Exit 44 Downtown Tampa:
Ashley Drive, Tampa Street and Scott Street
Ashley Drive, Tampa Street and Scott Street
Continuing our northbound Interstate 275 trek through Tampa, a three street exit complex provides access into downtown Tampa: Ashley Drive, Tampa Street and Scott Street.
The Ashley Drive/Tampa Street/Scott Street interchange complex provides access to downtown Tampa; access to Scott Street is provided from northbound Interstate 275. At one point there was some sort of a ramp merging system that resembled a ramp metering system to enable motorists entering northbound Interstate 275 from Ashley Street (due to the short merge onto Interstate 275) but it was dismantled years ago.
When this portion of Interstate 275 opened as part of the missing link in 1964 when the interchange with today's Interstate 4 was built, Exit 44 featured a full access entrance and exit to and from downtown Tampa with the one minor exception being Scott Street that is only accessible from northbound Interstate 275. Today Exit 44 is only a full entrance and exit northbound and entrance only southbound, as the movement from southbound Interstate 275 to Ashley and Tampa Streets was assumed by Exit 45A thanks to the Interstate 4 interchange reconstruction project.
Downtown Tampa's major landmarks such as the Amalie Arena and the Straz Center for the Performing Arts can be reached from either Ashley Drive or Tampa Street. Tampa's Amtrak station can be reached by taking Ashley Drive or Tampa Street to Twiggs Street, then east on Twiggs Street to Nebraska Avenue and the Amtrak station.
