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 Montgomery, 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.
Route description
U.S. Route 80 (US 80) through Alabama is roughly long. The entirety of US 80 through Alabama is called the Dixie Overland Highway. The route also makes up the entirety or components of several byways and scenic trails, including the Black Belt Nature and Heritage Trail, the Selma to Montgomery March National Historic Trail and the Selma to Montgomery March Byway, an All-American Road under the National Scenic Byways program. US 80 also serves as the main route through Alabama's Black Belt region, named after the dark colored soil often used for farming and irrigation. Demopolis, Selma, Montgomery and Tuskegee are the four largest cities on the highway.
Mississippi to Selma
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. Heading northeast, the route passes through the town of Cuba and intersections with Sumter County Routes 76 and 10. CR 10 shares a small concurrency with US 11/US 80 through Cuba. On the northern end of town, US 11 and US 80 meet at a junction with a four lane divided highway starting at Interstate 20 and Interstate 59 to the west. Though unsigned west of the junction, the route is part of SR 8, which is the hidden state route US 80 shares most of its routing through Alabama with. US 80 turns east onto SR 8, ending the concurrency with US 11.
Heading east, US 80 passes over a grade separated interchange with SR 17. The highway passes a junction with CR 13, the hamlet of Bellamy and CR 21 before reaching an intersection with SR 28 and CR 25. US 80, now multiplexed with SR 28, continues east across the Rooster Bridge over the Tombigbee River into Marengo County. Next to Moscow Church, SR 28 leaves US 80 heading southeast to Linden. Continuing east past CR 57 and CR 28, US 80 arrives in Demopolis at a junction with US 43 (SR 13). For a few blocks, US 80 and US 43 run concurrent, past Jefferson Road (CR 21). At the intersection with Pettus Street, US 43 goes southeast towards Linden while US 80 continues eastward past CR 2 and CR 77 into Hale County. US 80 curves around Prairieville, intersecting with CR 12 and SR 69. US 80 and SR 69 run concurrent for less than a mile, before SR 69 heads north through Prairieville. After passing Prairieville, US 80 re-enters Marengo County. Directly north of Faunsdale, the highway crosses an intersection with SR 25 before leaving Marengo County for a final time, entering Perry County.
Upon crossing the Perry county line, US 80 enters Uniontown, reducing to two lanes in width. Through town, US 80 is known as Washington Street. First intersecting with CR 53 at West Avenue, US 80 meets with the southern terminus of SR 61 at Water Street, then the southern terminus of SR 183 and the northern terminus of CR 1 at East Street. A short distance east of the city limits, US 80 returns to being a four lane divided highway. After spending less than in Perry County, US 80 enters Dallas County, passing CR 177 and CR 23 at Bellevue before meeting with SR 5 at an interchange in Browns. Continuing east passing CR 178, CR 179, CR 178 a second time, CR 3 in Massillon and CR 349, US 80 meets CR 25 and CR 29 in Marion Junction. East of Marion Junction, US 80 meets with CR 45 in Harrell and CR 29 near New Morning Star Church. Entering the outskirts of Selma, a large number of minor county routes intersect with US 80; with CR 44 and CR 27 (Westwood Drive) being the last major county route intersections before entering the city limits. CR 44 along with Cahaba Road and J.L. Chestnut Junior Boulevard provide an alternate route into downtown Selma.
East of the junction with SR 219, US 80 meets SR 14 at a "Y" intersection. The two routes are co-signed down Highland Avenue through the northern part of Selma. At the intersection with SR 22 at Broad Street, SR 8 temporarily leaves US 80 following US 80 Business through downtown Selma, then across the Edmund Pettus Bridge. The intersection also marks the western terminus of US 80 Truck. Mainline US 80 and US 80 Truck remain entirely concurrent along the Selma bypass route. East of the intersection with CR 65 at Marie Foster Street, US 80 and US 80 Truck turn south at the northern terminus of SR 41, heading south, then southwest around downtown Selma. The bypass has four major intersections, two of which are freeway grade interchanges with Race Street and Water Street (CR 48). The junctions with SR 140 and CR 56 are both at grade intersections. Immediately south of downtown Selma, US 80, US 80 Truck and SR 41 meet up with US 80 Bus. and SR 8 at a signalized intersection. Despite conflicting signage on the bypass route, US 80 Truck terminates at the intersection, as does US 80 Bus. US 80 and SR 8 continue head southeast towards Lowndes County, while SR 41 continues south towards Camden.
Selma to Montgomery
US 80 made up the majority of roadway used in the 1965 Selma to Montgomery marches. The Selma to Montgomery March Byway starts at the First Baptist Church on the corner of Martin Luther King Junior Street and Jefferson Davis Avenue. The byway continues south until reaching Alabama Avenue near the Old Depot Museum then proceeds west on Alabama Avenue to US 80 Bus. at Broad Street. 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. The spot of the first campsite on the marching route is in the nearby suburb of Casey on the south side of US 80. Following junctions with CR 67, CR 69, CR 43, CR 7 and CR 19, the Byway continues east into Lowndes County. Going through Benton, US 80 passes the western terminus of CR 40, the Lowndes Interpretive Center located between CR 17 and CR 23, the Holy Ground Battlefield and the second campsite of the march. All three sites are located within the city limits of White Hall. Further to the east, adjacent to the Wright Chapel AME Zion Church, lies a memorial to Viola Liuzzo, a mother from Detroit, Michigan killed along US 80 by the Ku Klux Klan for her involvement in the 1965 marches.
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/SR 21 intersects with CR 7 in Mount Sinai, also home to the final march campsite. At the current intersection with CR 403 is the proposed site for the interchange with SR 108 (Future I-85), also known as the Outer Loop Freeway. After the intersection with CR 17, the Byway enters Montgomery proper, intersecting with CR 103 and CR 15, before becoming a short one mile long freeway with an interchange at US 31. SR 21 and the Byway leave US 80 and head north concurrent with US 31. At South Boulevard, US 31 heads northwest, while SR 21 heads east. The Byway continues north on Mobile Highway, then curves right onto Fairview Avenue. It heads north on Oak Street just before I-65, then east on Jefferson Davis Avenue under I-65, going north on Holt Street. At Day Street (which eventually becomes I-85), it heads east for one block to Mobile Street, then goes northeast on Mobile, Goldthwaite and Montgomery Streets. In downtown Montgomery, the Byway makes a short jog down Court Street to head east on Dexter Avenue, passing the Civil Rights Memorial and ending at the Alabama State Capitol building. 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.
On South Boulevard, US 80 picks up a concurrency with US 82 (SR 6) and SR 21 again, heading east. US 331 and SR 9, a hidden state route designation, head north on Court Street to end at US 80/US 82/SR 21. Though the intersection of South and Court is the northern terminus of US 331, the SR 9 designation begins a concurrency with US 80 and US 82 heading east. At the intersection of Troy Highway, US 82 heads southeast away from Montgomery while US 231 (SR 53) comes in from the southeast on the same highway. Now concurrent with US 231, the concurrent highways curve to the northeast towards I-85. US 80 leaves US 231, SR 21 and hidden SR 9 at the interchange with I-85 Exit 6.
Montgomery to Georgia Leaving Montgomery, US 80 is concurrent with I-85. There are interchanges at SR 271 and SR 126 as well as a flyover with a completed portion of the SR 108 Inner Loop Freeway. At Exit 16, US 80 leaves the Interstate, sharing a brief concurrency with SR 126 into Waugh, where SR 126 splits off heading west to Mount Meigs. This is the spot where US 80 picks up the route of the Old Federal Road. US 80 heads east passing CR 200 going into Macon County. US 80 has two junctions with CR 2 and CR 97 south of Tysonville before entering Shorter. After a junction with CR 28, US 80 has a junction with a section of Old Federal Road heading through the heart of Shorter, then reaches the southern terminus of SR 38, going east towards Tuskegee. There are intersections with CR 7 at Polecat Springs, CR 9 at Calebee, SR 85 and SR 13 at La Place, CR 29 east of La Place, CR 49 near Liverpool as well as CR 81, CR 18 and CR 67 right before entering the Tuskegee City limits. US 80 is known as Martin Luther king Highway after the late Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. On the west side of town, the highway serves as the southern terminus of CR 51 and northern terminus of CR 3. The intersections with Main Street, Westside Street and Fred Gray Street at the south end of the town square serves as the southern terminus of SR 81 as well as the western end of a concurrency with US 29 (SR 15), which comes in from the southeast on Main Street.