State Road 579 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fletcher Avenue | ||||
| ||||
| Route information | ||||
| Maintained by FDOT | ||||
| Length | 0.499 mi[1] (803 m) | |||
| Major junctions | ||||
| West end |   US 41 Bus. near Tampa | |||
| Major intersections |  I-275 near Tampa | |||
| East end | US 41 near Tampa | |||
| Location | ||||
| Country | United States | |||
| State | Florida | |||
| Counties | Hillsborough | |||
| Highway system | ||||
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State Road 579 (SR 579) is a 0.5-mile (0.80 km) stretch of Fletcher Avenue between Florida Avenue and Nebraska Avenue in Tampa, Florida. Similar to SR 678 to the north, it exists to connect U.S. Route 41 (US 41 or SR 45), Interstate 275 (SR 93), and US 41 Business (US 41 Bus. or SR 685). Despite its odd-numbered Florida Department of Transportation designation, SR 579 is signed east–west.[2]
The current SR 579 is a remnant of a much longer one,[3] extending from the current western terminus to an intersection with SR 54 near Zephyrhills, following Fletcher Avenue to an interchange with Interstate 75 (I-75 or SR 93A), then turning northeastward and following Morris Bridge Road through Branchton and toward SR 54. Fletcher Avenue between Nebraska Avenue and I-75 was later redesignated State Road 582A (and a spur, 50th Street between Fletcher Avenue and Fowler Avenue adjacent to University of South Florida, became State Road 582B) while Morris Bridge Road was transitioned to County Road 579. Eventually SR 582A and SR 582B were transferred to county control.
The entire route is in Hillsborough County.
| Location | mi[1] | km | Destinations | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | 0.000 | 0.000 |   US 41 Bus. (North Florida Avenue / SR 685) / CR 582A west (West Fletcher Avenue) – Tampa, Lutz | ||
| | 0.29 | 0.47 | I-275 (SR 93) – Ocala, St. Petersburg | I-275 exit 52 | |
| | 0.499 | 0.803 |  US 41 (North Nebraska Avenue / SR 45) / CR 582A east (East Fletcher Avenue) | ||
| 1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi | |||||
There are two other segments in Hillsborough County that carry the County Road 579 designation - one stretch from US 301inThonotosassatoSR 574inMango; and another from SR 674inWimaumatoSR 62 east of ParrishinManatee County.
In the 1950s and 1960s a different SR 579 was in existence, not in Hillsborough County but Dade (now Miami-Dade) County. Locally known as Biscayne Drive and Southwest 288th Street, the historic State Road 579 was a 3.2-mile (5.1 km) east–west street connecting South Dixie Highway (U.S. Route 1/SR 5) in Homestead to the west (primary) gate of Homestead Air Force Base.[4][5][6][7]
While Homestead AFB was downgraded to a smaller Homestead Air Reserve Base after its destruction by Hurricane Andrew in 1993, Coral Castle, a tourist attraction at the western end of historic SR 579, has remained essentially unchanged since the FDOT signs were removed from Biscayne Drive in the late 1960s. The predominantly rural nature of the area on both sides of the street in the 1950s and 1960s has been gradually giving way to urbanization since the 1980s and the trend appears to be accelerating throughout the former Homestead AFB property and further south in Miami-Dade County, particularly along the nearby Homestead Extension of Florida's Turnpike.
