U.S. Highway 31
U.S. Highway 31 (also officially known as U.S. Route 31), sometimes known locally as Decatur Highway and Montgomery Highway, is a long north-south highway connecting northern Michigan to southern Alabama, with termini at Interstate 75 near Mackinaw City, Michigan, and U.S. Highway 90 and U.S. Highway 98 at Spanish Fort, Alabama. It formerly reached Mackinaw City along the southern approaches of the Mackinac Bridge (Interstate 75) in the north and downtown Mobile, Alabama in the south.
Throughout Alabama, U.S. 31 is paired with unsigned State Route 3. In downtown Birmingham, the junction with I-20/I-59 serves also as the western terminus of Highway 280.
History
Before the Interstate era, U.S. 31 was the major north-south highway in Alabama, connecting most of the state's major cities at the time: Decatur, Birmingham, Montgomery, and Mobile. Interstate 65 has supplanted U.S. 31 along this route.
In Birmingham, the original route of U.S. 31 was west of its current location. From the 1950s (or earlier) to the 1970s, it entered downtown from the north on 26th Street as it does now. It then went over two blocks on 8th Avenue North to 24th Street North. The highway then proceeded south on 24th Street to 7th Avenue South, where it went west to 20th Street South. It then proceeded south to where 20th and 19th Street South (now Richard Arrington Jr Boulevard South) merge and cross over Red Mountain. It then continued south on 18th Street South through Homewood, around The Curve to 29th Avenue South and around another curve to what is now called Independence Drive. In the late 1960s, the Red Mountain cut was made to give the highway a straighter and flatter route between Birmingham and Homewood.
Alternate Names
Within the state of Alabama from Decatur to Montgomery, U.S. 31 is largely given the name of the city that Route 31 is leading to or from Birmingham. From Birmingham north to Decatur, the highway is known as Decatur Highway. From Birmingham south to Montgomery, U.S. 31 is known as Montgomery Highway. North of Decatur and south of Montgomery, the highway is referred to as Bee-Line Highway or simply "Highway 31".
Within the Birmingham area, U.S. 31 is assigned various street names. From about 37th Avenue North to Finley Boulevard, U.S. 31 is also 26th Street North. From Finley to the I-20/I-59 interchange, it is known as Carraway Boulevard. Starting at the I-20/I-59 interchange, U.S. 31 and U.S. 280 overlap on the controlled-access Elton B. Stephens Expressway, more popularly known to residents as the Red Mountain Expressway, going through the Red Mountain cut to Homewood. Through the Homewood city limits, from the end of the controlled access expressway to about Shades Crest Road, U.S. 31 is known as Independence Drive. In a portion of Pelham, it's known as Pelham Parkway. In Alabaster, the highway is 1st Street.
"Parent/Child" Routes
U.S. 31 is the parent route of Highway 131, almost entirely in Michigan; Highway 231, which comes within a few miles of connecting Lake Michigan and the Gulf of Mexico; Highway 331, connecting Montgomery, Alabama with Santa Rosa Beach, Florida; and Highway 431, connecting Owensboro, Kentucky and Dothan, Alabama.
Cities along the route
- Cities bolded are major cities containing 50,000 or more people.
- Pelston, Michigan
- Kokomo, Indiana
- Indianapolis, Indiana
- Columbus, Indiana
- Louisville, Kentucky
- Fort Knox, Kentucky: on U.S. 31W
- Bowling Green, Kentucky: on U.S. 31W
- Nashville, Tennessee
- Decatur, Alabama
- Birmingham District
- Warrior, Alabama
- Kimberly, Alabama
- Morris, Alabama
- Gardendale, Alabama
- Fultondale, Alabama
- Birmingham, Alabama
- Homewood, Alabama
- Vestavia Hills, Alabama
- Hoover, Alabama
- Pelham, Alabama
- Alabaster, Alabama
- Montgomery, Alabama
- Spanish Fort, Alabama
See also
- 1st Street Alabaster
- 26th Street North
- Carraway Boulevard
- Decatur Highway
- Elton B. Stephens Expressway
- Independence Drive
- Montgomery Highway
- Pelham Parkway