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Originally Posted by Vladimir
OK as I mentioned earlier I just tried the alternate route and it seems to me that there is no clear winner route here - it still will take at least 2 hours and I was driving at 80 MPH on 75 with no traffic. Route 54 has slow red lights for a number of miles ( I even took a shorter route to get from 54 to Suncoast Parkway and that still was too long). Taking rt 19 when one crosses the causeway to avoid central Clearwater added 7 miles to the route and was full of traffic lights. So it all depends on time of day and day of week to determine which route to take. After my experiment I am leaning on taking my chances on the rt 75 and rt 275 route if I go to Clearwater and will opt for Cocoa Beach which is a simpler and faster drive.
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I haven't been down to St. Pete in about a year. At that time I took I-275 all the way, and malfunction junction (I-4 and I-275 meet), was a major mess in Tampa. I read they are trying to fix that area, but I think that started in 2002 and they still not done.
With that in mind, I would try and avoid Tampa as much as possible. I took a AAA bus to a Phillies game in Clearwater in March, and Route 54 at Wesley Chapel to Suncoast Pkwy to Courtney Campbell was the route he took. I figured AAA bus drivers would probably know the best way. So apparently the I-75 construction in Pasco, Hernando and Sumter Counties isn't that bad, and I think most of it is being performed at night. So the latest route you took seems to be the best, and we'll just have to learn that it's a 2 hour ride to Clearwater.
Having grown up in St. Petersburg and later living in Pinellas Park, Largo and Spring Hill, I learned to avoid driving on Hwy 19 as much as possible.