State Road 710 (SR 710) is a northwest-southeast route connecting SR 70 near Okeechobee, three miles (5 km) from the northern tip of

Lake Okeechobee Lake Okeechobee ( ) is the largest freshwater lake in the U.S. state of Florida. It is the List of largest lakes of the United States by area, eighth-largest natural freshwater lake among the 50 states of the United States and the second-largest ...

in south central

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

, to Old

Dixie Highway Dixie Highway was a United States auto trail first planned in 1914 to connect the Midwest with the South. It was part of a system and was expanded from an earlier Miami to Montreal highway. The final system is better understood as a network o ...

( CR 811) in Riviera Beach. Most of the route is also known as Bee-Line Highway and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, as it parallels the

railroad Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in railway track, tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel railway track, rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of ...

tracks maintained by

CSX Transportation CSX Transportation , known colloquially as simply CSX, is a Class I freight railroad company operating in the Eastern United States and the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec. Operating about 21,000 route miles () of track, it is the lead ...

(their Auburndale Subdivision) and used by

Amtrak The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, Trade name, doing business as Amtrak (; ), is the national Passenger train, passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates intercity rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous United Stat ...

; and doesn't have a turn or curve in the southeast of

Sherman Sherman most commonly refers to: *Sherman (name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the given name or surname ** William Tecumseh Sherman (1820–1891), American Civil War General *M4 Sherman, a World War II American tank S ...

, except for a small bend northwest of

North Palm Beach County General Aviation Airport North Palm Beach County Airport , also known as North County Airport, is an uncontrolled (non-towered) general aviation airport located northwest of West Palm Beach off the Bee Line Highway in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. The airport is owned b ...

. Near the middle of the highway, where Indiantown is located, the route is also known as Warfield Boulevard, named after S. Davies Warfield, the president of the

Seaboard Air Line Railroad The Seaboard Air Line Railroad , known colloquially as the Seaboard Railroad during its time, was an American railroad that existed from April 14, 1900, until July 1, 1967, when it merged with the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad, its longtime ri ...

who originally built the adjacent railroad tracks.

Route description

The Bee-Line Highway traverses the

woodland A woodland () is, in the broad sense, land covered with woody plants (trees and shrubs), or in a narrow sense, synonymous with wood (or in the U.S., the '' plurale tantum'' woods), a low-density forest forming open habitats with plenty of sunli ...

s and

wetland A wetland is a distinct semi-aquatic ecosystem whose groundcovers are flooded or saturated in water, either permanently, for years or decades, or only seasonally. Flooding results in oxygen-poor ( anoxic) processes taking place, especially ...

s north and east of Lake Okeechobee, with an occasional farm near its northwestern end. It is a popular

truck route A truck or lorry is a motor vehicle designed to transport freight, carry specialized payloads, or perform other utilitarian work. Trucks vary greatly in size, power, and configuration, but the vast majority feature body-on-frame construction ...

that is used as an alternative to

US 441 U.S. Route 441 (US 441) is a auxiliary route of U.S. Route 41. It extends from US 41 in Miami, Florida to US 25W in Rocky Top, Tennessee. Between its termini, US 441 travels through the states of Florida, Georgia, North ...

US 98 U.S. Route 98 (US 98) is an east–west United States Highway in the Southeastern United States that runs from western Mississippi to southern Florida. It was established in 1933 as a route between Pensacola, Florida, Pensacola and Apalachicola, ...

/ SR 700. Along the way, SR 710 passes through Indiantown (near the St. Lucie Canal and midway along the Bee Line stretch) and

West Palm Beach West Palm Beach is a city in and the county seat of Palm Beach County, Florida, United States. It is located immediately to the west of the adjacent Palm Beach, Florida, Palm Beach, which is situated on a barrier island across the Lake Worth Lag ...

History

The road was first built in 1924 by New York businessman William "Fingy" Conners as a toll road to carry people to his properties at Okeechobee and

Connersville Connersville is a city in Fayette County, Indiana, United States, east by southeast of Indianapolis. The population was 13,324 at the 2020 census. The city is the county seat of and the only incorporated town in the county. The city is in t ...

. For a year in the 1940s, Bee Line Highway was part of State Road 66 before the number was changed to 710.

Future

The

Florida Department of Transportation The Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) is a decentralized agency charged with the establishment, maintenance, and regulation of public transportation in the U.S. state of Florida. The department was formed in 1969. It absorbed the power ...

(FDOT) conducted a Project Development and Environment (PD&E) Study to evaluate improvement alternatives for SR 710 from

in Okeechobee County to CR 714 (SW Martin Highway) in Martin County. The PD&E Study received Location and Design Concept Acceptance on March 16, 2017, from the FDOT Office of Environmental Management. This allowed the project to move to the next stage of development.

Major intersections

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:710 State highways in Florida State roads in Okeechobee County, Florida State roads in Martin County, Florida State roads in Palm Beach County, Florida Dixie Highway