The original Sunshine Skyway was completed -as a 2-lane structure- in 1954 and was 4-laned in 1969. It -and the Howard Frankland Bridge- conducted the original route of Interstate 75 through the area. This stretch of the highway was opened to traffic in May 1971. A mainland route for I-75 was completed in 1980, with the original routing (via Pinellas County) being redesignated as Interstate 275. A new Sunshine Skyway bridge was dedicated in April 1987.
As for so-called "freeway friendly" malls, the Pinellas Peninsula has never had one. The nearest shopping mall to the Interstate 75 (later I-275), controlled access expressway was GATEWAY MALL...but this was over a mile east of the highway...with no adjacent exit.
A Pinellas Peninsula mall that never was. CARRIAGE HILL MALL, proposed for the intersection of Ulmerton and Seminole Roads in Largo, was the talk of the town between 1967 and 1974. However, the center was never built. In 1991, a power center opened on the property. Going as LARGO MALL, it is an example of a shopping mall malaprop (a strip-type shopping center that is referred to as a "mall," which actually isn't).
Drawing from The St. Petersburg Times
And away we go!
