U.S. Route 92 - History

History

US 92 was in the original 1926 plan, connecting Tampa (concurrent with US 41) to US 1 in Daytona Beach. It had been the Dixie Highway Tampa-St. Petersburg Loop from Plant City to Haines City, the West Mainline from Haines City to Orlando, and the East Florida Connector from Orlando to DeLand.

US 92 was signed along the following roads in 1927:

• SR 17 from Tampa to Haines City
• SR 2 from Haines City to Orlando
• SR 3 from Orlando to DeLand
• SR 21 from DeLand to Daytona Beach

When the bypass of downtown Tampa on SR 17 (Hillsborough Avenue) opened in the early 1930s, US 92 and US 41 were rerouted to use it. US 92 turned south from the new road where US 41 turned north, at Nebraska Avenue (former SR 5, probably then a spur of SR 5), and continued to end in downtown Tampa.

A 1942 map shows US 92 extended west along SR 17 and SR 229 to end at US 19 in Dunedin; it was soon truncated back to Tampa.

In the 1945 renumbering, the whole route of US 92 was numbered SR 600, except for the section south to downtown Tampa, which was SR 45. It was extended west and south to downtown St. Petersburg along SR 600 and SR 687 in 1953.

In 1961, US 92 was moved to bypass downtown Lakeland, along SR 517 and SR 546. The old route was signed as Business US 92 until 1998.

In 2006, US 92 (along with US 17) was re-signed to bypass downtown Kissimmee, moving it to US 192 from John Young Parkway to US 441.

The route was extended east across the Intracoastal Waterway and the Halifax River in 1947, after the Broadway Bridge was reconstructed and opened.