FL 200 vs. I-4

[JayKay]

Hi,

I will be driving from St. Petersburg, FL to Savannah, GA in a few weeks, Google Maps offers two suggested routes: I-4 across Florida to I-95 North, or FL 200 E to I-95 North. The first option would bring me through Orlando and Jacksonville and I'm sure I will encounter some traffic. FL State Route 200 would avoid both of them, but I'm not familiar with this road. Are there many traffic lights, etc.? My trip will be on a weekday, leaving St. Petersburg about 10 am. Any help or suggestions would sure be appreciated.

JayKay

[AZBuck]

Welcome aboard the RoadTrip America Forums!

It took me a while, even looking at Google Maps, to figure out what they meant by FL-200. Most people would refer to that route by its major designations: I-75 out of Tampa/St. Pete to Ocala then US-301 to just northwest of Jacksonville. It's only the last bit (less than 10 miles) from Callahan to I-95 that will be marked as FL-200 exclusively. Using that route rather than I-4 to I-95 saves about 30 miles but adds about 15 minutes. The major congestion on the '200' route would be in Ocala, but you can avoid most of this by staying on I-75 past the city and taking exit 358 and NW 77th east to US-301/US-441 north. When those two highways split, follow US-301 which will also be co-signed as FL-200. You'll go through a few small towns such as Hawthorne, Waldo, Starke, Lawtey, Baldwin and the aforementioned Callahan, but for the most part US-301 is a four lane divided highway and I would not expect much in the way of either traffic or stop signs outside of those minor exceptions.

AZBuck

[glc]

I suppose you could take I-4 - and take the 417 toll road around Orlando and I-295 around Jax.