Editing Fairfield Drive

{{Infobox road
|marker_image=<table><td>[[Image:Fsr727.png|100px]]</td><td>[[Image:Fsr295.png|100px]]</td></table>
|road_name=Fairfield Drive
|name_notes=
|type=
|route=[[Florida State Road 727|Florida 727]]<br/>[[Florida State Road 295|Florida 295]]
|alternate_name=some segments previously known as Pottery Plant Road and Maura Road
|maint=
|length_mi=
|length_round=
|length_ref=
|length_notes=
|established=
|decommissioned=
|direction_a=south
|starting_terminus=[[Bayou Grande]]
|junction=[[US Highway 98|US 98]]<br/>[[Lillian Highway]]<br/>[[Mobile Highway]]<br/>[[Pace Boulevard]]<br/>[[Texar Drive]]<br/>[[Palafox Street]]<br/>[[Interstate 110]]<br/>[[Davis Highway]]<br/>[[9th Avenue]]
|direction_b=north
|ending_terminus=[[12th Avenue]]
|namesake=
|map=
|mapcode=
}}
'''Fairfield Drive''' is a major thoroughfare in Middle and West Pensacola.  Although Fairfield is oriented east-west for most of its length, it carries a north-south designation as a Florida State Road (727 & 295).

Fairfield Drive's southern terminus is in a residential block south of [[Gulf Beach Highway]] at the shore of [[Bayou Grande]].  Going northward, at [[Gulf Beach Highway]] Fairfield begins carriage of [[Florida State Road 727]].  North of [[Lillian Highway]], Fairfield takes a decidedly easterly turn, and continues to a complex interchange with [[New Warrington Road]] just east of [[Mobile Highway]].  Also east of [[Mobile Highway]] the road is four-laned.

It is at that point which [[Florida State Road 727]] terminates and east of the interchange Fairfield carries [[Florida State Road 295]].  South of the interchange, SR 295 is carried by [[New Warrington Road]].  Fairfield continues east until it terminates at [[12th Avenue]] in East Pensacola.  The [[Florida State Road 295]] designation terminates a few blocks prior at [[Ninth Avenue]].

==Name and history==
Fairfield Drive acquired its name from the fairgrounds used by the [[Pensacola Interstate Fair]], which were located on the thoroughfare between Pace Boulevard and Palafox Street near [[Town & Country Plaza]].

Originally, Fairfield dead-ended at Palafox Street.  A short distance north of that intersection, '''Pottery Plant Road''', which ran from Davis Highway to Palafox, also dead-ended at Palafox.  Both of these roads were two-lane highways, and in the 1960s this area was known for heavy traffic congestion, often exacerbated by delays caused by trains moving in and out of L&N's [[Goulding Yard]], which Pottery Plant Road crossed at grade just east of Palafox.

In the early 1970s, a viaduct was built over the rail lines, an extension was built to connect Pottery Plant and Fairfield, and the highway was four-laned between Pace Boulevard and Davis Highway.  At this time, the Pottery Plant Road name was dropped.

At [[Davis Highway]], Pottery Plant Road connected with '''Maura Road''', which was eventually four-laned as well, and became a continuation of the extended Fairfield Drive.

Also in the early 1970s, a connection between Fairfield and [[New Warrington Road]] was made by a viaduct over [[Mobile Highway]] (where NWR formerly dead-ended at [[The Circle|the Circle]]).  Fairfield was four-laned from Pace Boulevard to Mobile Highway, and NWR was four-laned from Fairfield to its junction with [[Navy Boulevard]].

At the same time, a dog-leg curve and another grade crossing over the [[Frisco Railroad]] near the intersection of Border Street were eliminated by a realignment of Fairfield and the construction of a railroad bridge over the new roadway.

These road expansion projects provided a seamless flow of traffic between the southern and western parts of the metro area, including the [[Pensacola NAS|Navy Yard]], and the airport, junior college, and residential and commercial areas of the northeast side, as well as to and from [[I-110]], greatly relieving traffic congestion in that heavily-travelled corridor.

==Major intersections==
*[[Gulf Beach Highway]]
*[[US Highway 98|Highway 98]]

{{road-stub}}
[[Category:Major thoroughfares]]
@@ Line 20: / Line 20: @@
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 '''Fairfield Drive''' is a major thoroughfare in Middle and West Pensacola.  Although Fairfield is oriented east-west for most of its length, it carries a north-south designation as a Florida State Road (727 & 295).