The saga of the dual-named stretch of Interstate 275 that runs through St. Petersburg has run into a recently-uncovered snag: The highway already had a memorialized name.

Not that anyone was in on it:

Thirty-seven years ago the Legislature and Gov. Claude Kirk designated the interstate through Pinellas the American Legion Memorial Highway.

But few knew it.

“I had to look it up,” said FDOT spokeswoman Kris Carson. “It’s true.”

“This is the first I’ve ever heard of it,” said St. Petersburg City Councilman John Bryan. “It’s true, huh? I didn’t know.”

Which pretty much underlines why it’s pointless to tack on names to a road that everyone will continue to refer to as “I-275″. Much snappier than “St. Petersburg Parkway/William C. Cramer Memorial Highway/American Legion Memorial Freeway”, or whatever the final silly compromise will be.