Independence Drive: Difference between revisions

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(→‎Notable locations: Wrong road name, changed intersection criteria)
(→‎Notable locations: Vulcan Motor Lodge)
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* [[28th Avenue South]]/Ventura Avenue intersection (south end of [[Elton B. Stephens Expressway]])
* [[28th Avenue South]]/Ventura Avenue intersection (south end of [[Elton B. Stephens Expressway]])
** 1:  [[Independence Plaza]] (formerly an [[AmSouth]] building)
** 1:  [[Independence Plaza]] (formerly an [[AmSouth]] building, former site of [[Vulcan Motor Lodge]])
* [[29th Avenue South]] intersection
* [[29th Avenue South]] intersection
* [[Oxmoor Road]]/[[Hollywood Boulevard]] intersection
* [[Oxmoor Road]]/[[Hollywood Boulevard]] intersection

Revision as of 07:07, 8 April 2008

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Independence Drive is the name given to the approximately 1-3/4 mile stretch of U.S. Highway 31 in the Homewood city limits that is not part of the Elton B. Stephens Expressway. It extends from the end of the expressway in the north to almost the top of Shades Mountain to the south.

History

Originally, the section of road north of 29th Avenue South to the Homewood city limits was known as East Avenue. South of that point, it was Montgomery Highway. Prior to the creation of the Red Mountain cut, going north the highway followed what is now 29th Avenue and crossed the mountain on what is now 18th Street South.

In the early 1940s, Montgomery Highway was designated U.S. Route 31 and improved. This included a new, wider, straighter route up the north side of Shades Mountain, which is the current path of Independence Drive. The R. H. "Bob" Wharton Bridge, part of the cloverleaf intersection at Lakeshore Drive, was also built at this time. It was in 1976, the American Bicentennial, that Homewood officials renamed the road in honor of "all Homewood citizens, past or future, who sacrifice their lives for freedom" (Summe, p. 233).

Notable locations

Only intersections with traffic lights or overpasses are included.

References

  • Summe, Sheryl Spradling. (2001). Homewood: The Life of a City. Homewood, AL: Friends of the Homewood Public Library.