Green Springs Highway

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Green Springs Highway is a multi-lane road and major north-south route continuing University Boulevard in Birmingham's Glen Iris neigborhood from the north to Columbiana Road in Homewood to the south. In Homewood, Green Springs supplanted Columbiana Road as the major north-south road in the area. For non-local traffic, Green Springs has been supplanted by Interstate 65, which runs just west of it.

The change to Green Springs Highway from University Boulevard begins around 16th Avenue South, just north of Ward Park. The road then runs south past the west side of the park, through Walker Gap in Red Mountain, and across Valley Avenue and Oxmoor Road. The highway ends as Green Springs at Lakeshore Drive/Lakeshore Parkway, continuing as Columbiana Road southward over Shades Mountain into Vestavia Hills. The entire highway is part of Alabama State Highway 149.

From approximately 1/3-mile north of Valley Avenue to Columbiana Road (north of Oxmoor Road), Green Springs Highway is where the Birmingham (east side) and Homewood (west side) city limits meet.

History

There has been a road roughly following the current path of Green Springs Highway since the late 19th century. By the 1910s, it had been upgraded from a dirt road, but was not yet paved. At the time, the portion adjacent to Green Springs Park (now Ward Park) was known as 2nd Place. From historical maps[1], paving appears to have taken place in the latter half of the 1920s. The road was partially rerouted and improved to a divided highway by 1945.

Notable locations

For an alphabetical list of locations, see the Green Springs Highway category.

Homewood