U.S. Route 278 in Alabama
| |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
East end | Cedartown, Georgia and Atlanta, Georgia | ||||||
Location | |||||||
Country | United States | ||||||
State | Alabama | ||||||
Counties | Lamar, Marion, Winston, Cullman, Blount, Etowah, Calhoun, Cherokee, Cleburne | ||||||
Highway system | |||||||
| |||||||
|
U.S. Route 278 (US 278), mostly internally designated by the
state line.Route description
US 278 enters Alabama near Sulligent. After passing through the city, the route continues on a winding path until it reaches Guin, where it turns north and gains US 43. It then junctions with I-22/US 78. It eventually reaches Hamilton, where it junctions with SR 17 and turns off of US 43's right of way.
It continues on a curvy path until it reaches Natural Bridge, where it junctions with SR 5 and SR 13. It continues onward and enters the William B. Bankhead National Forest, where Double Springs lies. It junctions with SR 33 and SR 195. It continues onward, passing through Houston (AL). It then exits the National Forest and enters Addison, which is home to its junction with CR 41, which is a corridor connecting Jasper, Arley, Danville, and Decatur. It passes through much less hilly terrain and crosses the county line into Cullman County.
The route passes through slightly curvy terrain until its junction with I-65. It enters the city of Cullman and junctions with US 31 and SR 69. It continues east for about one mile from its second junction with SR 69 and junctions with SR 157. It continues east and eventually enters Holly Pond, which is home to its junction with SR 91. It continues onto Blount County.
It eventually junctions with US 231, which leads to SR 67 to the north and SR 79 south to the south in Cleveland. The main junction here is in Blountsville. The route continues through hilly terrain to SR 79 itself. It passes through hilly terrain to Snead, which is home to its junction with SR 75. It continues onward through hilly terrain to the county line to Etowah County.
The route is mostly hilly with three-lane stretches at points due to the steep uphills along the route, specifically eastbound. It reaches
The route passes through
. It then turns off of its right of way, the right-of-way becoming Nances Creek Indian Boulevard.The route has no more major junctions at this point as it crosses through
History
This section has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page. (Learn how and when to remove these template messages)
|
From its creation in 1955 to 1965, US-278 followed a very different route from Whitehouse to Double Springs. It followed SR-129 from Whitehouse to Haleyville; In Haleyville, the route followed SR-13 to SR-195. It would then follow SR-195 to Double Springs, where it would turn onto its present-day routing. Oddly, State Route 74 followed the present day routing between the two cities via Natural Bridge from 1956 onward.[2][3]
The routing of U.S. Route 278 in between Double Springs and Cullman has witnessed several minor changes from 1955 to the present day. From its creation until at least 1985, the route followed present-day Winston County Roads 3800 and 3700, crossing Brushy Creek at a now-abandoned bridge before climbing up to join its present-day route into Addison. On the east side of Addison, the route followed Main Street, descending down and crossing Blevens Creek at another abandoned bridge before rejoining the modern-day route.[4] Both of these routings have been replaced with straighter routings. On the west side of Cullman, the route previously descended down into a hollow where it proceeded to cross Vest Creek before climbing up the hollow and rejoining the modern-day routing; this routing was replaced in 2012 with a much straighter bridge across the same creek.[5] Until at least 1997, the route followed 4th Street into Cullman, where it engaged in a short concurrency with U.S. Route 31 before rejoining the modern-day route; this was replaced with the modern-day routing along 3rd Street.[5]
During the 1960s–1980s, there were some different variations of the routing of US 278 through the cities of Gadsden and Attalla, however construction of four-lane segments on the western side of Gadsden and in Attalla allowed the highway to be placed on its current route which has been in place since the mid-1980s.
Location | Piedmont |
---|---|
Existed | ?–1980s |
Until the mid-1980s, a
Future
This section has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page. (Learn how and when to remove these template messages)
|
A four-laning project is ongoing east of Gadsden near the town of
Major intersections
County | Location | mi[1] | km | Destinations | Notes | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
US 278 west – Tupelo SR 118 begins | Continuation into Mississippi; western end of SR 118 concurrency | |||||||
Sulligent | 5.741 | 9.239 | SR 17 – Vernon, Hamilton | |||||
Marion | Guin | 17.785 | 28.622 | SR 142 east | Western terminus of SR 142 | |||
19.408 | 31.234 | SR 107 south – Fayette | Northern terminus of SR 107 | |||||
19.692 | 31.691 | Southern end of US 43 and SR 171 concurrencies; eastern end of SR 118 concurrency | ||||||
SR 4) – Tupelo, Birmingham | I-22/US 78 exit 16 | |||||||
32.811 | 52.804 | SR 17 south / SR 171 ends – Vernon | Southern end of SR 17 concurrency; northern end of SR 171 concurrency | |||||
33.163 | 53.371 | SR 74 west (Bexar Avenue West) – Hackleburg | Northern end of US 43 and SR 17 concurrencies; western end of SR 74 concurrency | |||||
| 43.486 | 69.984 | SR 253 – Hackleburg, Winfield | |||||
| 47.781 | 76.896 | SR 241 north to SR 129 – Phil Campbell | Southern terminus of SR 241 | ||||
| 48.342 | 77.799 | SR 129 – Haleyville, Brilliant, Fayette | |||||
Winston | Natural Bridge | 56.402 | 90.770 | SR 13 south – Tuscaloosa | Western end of SR 13 concurrency | |||
56.857 | 91.502 | SR 5 south / SR 13 north – Russellville, Jasper | Eastern end of SR 13 concurrency; northern terminus of SR 5 | |||||
Double Springs | 69.277 | 111.491 | SR 195 north – Haleyville | Western end of SR 195 concurrency | ||||
69.742 | 112.239 | SR 33 north / SR 195 south – Double Springs, Moulton | Eastern end of SR 195 concurrency; southern terminus of SR 33 | |||||
Cullman | Cullman | 105.738 | 170.169 | I-65 – Birmingham, Huntsville | I-65 exit 308 | |||
107.674 | 173.285 | SR 3 / 2nd Avenue SW) / SR 69 | Western end of SR 69 concurrency | |||||
110.736 | 178.212 | SR 69 north – Arab, Guntersville | Eastern end of SR 69 concurrency | |||||
111.173 | 178.916 | SR 157 north / CR 719 south – Moulton, Muscle Shoals, Florence | Southern terminus of SR 157 | |||||
Holly Pond | 120.978 | 194.695 | SR 91 south – Hanceville, Garden City | Northern terminus of SR 91 | ||||
Blount | | 126.822 | 204.100 | US 231 (SR 53) – Arab, Birmingham | ||||
Brooksville | 129.322 | 208.124 | SR 79 – Guntersville, Birmingham | |||||
Snead | 134.880 | 217.068 | SR 75 – Albertville, Oneonta | |||||
Etowah | | 146.360 | 235.544 | SR 132 west – Altoona, Oneonta | Eastern terminus of SR 132 | |||
| 148.539 | 239.050 | SR 179 north | Southern terminus of SR 179 | ||||
Attalla | 152.840 | 245.972 | SR 77 – Albertville, Lincoln | |||||
153.338 | 246.774 | Western end of US 431 concurrency | ||||||
155.253 | 249.855 | SR 7 / 3rd Street SW) | Western end of US 11 concurrency | |||||
155.585 | 250.390 | SR 7 / 3rd Street NW) | Eastern end of US 11 concurrency | |||||
156.428 | 251.746 | I-59 – Birmingham, Chattanooga | I-59 exit 183 | |||||
Gadsden | 159.707 | 257.024 | SR 211 north (Noccalula Road) | Southern terminus of SR 211 | ||||
161.182 | 259.397 | Interchange | ||||||
161.469 | 259.859 | I-759 | Northern terminus of SR 291 | |||||
163.243 | 262.714 | SR 1 / East Meighan Boulevard) – Anniston | Eastern end of US 431 concurrency | |||||
Calhoun | Piedmont | 184.081 | 296.250 | SR 21 south (Tom Bible Memorial Highway) – Jacksonville, Anniston, Atmore, Pensacola | Northern terminus of SR 21 | |||
184.605 | 297.093 | SR 9 south (N. Main Street) | Western end of SR 9 concurrency | |||||
184.693 | 297.235 | SR 9 north – Centre | Eastern end of SR 9 concurrency | |||||
Cherokee |
No major junctions | |||||||
Georgia | ||||||||
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi
|
See also
References
- ^ a b "Milepost Maps". Alabama Department of Transportation. Archived from the original on April 2, 2015. Retrieved March 21, 2015.
- ^ "Alabama Highways". cartweb.geography.ua.edu. Retrieved February 17, 2024.
- ^ "Alabama State Roads". cartweb.geography.ua.edu. Retrieved February 17, 2024.
- ^ "AL Addison 303079 1969 24000 Geography". ngmdb.usgs.gova. Retrieved February 17, 2024.
- ^ a b "Historic Aerials: Viewer".