Skip to main content

Interstate 375 and Interstate 175

While I was finishing a photo-clinch of Interstate 275 I decided to make two short detours in St. Petersburg to do the same with Interstate 375 and Interstate 175.


I-375 is a 1.2 mile Interstate carrying the hidden Florida State Road 592 designation which spans from I-275 east to US 19A in downtown St. Petersburg.  I-175 just to the south is a 1.3 mile Interstate carrying the hidden FL 594 designation from I-275 to FL 687.

I-375 in it's present configuration opened to traffic in 1979.  Originally I-375 was slated to extend west of I-275 to a toll road facility that would be built to connect northward to Clearwater.  Ultimately these aspirations failed leaving something of a lame duck feeder freeway that I-375 is today.

My approach to I-375 was on I-275 southbound.  I took I-275 Exit 23A and turned onto I-375 east towards downtown St. Petersburg.


I-375 east is signed as the "C. Bette Wimbush Highway."


The view of downtown St. Petersburg on the ramp to I-375 is actually pretty scenic.


Traffic to Tropicana Field is directed to exit onto Martin Luther King Jr. Street while US 92/4th Street traffic is directed to continue eastward on I-375.




Traffic is given copious warning that I-375 east is about to end.  I-375 east ends at US 19A on 4th Avenue on unsigned FL 595 just short of US 92 at 4th Street.  I've often found it odd that US 92 was never extended over FL 595 westward to the mainline US 19 which would largely clear up the strange terminus points.  Even extending US 92 south on FL 687 to I-175 would make more sense.





I looped back onto I-375 west from US 19A on 5th Avenue.



There isn't much on I-375 west aside from a direct connection back to I-275.




I-175 opened to traffic in it's current configuration in 1980.  Originally the route that became I-175 was intended to become part of the much larger Pinellas Belt Expressway which would have extended west of I-275.

I headed south on I-275 to the junction with I-175 east at Exit 22.


Tropicana Field traffic is directed to use Martin Luther King Jr. Street/8th Street.  Downtown traffic to FL 687 on 4th Street is directed to stay on I-175 east.




The John Hopkins All Children Hospital is signed off the 6th Street Exit on I-175 east.



As I-175 east ends in downtown St. Petersburg at FL 687 on at 4th Street traffic is advised that the Dali Museum and Mahaffey Theater are ahead.




Traffic can almost immediately loop back onto I-175 east via 4th Street, 4th Avenue and 6th Street.





I-175 west essentially is a direct shot back to I-275.






Comments

Popular posts from this blog

New River Gorge National Park & Preserve - Thurmond

New River Gorge National Park and Preserve is best known for whitewater rafting and other forms of adventure tourism.  Yet, found in the hollows and isolated valleys are quiet farms and former coal mining towns.  Well off the beaten path and isolated from much of its surroundings, Thurmond provides a unique view into Central West Virginia's industrial past. Thurmond began as a railroad town in the late 1800s.  Sparked by the arrival of the Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad and the local coal industry, Thurmond quickly grew into a sizeable transportation and coal center.  When it incorporated as a town in 1903, Thurmond was a full-fledged community - home to two banks, two hotels, and many other services and stores. A CSX freight train passes the old coaling tower in Thurmond.  It was here that many steam locomotives would refill and refuel. Thurmond was home to a C&O railyard which serviced the numerous steam engines passing through the narrow valley.  Thu...

The Tale of Tollhouse Road, western California State Route 168 and failed Piute Pass Highway

Western California State Route 168 is entirely located in Fresno County and is linked historically to the Tollhouse Road corridor.   Tollhouse Road is one of the oldest highways in the Sierra Nevada range of Fresno County. The corridor presently begins in at Clovis Avenue in downtown Clovis and extends northeast to Huntington Lake. In 1866 the Woods Brothers established mining claims on Pine Ridge. In 1867 Fresno County would grant the brothers a toll franchise to construct a roadway to the desirable logging areas atop Pine Ridge and near Dinkey Creek. The Woods would establish a tollhouse at the start of their franchise road and lumber mill. The lumber mill attracted settlers which led to the establishment of the mountain town of Tollhouse. Fresno County would purchase the Tollhouse Road in 1878 and make it a public highway. The county would remove the tolls and incorporate the corridor into the existing county road network. Prior to the establishment of Clovis in 1...

Old Dunlap Road (former California State Route 180 in Yokuts Valley)

When California State Route 180 was commissioned in August 1934 the alignment in took in Sierra Nevada range was very different than from today.  The original highway alignment from Squaw Valley (now Yokuts Valley) to east Grant Grove (then part of General Grant National Park) originally followed what is now Ruth Hill Road, Dunlap Road, Pinehurst Road (modern California State Route 245), Dark Canyon Road (partially now Forest Road 14S45).  After funding fell through for the planned Kings Canyon Road the was corridor eventually picked up as a 30-mile-long cooperative project between the Division of Highways and Federal Government.  Much of current alignment of California State Route 180 bypassing Squaw Valley (now Yokuts Valley) and Dunlap was complete by 1941.  The post-1941 alignment of California State Route 180 in Squaw Valley was shifted onto what was once Dunlap Road in Squaw Valley.  This alignment itself was later bypassed by modern California State Route...