Atlantic Boulevard (Jacksonville)

Atlantic Boulevard is a highway in Duval County, Florida, that forms the easternmost portion of State Road 10.

Atlantic Boulevard connects the mainland portion of the city of Jacksonville with the Jacksonville Beaches on a barrier island to the east. Its eastern terminus is at San Marco Square in the San Marco neighborhood; it runs to the Atlantic Ocean at the Jacksonville Beaches, forming the boundary between Atlantic Beach on its north side and Neptune Beach on its south side.

Atlantic Boulevard was first planned circa 1890 by Eugene F. Gilbert, a jeweler from Connecticut who had purchased oceanfront property and envisioned a wagon road between the former city of South Jacksonville and the Jacksonville Beaches. Gilbert paid for land surveys and eventually convinced the Duval County Commission to use convict labor to start building the road, but a new set of county commissioners terminated the effort when the project was about two-thirds complete.

The editor of the Jacksonville Evening Telegram published that it was hoped the county commissioners would improve the road and not leave it merely as an opening cut through the woods.

The road was eventually completed in 1910, after the arrival of the automobile. It was Florida's first modern "improved" highway and is considered to have been the beginning of the state's highway system. Its dedication on July 28, 1910, was celebrated with parades and auto races.

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