Florida State Road 688

Infobox road
state=FL
name_notes=
type=FL
route=688
alternate_name=Ulmerton Road
Walsingham Road
length_mi=12.15
length_round=2
length_ref= [http://www.dot.state.fl.us/planning/statistics/pdfs/fedaidreport.pdf FDOT Federal-Aid Report]
established=
direction_a=West
direction_b=East
starting_terminus=
junction=
ending_terminus=
previous_type=FL
previous_route=687
next_type=FL
next_route=692

State Road 688 is an east-west route in Pinellas County running from Indian Rocks Beach to northeastern St. Petersburg, Florida, where it feeds into Interstate 275.

The highway changes its name as it heads east across Pinellas County. From Gulf Boulevard in Indian Rocks Beach, it runs along 5th Avenue and crosses the bridge over the Intracoastal Waterway as the Indian Rocks Causeway. Once off the causeway, it becomes Walsingham Road and runs on to the intersection of Walsingham and Ulmerton Roads. Walsingham continues east, but State Road 688 loops north and then east on Ulmerton Road. So it remains as it skirts Largo through Pinellas County. It crosses US 19 and then merges briefly with Roosevelt Boulevard (SR 686). It continues into northeast St. Petersburg and its traffic merges with I-275.

Of historical note, Ulmerton Road was named for the community of Ulmers, which arose around Marion Ulmer's turpentine still, timber and naval stores interests in the first half of the twentieth century. In the 1950s, the area was very rural, and cattle were driven along the then dirt road. Today it carries traffic across the middle of the most densely populated county in Florida.

References and further reading

* [http://www.largohistory.org/ Largo Area Historical Society] . From Pines and Palmettos-- A portrait of Largo. The Donning Company Publishers. Virginia Beach, Va. 2005.
*Largo Bicentennial Book Committee. Largo, then till . . . . Largo Area Historical Society. 1979.
*Pinellas County Staff. [http://pubgis.co.pinellas.fl.us/public_gis/ Pinellas County GIS Viewer.] Online January 12, 2006.

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