U.S. Route 80 in Alabama

U. S. Highway in Alabama

U. S. Route 80 (US 80) is a major U. S. Highway in the American state of Alabama. The Alabama Department of Transportation internally designates the majority of US 80 throughout the state as State Route 8 (SR 8), save for parts of the route throughout Selma and near the Mississippi border. Serving as the main east to west highway through Alabama's Black Belt region, US 80 became well known as the main route for the 1965 Selma to Montgomery marches; it was the route along which the Civil Rights demonstrators walked, from Selma to Alabama, and the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma was the site of Bloody Sunday. The highway was also once a major transcontinental highway (the Dixie Overland Highway) reaching from Tybee Island, Georgia, to San Diego, California, but has since been truncated to Dallas, Texas because it was largely replaced by the Interstate Highway System.

US 80 and US 11 cross the Mississippi Alabama state line east of Toomsuba, Mississippi, sharing a concurrency starting in Meridian, Mississippi. The two U. S. Highways are joined by a hidden Alabama State Route 7 designation starting at the state line. The Byway goes south across the Edmund Pettus Bridge and follows US 80 Bus. past the National Voting Rights Museum, then south to the intersection with US 80, US 80 Truck and SR 41. Between the eastern terminus of US 80 Bus. and Montgomery, the Byway follows US 80. Following junctions with CR 67, CR 69, CR 43, CR 7 and CR 19, the Byway continues east into Lowndes County. US 80 then heads east through the southern edge of Lowndesboro and a shared junction with SR 97/CR 29. The Byway makes a curve to the northeast at the intersection with SR 21. Both US 80 and SR 21 run concurrently starting at this point. The Byway shares a short concurrency with CR 37 before crossing Pintlala Creek into Montgomery County. US 80 however, continues east one mile from US 31 to I 65. At a flyover interchange, US 80 overlaps I 65 north for one mile, before leaving the Interstate onto South Boulevard. Although the old steel highway bridge across the Cahaba River on CR 29 is still standing, it is currently closed to traffic, making that section of CR 29 impassible. Though the bridge was torn down in 1940, a plaque stands at the current end of Washington Street in Lafayette Park, where the northern end of the bridge once was. The Bridge Keeper's house is still standing at the end of Washington Street as well. Following the old route exactly by highway is partially impossible as the 14th Street Bridge is now a pedestrian bridge. In July 1914, the Automobile Club of Savannah began planning a transcontinental auto trail to connect Savannah, Georgia to California. The Association managing the new auto trail was formed the same month, establishing the Dixie Overland Highway. By 1917, the highway had a set route from Arizona to Savannah through Alabama, following much of the Old Federal Road in both Alabama and Georgia. During a 1918 meeting of the Dixie Overland Highway Association, California politician Stanley Hufflund delivered a letter to the association on behalf of fellow politician Ed Fletcher, lobbying for the western terminus of the highway, then undecided, to be established in San Diego. Earlier lobbying and grass roots campaigns made by Fletcher had ensured the construction of a new state highway between San Diego and Yuma, Arizona, part of which was a 7 mile long plank road through previously impassible sand dunes. Although Fletcher was unable to attend, the Association gave serious consideration into the matter. In 1919, the Association agreed to make San Diego the Dixie Overland Highway's western terminus and elected Fletcher as president of the entire association. Through Alabama, the Dixie Overland Highway passed through Livingston, Selma, Montgomery and Tuskegee. Construction started in 1922 and the Memorial Bridge was opened on May 15, 1925. Locals however took to calling the new structure the Rooster Bridge after the auction. Due to state legislation passed in 1959, the highway bridge crossing the Tombigbee River near Demopolis is still called Rooster Bridge. By 1921, much of the Dixie Overland Highway had also attained the title of Jefferson Davis Highway, a name which sections of the highway in Alabama and Arizona retain to this day.

In 1925, multiple state highway departments across the United States lobbied the U. S Department of Agriculture to create a standardized national highway system to replace the auto trails. The Secretary of Agriculture appointed the Joint Board of Interstate Highways in April 1925, which was a cooperation between state highway departments and the Bureau of Public Roads, to develop a new system. Following several meetings with state highway officials across the country, the Joint Board settled on a numbering system with a standardized highway shield. This network of proposed designations would become the U. S. Highway System. Much of the Dixie Overland Highway between San Diego and Savannah received the proposed designation of U. S. Route 80. The Joint Board completed its proposal in October 1925, which the Secretary of Agriculture immediately submitted to the newly formed American Association of State Highway Officials (AASHO). On November 11, 1926 AASHO approved the new highway system officially designating US 80 as an active highway. Although the auto trail era has long passed, the Alabama segment of US 80 continues to use the Dixie Overland Highway name to this day. Upon designation of US 80 as an active highway, most of the route in the state of Alabama was still unpaved and other sections of road remained much as they were prior to adoption as a state highway. Only small sections of US 80 and SR 26 were paved in Demopolis, Selma and Montgomery respectively. By the fall of 1928, the state highway system in Alabama underwent a major highway renumbering. State Road 26 was re designated State Route 8 between Mississippi and Phenix City, while the segment from the Mississippi state line through Cuba and Livingston was also designated as part of State Route 7. The section of highway between Tysonville and Tuskegee through Milstead was undergoing paving as was the route between Uniontown and Browns The route from Livingston to the Mississippi state line had already been paved. Much of the previously unimproved road was being improved with gravel or other secondary types of bituminous surfacing, leaving only a section between Tuskegee and Society Hill untouched by the State Highway Department. By 1929, a new section of US 80/SR 8 was constructed between Tuskegee and Tysonville bypassing the older route through Milstead. By 1930, paving was complete on US 80 between Uniontown and Browns. By 1931, paving had commenced on the section of US 80 between Livingston and the Rooster Bridge. Paving was also completed on the highway from Montgomery to Tuskegee. A new less direct alignment of US 80 had been constructed between Tuskegee and Society Hill, bypassing the older unimproved route. Half of the new route was undergoing improvement at the time of opening. The total length of US 80 in Alabama that year averaged around 227 mile (365 km). By 1933, paving was completed between Livingston and the Rooster Bridge. US 80 between Selma and Lowndes County was also fully paved. Further paving had been completed on US 80 from Lowndes County to Montgomery. The route from the Tuskegee Institute through Tysonville to Mount Meigs had also been bypassed by a more direct route through Shorter. The route through Shortleaf and Demopolis was bypassed by November 1934. The new route still passed through Demopolis, though around the south side of the city. US 43 was commissioned in Alabama along SR 40 and SR 13 to Mobile, sharing a short concurrency with US 80 and SR 8 through eastern Demopolis. By 1935, all of US 80 and SR 8 between Mississippi and Tuskegee was paved. The remainder of the highway to Georgia was still surfaced with gravel or sand. US 11 had been extended into Mississippi by 1936, sharing a concurrency with US 80 from Livingston to the Mississippi state line into Mississippi itself. A small section of US 80 between Phenix City and Georgia had also been paved. US 80 through Tuskegee had also been rerouted south of the Institute. In 1935, massive flooding on the Alabama River in Selma submerged the US 80 bridge under the surge, halting all traffic between Selma and Lowndes County. The bridge, built in 1885 was constructed without taking the maximum river flood height into account. Plans already in place for a large replacement steel and concrete bridge were expedited by the Alabama Highway Department. No major changes would be made to US 80 until 1940, when the route from Society Hill to Crawford was paved and the remainder of the highway between Phenix City and Tuskegee was also undergoing paving work. Finally in 1943, the entire highway had been paved from Mississippi to Georgia. The replacement bridge over the Alabama River in Selma was completed the same year and was officially named the Edmund Pettus Bridge after the Alabama statesman and American Civil War veteran Edmund W. Pettus. The 1885 bridge began demolition shortly after the Edmund Pettus Bridge opened. During the opening ceremony on May 24, 1940, Pettus' daughter in law cut the ribbon to officially open the bridge to traffic. Alabama governor Frank M. Dixon, attended the ceremony as well. In total, the construction of the Edmund Pettus Bridge cost $863,000 US.

The Alabama section of US 80 played an integral role in the events of the American Civil Rights Movement. Selma, like many cities and towns in the American southeast, was subject to Jim Crow laws, which enforced acts of racial segregation among the populace. In reality, the acts did little more than legally force the southeast's black population to reside in poor living conditions and also denied black citizens entry into most white establishments such as businesses and public institutions. The movement lead to protests across the United States, including the March on Washington in 1963, where civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his famous "I Have a Dream" speech. Though the civil rights protests were often met with violent retaliation, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 ensured much of the goals the protesters and activists had pushed for became legal reality. However, remaining Jim Crow laws still prevented most black Americans in the southeast from voting. Initial efforts to surpass this problem during the Freedom Summer campaign in Mississippi was met with the murder of three activists involved in the project. Further retaliation by pro segregationists, ranging from bombings to police brutality lead to an increase in protests against such violence as well as voting restrictions in the year 1965. In Dallas County, there were over 15,000 black citizens eligible for voter registration, but only 300 of those people were actually registered. News of the attacks led to public outrage across the United States. King organized a second protest on March 9, with the support of nearly 400 new demonstrators from across the nation, despite a court issued restraining order. This time, the resistance on the other end of the bridge cleared an open pathway on US 80 for the protesters to proceed rather than continue to block the highway. King, fearing the move was a trap, cancelled the march. By 1961, a section of I 85 meant to bypass US 80 through Mount Meigs between eastern Montgomery and Shorter was under construction. The freeway was completed in 1963 and US 80 moved onto the new highway, bypassing Mount Meigs altogether. Another section of I 85 meant to bypass US 80 from Shorter to Alliance was under construction between Shorter and Tuskegee. The entire proposed bypass was under construction the following year. I 85 from Shorter to Tuskegee was completed in 1965. I 65 in Montgomery had started construction, with construction commencing on I 85 between Atlanta Highway and Eastern Boulevard in Montgomery as well. Construction on the entirety of both Interstates in Montgomery was well under way in 1967. All of I 85 meant to bypass US 80 between eastern Montgomery and Alliance had been completed, though US 80 remained on its own route from Shorter to Alliance. I 65 north to US 80 in Montgomery (Fairview Avenue) was complete the next year, with I 85 still under construction between Atlanta Highway and the proposed junction with I 65 and likewise with I 65 between Fairview and proposed I 85. All of I 85 into downtown Montgomery was finished by 1972. I 20 and I 59 from the Mississippi state line to Cuba was also under construction as well as a four lane divided connecting road to US 80 and US 11. US 80 from the Dallas County line through Benton into north central Lowndes County began conversion into a four lane divided highway. I 65 had been completed to I 85 in downtown Montgomery by 1973. I 29/I 59 between Mississippi and Cuba had also been finished. SR 8 was moved off the US 80/US 11 concurrency at this time and onto the new four lane connecting road between US 80 and the new Interstate freeway, leaving only the hidden SR 7 designation on the U. S. Highway from Cuba to Mississippi. This also moved the western terminus of SR 8 to the new junction with I 20/I 59. The first segment of four lane highway conversion in Lowndes County between Selma and Montgomery had also been completed. In 1975, work began on finishing the four lane divided highway through Lowndes County on either side of Lowndesboro. By 1979, all of US 80 between Selma and Montgomery had been converted into a four lane divided highway. Massive flooding throughout the western part of Alabama's Black Belt the same year caused floodwaters on the Tombigbee River to sweep the tugboat Cahaba upstream towards the Alabama River. The Cahaba collided with the Rooster Bridge and was sucked underwater by the torrent. Amazingly, the tugboat resurfaced on the other side of the bridge and righted itself back up. The bridge was closed to traffic right away to inspect it for damage. Despite the incident, plans were already in place to demolish the Rooster Bridge. Construction on a new set of four lane bridges upstream was being undertaken. Four lane conversion had also begun between Demopolis and Faunsdale in 1983. By 1985, the route of US 80 and SR 8 through Montgomery had changed. Previously, US 80 and SR 8 had taken Mobile Highway to Fairview Avenue. From Fairview, eastbound US 80/SR 8 had taken Perry Street to Madison Avenue, while westbound traffic utilized Hull Street. The two highways then followed Madison Avenue and Atlanta Highway out of the city. The Faunsdale bypass was completed by 1989. Elsewhere in the United States, the Interstate had brought the days of US 80 being a transcontinental highway to an end. California had formally decommissioned its segment of the highway between 1964 and 1969, followed by Arizona between 1977 and 1989 and New Mexico from 1989 to 1991. Though Texas decommissioned the majority of its section by 1991, the section from Dallas to Tybee Island remained and the routing has remained unaltered since. In 2010, Volkert completed an environmental impact study with a preferred alternative route highlighted for consideration. The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) approved the study and preferred alternative route. Besides the environmental impact, the project will also have to minimize the overall impact on the Selma to Montgomery National Trail as well as the many Civil Rights cultural resources, historical sites and structures along US 80 between Selma and Montgomery. Likewise, a group known as the Youth Infrastructure Coalition is lobbying for the proposed extension to become part of a suggested I 14, which the coalition proposes should run from Texas to Georgia. The coalition also wants a new Interstate to be constructed along the general path taken by US 80 between Montgomery and Macon, Georgia. As of 2018 however, the coalition has not met with ALDOT to discuss the proposal. Despite the support for the proposal with the people of Selma, ALDOT put forward an official statement, explaining the coalition's proposed I 14 would be unlikely to gain serious consideration.