Interstate 275 St. Petersburg
Pinellas Point Drive South (Exit 16) to 4th Street North/FL 687 (Exit 32)
Thinking about taking a ride on Interstate 275 through St. Petersburg through the screens of your computer, rather than actually being there? Well, you have come to the right place!
On our tour of Interstate 275 through St. Petersburg , I'll show you the signs and sights as we make progress through the Sunshine City we call St. Petersburg. We'll make a few stops along the way including downtown St. Petersburg and Tropicana Field. As we make our way through St. Petersburg on Interstate 275, I'll point out some interesting points of interest easily reachable from convenient exits.
A History of Interstate 275 in St. Petersburg
But first, let's start out with a history of Interstate 275, taken from my knowledge of Florida Department of Transportation documents kept on file at the City of St. Petersburg Engineering & Capital Improvements Department, where I work. In addition, I wrote a term paper on the nation's interstate highway system for an American National Government class I took at St. Petersburg College (which was called St. Petersburg Junior College back then) in the early part of 1987, just before I got my AS degree in Word Processing Management.
In 1960, the Howard Frankland Bridge was completed making the third crossing over
Tampa Bay a reality and bringing the expansion of what was originally Interstate 4 into St. Petersburg. The original plans for the expansion of
Interstate 4, according to Robert Droz's website, called for its terminus to be in South Pasadena.
The late 1960's saw the opening of Interstate 75 through Tampa and northward through the state; Interstate 4 was truncated at what we Tampa Bay residents
call today "Malfunction Junction", according to Droz. Later, a planned Interstate 75E -
which would become today's Interstate 75 - would bypass the Tampa metro area and connect points south as far as Naples and link up with Alligator Alley for the trip to
Ft. Lauderdale and Miami, stopping short of Miami at FL 826 in Hialeah. It was built in the late 1970's and early 1980's; it caused
Interstate 75 to be rerouted along this new corridor and the part of Interstate 75 that went through Tampa and was proposed
to run through St. Petersburg became Interstate 275.
A
three digit interstate route number, according to
Kurumi's web site, is
reserved for routes that bypass metropolitan areas of cities. Such was not
the case with Interstate
275 in
According to my personal knowledge and
Droz's web site,
construction on Interstate 275 in St. Petersburg began in the early 1970's
at Roosevelt Blvd (Exit 30), progressing southward over Gandy Blvd. (Exit
28), 54th Avenue North (Exit 26) and culminating at 38th Avenue North (Exit
25) in 1973. I-275 was extended to
As Interstate 275 was being built through
St. Petersburg, there were other expressways being planned for the St.
Petersburg area. With the exception of the two downtown feeders (Interstate
375 and Interstate 175), these expressways were not built. The evidence of
the expressways that were not built is reflected in one location and that is
Interstate 375 westbound on the ramp to Interstate 275 southbound. As
Interstate 275 ages with time, it needs maintenance and upgrading to keep up with
growth in In 1979 Interstate 275
received its exit numbers which were based on the sequential numbering
system. In 2001 Interstate 275's exit numbers have been changed from the sequential numbering
system to a mile marker based numbering system as was the case throughout
the rest of the state. Its purposes serve
twofold: First, to determine how many miles one has driven from point A to
point B and second, if in the event of an accident or breakdown it will
enable assistance to be dispatched in a more efficient manner.
Interstate 275 is not
the only interstate getting the new exit numbering makeover; all of the
other interstates in the Tampa Bay area (Interstates 75, 4, 175 and 375) as well as the rest of Florida
(Interstates 75, 95, 4 and 10 and their feeder highways too) have received the new
mile marker based exit numbering makeover as well. Mile marker based exit
numbering in Florida is not new. Mile marker based exit numbering has
been de rigueur on the Florida Turnpike system for many years; the
majority of states in the United States have switched to or use mile marker
based exit numbering. Georgia, Florida's neighbor to the north, used
to be a sequential exit numbering state and made the switch before Florida
did so. On the other hand, Interstate 10's national western terminus
state, California, after so many years of no exit numbering system began to
implement the mile marker based exit numbering system on its interstates and
so many freeways that crisscross the Golden State. In March 2006 the
segment of Interstate 275 in St. Petersburg from the Sunshine Skyway Bridge
to the Howard Frankland Bridge was designated the St. Petersburg
Parkway/William C. Cramer Memorial Highway. The St. Petersburg Parkway
designation was the work of St. Petersburg city leaders who wanted to
promote a positive image for the countless numbers of visitors that visit
St. Petersburg year after year, while the William C. Cramer Memorial Highway
designation was named after the former Florida congressman who played a role
in shaping Interstate 275 as it passes through St. Petersburg.
However, according to this
St. Petersburg Times article this very same segment was designated as
the American Legion Memorial Highway back in the late 1960's when Interstate
275 - called Interstate 4 back then - terminated at the western terminus of
the Howard Frankland Bridge at the Ulmerton Road/Martin Luther King Street
North interchange complex (today's Exit 31) which drew the ire of local
veterans groups when the recent designation signage was erected. Interstate 275's St. Petersburg exits The following is a table summary of Interstate 275's exits
in St. Petersburg. Simply click on the exit number or name to find out more about a particular exit. In addition,
you can use the top navigation bar on this page as well as the St. Petersburg exit pages to jump to a specific
St. Petersburg exit. Exits read from south to north. Exit Number Exit Name Interchange Type (NB - Northbound; SB - Southbound) Full Interchange Full Interchange SB Entrance and NB Exit NB Entrance and SB Exit SB Entrance and NB Exit NB Entrance and SB Exit Full Interchange Interstate 375 Full Interchange; 5 Av N NB Entry/SB Exit Full Interchange Full Interchange Full Interchange (Exits 26A-B Northbound) Full Interchange Full Interchange NB Entrance and Full Interchange SB only NB Entrance and SB Exit Coverage of Interstate 275 south of the Pinellas Point Drive interchange (Exit 16) can be found
on our Sunshine Skyway page.
