	To CR 731 / Whidden Road
Glades	​	65.888	106.036	SR 78 east – Moore Haven
	​	75.056	120.791	CR 74 west – Punta Gorda
	​	75.820	122.020	US 27 (SR 25) – Palmdale, Moore Haven
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi       Concurrency terminus

References

1. FDOT straight line diagrams Archived March 6, 2014, at the Wayback Machine, accessed February 2014
2. Carter, Luther J. (1974). The Florida Experience: Land and Water Policy in a Growth State. The Johns Hopkins University Press. ISBN 0-8018-1646-7.
3. "Collier, 1936". Florida Center for Instructional Technology. University of South Florida. Retrieved 14 November 2015.
4. "Chokoloskee". Ghost Towns. Retrieved 23 June 2015.
5. "Harrisburg to Everglades City". Abandoned Rails. Retrieved 22 December 2013.
6. Staats, Eric (30 July 2010). "POLL Alligator Alley widening study raised environmental concern about interchanges". Naples Daily News. Retrieved 22 June 2016.

External links

Media related to Florida State Road 29 at Wikimedia Commons

• Florida Route Log (SR 29)