Known locally as Orange Avenue, State Road 68 is a 4.1-mile-long east–west street in Fort Pierce, Florida

Fort Pierce, Florida

Fort Pierce, also spelled Ft. Pierce, is a city in St. Lucie County, Florida, USA. It is known as The Sunrise City. The population was 37,959 at the 2004 census. As of 2008, the population recorded by the U.S. Census Bureau is 41,000. It is the county seat of St. Lucie County.Fort Pierce is part...

. Its current western terminus is an intersection with Kings Highway (SR 713

State Road 713 (Florida)

State Road 713 is a state highway in the U.S. state of Florida locally known as Kings Highway and Turnpike Feeder Road. The -long, two-lane north–south road is a popular truck route connecting SR 70 in Fort Pierce to the south and U.S. Route 1 between Viking and Florida Ridge to the north...

) west of the city limits; the eastern terminus is an intersection with North Fourth Street (US 1-SR 5

State Road 5 (Florida)

State Road 5 is a mostly-unsigned state highway in the state of Florida. It is mainly signed as U.S. Route 1 from its south end in Key West, Florida to Jacksonville, Florida, and U.S. Route 17 from Jacksonville to the Georgia state line at the Saint Marys River. U.S...

), just three blocks from Indian River Drive (State Road 707

State Road 707 (Florida)

State Road 707 is the Florida Department of Transportation designation of a stretch of the former Dixie Highway between Stuart and Jensen Beach in Martin County, Florida. Although sometimes called Old Dixie Highway, this is a misnomer because the present US 1 has always been called Federal...

 and St. Lucie County Road 707) in downtown

Downtown

Downtown is a term primarily used in North America by English speakers to refer to a city's core or central business district ....

 Fort Pierce.

Initially a key road in the citrus industry

Industry

Industry refers to the production of an economic good or service within an economy.-Industrial sectors:There are four key industrial economic sectors: the primary sector, largely raw material extraction industries such as mining and farming; the secondary sector, involving refining, construction,...

, SR 68 has become an important commuter road

Commuting

Commuting is regular travel between one's place of residence and place of work or full time study. It sometimes refers to any regular or often repeated traveling between locations when not work related.- History :...

 serving the residences of central Fort Pierce and an interchange with Interstate 95

Interstate 95 in Florida

Interstate 95 is the main Interstate Highway on the east coast of the United States; it serves the Atlantic coast of Florida. It begins at a partial interchange with U.S. Highway 1 just south of downtown Miami, and heads north past Daytona Beach and Jacksonville to the Georgia state line at the St...

 (SR 9

State Road 9 (Florida)

State Road 9 is a state road in the U.S. state of Florida. While SR 9 is mainly used as a "hidden" state designation for Interstate 95 from the Georgia border to the Golden Glades Interchange in Miami Gardens, a 13.7-mile-long signed SR 9 extends to the southwest as I-95 continues southward with...

) 0.3 miles from SR 713. The rural nature of the western end of SR 68 is giving way to urbanization

Urbanization

Urbanization, urbanisation or urban drift is the physical growth of urban areas as a result of global change. The United Nations projected that half of the world's population would live in urban areas at the end of 2008....

, a trend throughout the Atlantic

Atlantic Ocean

The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions. With a total area of about , it covers approximately 20% of the Earth's surface and about 26% of its water surface area...

 coast of the State of Florida, as orange groves are gradually being replaced by residential developments.

History

The historic western terminus of State Road 68 is about 42 miles (67.6 km) west of the current one: originally, SR 68 extended from Micco Bluff Road west of Basinger near the Kissimmee River

Kissimmee River

The Kissimmee River is a river in south-central Florida, United States.-Course:The Kissimmee River arises in Osceola County as the outflow from East Lake Tohopekaliga, passing through Lake Tohopekaliga, Lake Cypress, Lake Hatchineha and Lake Kissimmee...

, following US 98-SR 700

State Road 700 (Florida)

State Road 700 is the mostly unsigned Florida Department of Transportation State Road designation of US 98 between Chassahowitzka and Twentymile Bend...

, Northeast 160th Street (present Okeechobee County Road 68), Parrott Avenue (US 441-SR 15

State Road 15 (Florida)

State Road 15 is part of the Florida State Road System. It runs from SR 80/SR 880 at Belle Glade north along the east shore of Lake Okeechobee to Okeechobee. Then it runs north to SR 500 at Holopaw, and northwest along SR 500 to Ashton State Road 15 (commonly SR 15) is part of the Florida State...

), Northeast 224th Street (present Okeechobee County Road 68), and the aptly named Orange Avenue (present St. Lucie County Road 68) to SR 713 as it cuts across the wetland

Wetland

A wetland is an area of land whose soil is saturated with water either permanently or seasonally. Wetlands are categorised by their characteristic vegetation, which is adapted to these unique soil conditions....

s and the orange grove

Orange Grove

-Music:* Orange Grove , a Dutch/Antillean reggae band-Australia:* Orange Grove, Western Australia* The Orange Grove affair, a political scandal-United States:...

s of central Florida

Florida

Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...

 to Fort Pierce. Most of SR 68 was reverted to county control in the mid 1980s.

Junction list

The entire route is located in St. Lucie County

St. Lucie County, Florida

St. Lucie County is a county located in the state of Florida. The county seat is the city of Fort Pierce. In the year 2000, the population was 192,695. As of the year 2010, the United States Census Bureau sets the population at 277,789.- History :...

.

Location	Mile	Destinations	Notes
	0.0		Western terminus
	0.3
	1.0
Fort Pierce Fort Pierce, Florida Fort Pierce, also spelled Ft. Pierce, is a city in St. Lucie County, Florida, USA. It is known as The Sunrise City. The population was 37,959 at the 2004 census. As of 2008, the population recorded by the U.S. Census Bureau is 41,000. It is the county seat of St. Lucie County.Fort Pierce is part...	2.5
	3.0
	4.5		Eastern terminus