Bessemer Super Highway: Difference between revisions

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===[[Brighton]]===
===[[Brighton]]===
* [[Wilkes Boulevard]] (north) [[Sugar Ray Drive]] (south) intersects
* [[Wilkes Boulevard]] (north) [[Sugar Ray Drive]] (south) intersects
** South side
** south side:
*** 5228 [sic]: [[Car Circus]] / [[Circus Pawn Shop]]
*** 5228 [sic]: [[Car Circus]] / [[Circus Pawn Shop]]
*** 5227: [[Hatcher Law Office]]
*** 5227: [[Hatcher Law Office]]
Line 93: Line 93:
*** 5131: former location of [[Westwood Auto Parts]]
*** 5131: former location of [[Westwood Auto Parts]]
*** 5137-5163: [[Smart Bidz]] electronics
*** 5137-5163: [[Smart Bidz]] electronics
** North side
** north side:
*** 5233 [sic]: [[Church of God In Christ]] Alabama State Headquarters
*** 5233 [sic]: [[Church of God In Christ]] Alabama State Headquarters
*** 5204: [[Bre's Restaurant & Catering]], former location of [[Angela's Southern Style]]
*** 5204: [[Bre's Restaurant & Catering]], former location of [[Angela's Southern Style]]
*** 5200: [[Great Start Child Development Center]]
*** 5200: [[Great Start Child Development Center]]
* [[Bessemer Avenue]] (north) / [[Martin Luther Avenue]] (south) intersects
* [[Bessemer Avenue]] (north) / [[Martin Luther Avenue]] (south) intersects
** North side
** north side:
*** [[Rose Avenue]], access to [[Bon-Aire Community]]
*** [[Rose Avenue]], access to [[Bon-Aire Community]]
*** 5170: former location of [[Anthony Underwood Automotive]] (2011-2014)
*** 5170: former location of [[Anthony Underwood Automotive]] (2011-2014)
*** 5000: former location of [[Piggly-Wiggly]], [[Sav U Foods]] (-2012)
*** 5000: former location of [[Piggly-Wiggly]], [[Sav U Foods]] (-2012)
** South side (Birmingham's [[Roosevelt]] neighborhood)
** south side (Birmingham's [[Roosevelt]] neighborhood):
*** 4901: [[Intensive Care Beauty Salon]]
*** 4901: [[Intensive Care Beauty Salon]]
*** 4601: [[Birmingham Fire Station No. 11 (2005)]]
*** 4601: [[Birmingham Fire Station No. 11 (2005)]]

Revision as of 15:08, 31 July 2020

This article is about the highway, for the hip hop album, see 2Lue.

Bessemer Super Highway (or Bessemer Superhighway, originally the Birmingham-Bessemer Boulevard) is the section of U. S. Highway 11 connecting the cities of Bessemer and Birmingham. Between Border Street and Western Hills Mall, it is called Bessemer Road.

The divided four-lane highway, the first in the state, replaced a circuitous route through West End, Powderly and Lipscomb which was slowed by numerous railroad grade crossings. It was designed in the 1930s by Alabama State Highway Department engineers who used the German Autobahn system as a model. The chosen route followed a nearly straight line from 3rd Avenue West in Fairview, past the Alabama State Fairgrounds at Five Points West to 19th Street North in the heart of downtown Bessemer. It continues through Bessemer as 9th Avenue North.

As the project proceeded, many of the rail lines along the route were elevated on steel and concrete trestles to bridge over the highway. The new highway itself was raised onto a long viaduct, later named the Mary Bryant Bridge, as it crossed over rail yards on the way into Bessemer.

Due to the shortage of funds prevailing during the Great Depression, the State set aside plans to build large interchanges that would allow for limited freeway access. Had it been built according to the initial designs, the Bessemer Super Highway would have been distinguished, ahead of the Merritt Parkway in Connecticut and the Pennsylvania Turnpike, as the first freeway in the United States. In 1940 the highway department did install lighting along the entire route, thus creating what was, at the time, the longest "white way" east of the Rocky Mountains.

The Super Highway, as it quickly came to be known, spurred the development of new businesses catering to the driving public in the post-World War II boom. The corridor's economic growth continued nearly unabated until the completion of I-59/20.

In 2010 the Regional Planning Commission of Greater Birmingham proposed a revitalization plan for the Super Highway anchored by improved mass transit. The transit corridor would include primary stops at Five Points West, Aaron Aronov Drive/B. Y. Williams Drive, downtown Bessemer, Academy Drive, and Eastern Valley Road. Commercial revitalization would be encouraged at those intersections.

Notable locations

Midfield

Brighton

Bessemer

References

  • Holley, Joe (n. d.) "Bessemer Super Highway" Archiblog/AL.com
  • Norris, Toraine (April 27, 2010) "Plans in works to revitalize Bessemer Superhighway area." The Birmingham News
  • Norris, Toraine (April 27, 2010) "History of Bessemer Superhighway." The Birmingham News
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