Malfunction Junction

You really can’t do much better than this for a parking facility. Whether it’s rush hour, or even the middle of the night, you’ll find that Malfunction Junction is always open and able to turn your journey into a dead stop with its numerous parking spots.
Conveniently located at the intersection of two interstate highways, and feeding a multitude of on-​ramps and off-​ramps, including those to downtown Tampa, Malfunction Junction is something experienced by nearly any driver living, working or visiting the area.
From a design perspective, Malfunction Junction ranks right up there with the Tacoma Narrows bridge; it is simply a remarkable feat of engineering. In fact, the Florida Dept of Transportation and City of Tampa are continuing to improve it as the decades go on. Originally, it was simply three two-​lane spokes of parking spots; one heading south (I-​275 S), one north (I-​275 N), one east (I-​4). This design was reasonable; merging effectively four lanes to two, or two to one, did indeed produce somewhat of a parking effect, but it was far from perfect as people could still get through most of the time without cursing. Over the years, Tampa has greatly improved the design. Interstate 275 and Interstate 4 were both widened in places to three, four and even five lanes. This dramatic increase in Interstate carrying capacity, while leaving Malfunction Junction at its original two lanes, ensured that regardless of time of day, everyone would be able to park their car for anywhere from five to thirty minutes. If there’s an accident during rush hour, you may even be able to park there for an hour or more.
It only gets better. Along came the creation of the Tampa Hillsborough Expressway Authority who was able to successfully build what is effectively a private interstate allowing travelers to bypass Malfunction Junction for a fee. This was a very savvy business move for the city and county. Rather than improving things for everyone, they were able to do the right thing and only improve things for those capable of spending $ 4.50 per day in tolls. This has ensured the continued relevance of Malfunction Junction since the majority of residents can’t or won’t pay the tolls to go around it.
All in all, great move Florida, Hillsborough and Tampa; you’ve created a great service that no one will ever forget, especially our tourist guests who we derive much of our revenue from. There aren’t many visitors who go from the airport to Disney, or pass through the area from the north or south, that can say they didn’t get to park their car in Malfunction Junction.