Interstate 275 Tampa - Southern Segment
FL 60/Kennedy Blvd. and Tampa International Airport (Exit 39) to
Interstate 4 (Exit 45B)
Interstate 4 (Exit 45B)
As the exits on Interstate 275 in Tampa are more numerous than on Interstate 275 in St. Petersburg, I have divided the Interstate 275 Tampa segment into two segments. This segment covers the southern section of Interstate 275 in Tampa from FL 60/Kennedy Blvd. and Tampa International Airport (Exit 39) to the junction of Interstate 4 (Exit 45B) in downtown Tampa which takes motorists across the state of Florida to Lakeland, Orlando and Daytona Beach via an interchange 132 miles to the east at Interstate 95.
This segment of Interstate 275 in Tampa was constructed as a six lane highway east of Dale Mabry Highway (Exit 41) and four lane highway west of Dale Mabry back in 1962 as an extension of Interstate 4 in order to have the highway go across the Howard Frankland Bridge into St. Petersburg. The original plan of Interstate 4 was to have it terminate somewhere around South Pasadena, probably at the eastern end of the Corey Causeway which is today's FL 693. However, in 1964 the downtown Tampa interchange we know today as Malfunction Junction completed the gap in Interstate 4 and at the same time provided the catalyst for the extension of Interstate 75 from its temporary terminus at Bearss Avenue (Exit 53) at the time in 1967. Once the segment of Interstate 75 from Bearss Avenue to Interstate 4 was built, the decision was made to extend Interstate 75 south of the Tampa Bay region via Sarasota, Fort Myers and Naples and eastward via the Alligator Alley to Fort Lauderdale and Miami.
In the mid-1970's Interstate 275 was widened from four to six lanes west of Dale Mabry Highway (Exit 41) to FL 60 (Exit 39). The widening through Tampa would suffice but 40 years of increased traffic thanks to rapid growth in the Tampa Bay region took its toll on Interstate 275 in the form of perennial traffic congestion. Work is underway to transform Interstate 275 from downtown Tampa to FL 60 from the original 1962 six and four lane construction to a widened eight lane highway with ample space in the center for a future rail based mass transit system, which the Tampa Bay region desperately needs if it wants to compete with other Florida metropolitan areas such as Miami/Fort Lauderdale and Orlando.
Exits Covered on the Interstate 275 Southern Segment in Tampa
Feel free to click on an exit to go to that exit directly. Or, you can use the navigation bar on the top of
each Interstate 275 Tampa exit page to jump to an exit within the segment.
To view the Interstate 275 Northern Segment in Tampa, simply click here to go to that page.
