Valley Creek
Valley Creek is a 46-mile-long stream draining 257 square miles of western Jones Valley.
The stream originates from various springs and drainage basins in west and southwest Birmingham, and is covered over for most of its course until emerging at a headwall near the intersection of 7th Street and 4th Terrace North at the western terminus of 5th Avenue North.
It continues, paralleling 3rd Avenue West, and is joined by Holly Spring, draining the Green Springs area, just past Center Street.
The creek flows southwest toward the northern edge of Bessemer, then bends northward, emptying into the Black Warrior River near Camp Oliver, below the confluence of Locust Fork and Mulberry Fork.
West of Center Street in Birmingham the creek divides streets named "west" from those called "southwest".
Birmingham's first sewer system, a 15-mile network of brick tunnels constructed in the 1880s, flowed out into Valley Creek about two miles south of the city limits.
Beginning around September 14, 2021 a large number of dead fish were observed in the section of Valley Creek just below downtown Birmingham. The Alabama Department of Environmental Management, Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, the City of Birmingham and Jefferson County Environmental Services are investigating the incident.
In July 2024 a spill at BHT Resources' rendering plant on Johns Road in Bessemer released a quantity of grease and animal fat into Valley Creek. The Alabama Department of Environmental Management supervised the work of private contractors to contain the spill and remove the substances from the creek.
Points along Valley Creek
- stream surfaces from culverts ("Light of Day") at terminus of 5th Avenue North, just west of 7th Street.
- Center Street North (bridge)
- former John Smith plantation
- Elyton
- Princeton Parkway (bridge)
- Rickwood Field
- Lomb Avenue (bridge)
- Fayette Avenue Southwest (bridge)
- Alabama State Fairgrounds
- Avenue W (bridge)
- South Park Road Southwest (bridge)
- A. G. Gaston Boys and Girls Club
- N. H. Price Elementary School
- Nabors Branch (tributary)
- Alameda Avenue Southwest (bridge)
- West Side Golf Course
- B. Y. Williams Sr Drive (bridge)
- Midfield High School
- Hawkins Spring/Midfield Park
- Cairo Avenue (bridge)
- Wintergreen Avenue (bridge)
- Valhalla Cemetery
- Bessemer Super Highway (bridge)
- Brighton Road / Jaybird Road (bridge)
- I-20/59 (bridge)
- Opossum Creek (tributary)
- 19th Street North Bessemer (bridge)
- 15th Street North Bessemer (bridge)
- Murphy's Lane (bridge)
- Halls Creek (tributary)
- Talley mounds
- Jonesboro
- proposed Northern Beltline crossing
- Valley Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant
- Powder Plant Road (bridge)
- Fivemile Creek (Eastern Valley) (tributary)
- Little Blue Creek (tributary)
- Johns Road (bridge)
- Valley Creek (community)
- Blue Creek (tributary)
- Black Branch (tributary)
- Johnson Branch (tributary)
- Lick Creek (tributary)
- Lick Branch (tributary)
- Raccoon Branch (tributary)
- Leaning Oak Golf Course
- Warrior River Road (bridge)
- Rock Creek (tributary)
- Toadvine Road (bridge) at Toadvine, former site of Waldrop's Mill (built 1823)
- Panther Branch (tributary)
- Mud Creek (tributary)
- Sexton's Branch (tributary)
- Cedar Creek (tributary)
- Big Branch (tributary)
- Camp Oliver
References
- Pillion, Dennis (September 17, 2021) "Alabama investigating thousands of dead fish in Birmingham creek." The Birmingham News
- Pillion, Dennis (July 18, 2024) "Waste spill near Birmingham floods creek with grease, animal fat." The Birmingham News