road geekery: i-75, i-95, us-27

If I were to tell somebody from my stomping grounds how to get to Tampa from there, the directions are so simple it's ridiculous.

I-395 CT southbound for about 45-ish miles to I-95 southbound, stay on that for roughly just over 1,100 miles, bang a right on to I-4 eastbound, travel another 150-ish miles and ta-da, Tampa.

It is literally a three step route even though it's over 1,000 miles in length. I-395 to I-95 to I-4. That's it. Yeah, it's a really long trip, and I've obviously done it, but heck, the directions to your local corner store probably take more steps to get there.

I've traveled most of I-95, which is 1,925 miles long by the way. The only parts I haven't are at the most northern points of Maine and most of Florida because it hugs the east coast side and I'm on the west.

I-75 is an interstate very near me. At the northern end, that road starts roughly in Detroit, MI and ends in Miami, FL. However it's not as long as I-95 is. I-75 is 1,786 miles long. You'd think it was longer, but it isn't.

An oddity concerning the State of Florida is that there is no north/south interstate in the middle of the state from Orlando southward.

Check this out:

Absolutely frickin' no interstates from Orlando mid-state until you pick up I-75 again in the Everglades waaaay later.

There is literally only one road you can take mid-state southward after Orlando if you want to stay in the middle, and that's Florida US-27.

US-27 is one long boring-ass road; it hearkens back to the days of when smaller roads actually mattered. In this case it does because it's the only major road going north/south after Orlando that sits mid-state. Much of it is two-lane only and you'll see lots of farms. This is the kind of road where you can suffer from highway hypnosis easily.

I have no intention of traveling US-27, and thankfully there's no reason for me to do so. 🙂

Published 2010 Jan 24