Those signs along Interstate-75 proceeding south from Interstate-10 conform fully to Federal Highway Administration (FWHA) guidelines, say spokeswomen for the Florida Department of Transportation, and, bottom line: They will not be changed.

Although a dozen signs indicate that distances to St. Petersburg are shorter that those to Tampa, the presence on the left of the I-275 shield indicates the distance specified is not to the city but to the I-275 interchange just south of the Pasco County line, which does lead (ultimately) to St. Petersburg. After the turnoff, the DOT’s Kris Carson notes, the distances to each city are spelled out in their correct correlation.

For you detail-oriented folks, here from the DOT is more than most need to know about federal sign policies:

“When three lines of legend appear on a post-interchange destination-distance guide sign:

The first line of legend is ordinarily information about the next interchange.
The second line of legend displays a significant destination located between the first and third destinations displayed on the guide sign.
The third line of legend ordinarily displays the distance to the centroid of an FHWA defined control city.

EXAMPLE of I-75 Post Interchange Destination/Distance Guide Sign:

The second line of legend demonstrated in this example:

The ROUTE SHIELD for Interstate 275, which is the significant destination, text message “St. Petersburg,” the mileage to the junction of I-75 with I- 275 (and I-275 will take you TO Saint Petersburg—the TO is implied).

Below is a sign design depicting how the second line of legend on the sign above is to be understood (The style of sign shown above does not accommodate the additional language):

Carson says that the DOT’s district office here gets about one call a month from confused motorists, but that after some version of the above explanation, they are usually satisfied.

Simple, no?