The Tampa International Airport (TIA), a modern facility 12 miles from downtown, was designed to be an optimally user-friendly origin-and-destination airport. It was the first airport in the country to use a people-mover system to transport passengers from remote buildings to terminals. It has been rated "Best Airport in the U.S." by Conde Nast Traveller magazine. A second, smaller facility, the Peter O. Knight Airport, is located on Davis Islands. It serves Tampa's general aviation traffic and executive aircraft and even has a seaplane basin and ramp. Charters and flight instruction are also available.
Florida law requires that drivers must turn on their headlights when rain is heavy enough to use windshield wipers. Tampa's rush hours can be very congested. The major direct routes are Interstate 75 from the north or south (which becomes Interstate 275 as it passes through the city), Interstate 4 from the northeast (which merges with Interstate 275 downtown), State Road 60 from the southeast, and U.S. Highway 41 (a coastal road also known as the Tamiami Trail) from the south. U.S. Highways 41 and 301 roughly parallel Interstate 75 on the west and east, respectively.
Passenger rail service to Tampa is also available from Amtrak's Seaboard Coast Line trains.
Allowing for constraints imposed by certain geographic features, Tampa is laid out in a basic grid pattern. Florida Avenue divides east from west, and John F. Kennedy Boulevard and Frank Adamo Drive (State Road 60) divide north from south.
Tampa's mass transit system is primarily bus-based and operated by the Hillsborough Area Regional Transit authority or, as it is more commonly known, HARTline. An express bus service links Hillsborough County with neighboring Pinellas County.
The TECO Line, an historic electric streetcar line, connects downtown Tampa with Ybor City, stopping at Tampa Convention Center, St. Pete Times Forum, the Channelside area, Port of Tampa cruise terminals and The Florida Aquarium.