Florida State Road 73

State Road 73
Route information
Maintained by FDOT
Length	49.9 mi (80.3 km)
Major junctions
South end	SR 71 at Chipola Park
Major intersections	SR 20 in Clarksville US 90 / SR 10 in Marianna
North end	US 231 / SR 75 near Cottondale
Location
Country	United States
State	Florida
Highway system
Florida State Highway System Interstate US State Former Pre‑1945 Toll Scenic
← SR 72 → SR 74

Florida State Road 73 is a state highway in northwest Florida that runs through Calhoun and Jackson Counties, although it runs through more of the former county than the latter one. The road is always on the west side of the Chipola River, and is almost entirely two-lanes wide, except with it's concurrency with US 90 in Marianna where it is four-lanes wide.

Route description

State Road 73 begins at Florida State Road 71 in Chipola Park, near Kinard. It runs west from SR 71 almost without any acknowledgement, then shortly turns northwest before the intersection with Calhoun County Road 73A. In Kinard itself, the road takes a sharp turn more toward the north, and crosses a bridge over Cypress Creek before approaching a blinker-light intersection with Calhoun CR 392. North of there it encounters the eastern terminus of Calhoun CR 392B, and tales a slight curve to the northeast. The road turns back toward the north as it winds through barren communities such as Frink where it crosses a bridge over Juniper Creek, and then Fisher Corner, only to curve back to the northeast again.

As the road gets closer to Clarksville, it curves straight north at the intersection of Dermont Road, and then seems to terminate, but in fact turns right in a short concurrency with State Road 20 which also contains a blinker-lights at both ends, the second of which is also the north end of Dermont Road. North of that concurrency, it resumes the previous northeast trajectory to turn straight north again, and then to the northwest as it passes by the west side of Clarksville Executive Airport, and then intersects Calhound CR 287A, and then turns straight north again at the intersection of Duck Pond Road. After the bridge over Tenmile Creek, the road enters Chason where it curves to the northeast as it passes by another private airport called "Cattle Creek Ranch Airport", and then intersects Calhoun CR 274 at another blinker-light. North of there, the road only intersects local streets except for Calhoun CR 73B in Willis. SR 73 begins to run much closer to the Chipola River as it approaches the Calhoun-Jackson County Line.

Before the road tries to move away from the river it intersects the eastern segment of Jackson CR 278 (Jewell Lane). State Road 73 curves to the northwest. It turns straight north again before approaching the western segment of Jackson CR 278 (Laramore Road), and then curves to the northeast to go over a bridge over both Dry Creek and Long Branch Creek. From this point it acquires the name Clarksville Highway and after passing the Lighthouse Community Churchmore turns straight north again at the intersection of Tupelo Court. The road passes by more local streets of equally minimal importance until it intersects Jackson CR 280, which is Thompson Road to the west and Magnolia Road to the east.

Despite the fact that it's a state road, SR 73 has no access to Interstate 10, which it crosses over with a two-lane bridge. After this the road becomes the terminus of Jackson CR 280A (Fillmore Drive), which is a suffixed alternate of CR 280 that was cut off by I-10 and instead terminates at Pelt Cemetery. Further north, it enters the City of Marianna where the road's name changes to Jefferson Street. Within the city, SR 73 makes a slight reverse curve to the right and then the left before it serves as the eastern terminus of Jackson CR 167 (South Street), and then crosses the CSX P&A Subdivision. At the equivelant of two blocks later, SR 73 becomes a two-lane divided highway just south of the intersection with Jackson Street where it enters the Marianna Historic District. A block later at US Route 90(SR 10), SR 73 turns west as a concurrency begins along West Lafayette Street, but US 90 also has another concurrency with Jackson CR 164 which spans beyond the city limits along East Lafayette Street towards the west end of a concurrency with SR 71. Jefferson Street continues north as Florida State Road 166 running towards Chipola College, Florida Caverns State Park, and Marianna Municipal Airport.

US 90/SR/73/CR 164 serves as the southern border of the Marianna Historic District until the road intersects Wynn Street. But historic sites can still be found beyond this point, among them a bed & breakfast next door to the 1840-built Ely-Criglar House, and later curves around the 1910-built Joseph W. Russ Jr. House which is also the county visitor's center. Later it becomes the eastern terminus of former Jackson CR 10A (Old Cottondale Road), and old section of US 90. The last major intersection along this concurrency is the eastern terminus of Florida State Road 276 (Pennsylvania Avenue), which continues north as Burpnose Road. The US 90/SR 73 concurrency ends at the southeast leg of a wye intersection with US 90 which turns to the southwest beneath a bridge under the CSX P&A Subdivision. SR 73 branches off to the northwest. The concurrency with CR 164 is unmarked but it ends at a dirt road named Lancer Road, which then leads to another dirt road named Lovewood Road. In the meantime, SR 73 continues to the northwest. which it maintains until it makes a slight northerly curve around swampland at the headwaters of Baker Creek. The only site of any significance after this is the shared intersection of Longwood Road and Union Road, and then a former segment of SR 73 branching off slightly to the right. Florida State Road 73 finally ends at a blinker-light intersection with US Route 231(SR 75) northeast of Cottondale, but not before intersecting the right-of-way to an abandoned segment of that road.

Major intersections

County	Location	mi	km	Destinations	Notes
Calhoun	Chipola Park	0.0	0.0	SR 71
	Clarksville			SR 20 west	South end of SR 20 overlap
				SR 20 east	North end of SR 20 overlap
	Chason			CR 274
Jackson	Marianna			US 90 / SR 10 east / SR 166 north	South end of US 90 overlap
				CR 10A west	Eastern terminus of CR 10A
				SR 276 west	Eastern terminus of SR 276
				US 90 / SR 10 west	North end of US 90 overlap
	​			CR 164 west
	​			US 231 / SR 75
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi

Related routes

State Road 73 has three suffixed alternate routes, all three of which are county roads in Calhoun County.

Calhoun County Road 73A (Chipola Park)

County Road 73A
Location	Chipola Park

North of the southern terminus of SR 73 is an east-west county road named Jesse Yon Road known as Calhoun County Road 73A. It begins at SR 73 across a dirt road near power substation where it crosses SR 71 and continues to the east ending at the west bank of the Dead Lakes of the Chipola River.

Calhoun County Road 73A (Chason)

County Road 73A
Location	Chason

The second Calhoun County Road 73A is located in Chason, and has no connection to its parent route. It also has non-standard county route shields, using a white square with black lettering rather than the MUTCD-standard blue pentagon with yellow lettering. It begins at CR 274 and runs relativley straight north and south terminating at Northwest White Pond Circle and Calhoun CR 73B, where it becomes Bates Road.

Calhoun County Road 73B

County Road 73B
Location	Willis

Calhoun County Road 73B is a suffixed alternate of SR 73 located in and near Willis. It begins at the northern terminus of northern CR 73A as a continuation from Northwest White Pond Circle and runs east and west with one slight curve after Duck Pont then runs in a straight line only to turn to the southeast as it terminates at SR 73.

External links

• Florida Route Log (SR 73)
• FDOT Maps of Calhoun and Jackson Counties (including SR 73)