Alabama State Route 5

"AL 5" redirects here. For the congressional district, see Alabama's 5th congressional district.

State Route 5
Route information
Maintained by ALDOT
Length:	197.775 mi (318.288 km)
Major junctions
South end:	US-43 / SR-13 in Thomasville
	SR-14 / SR-183 in Marion US-82 near Centreville I-20 / I-59 / US-11 / SR-7 in Birmingham SR-69 / SR-118 in Jasper
North end:	US-278 / SR-13 / SR-74 in Natural Bridge
Highway system
Alabama State Routes ← SR-4 SR-6 →

State Route 5 is a north–south state highway is the western part of the State of Alabama. While it once extended—prior to the renumbering of the highways of Alabama in 1957—from Mobile north to Tennessee, and was one of the major routes between Mobile and Birmingham, it has since been shortened to about half of its former length, and superseded by newer highways such as Interstate 65 and State Route 157.

Route description

In a way, SR-5 is two separate highways. The first leg of its route begins at the present southern terminus of SR-5 at its intersection with US-43 at Thomasville, Alabama. For the next 135 miles (217 km), proceeds northeasterly towards Birmingham, passing through the rural areas of the Black Belt. In northern Bibb County, SR-5 joins US-11, I-20, and I-59, and these continue their route to the northeast. SR-5 runs on the same pavement with US-11 for 30 miles (48 km) between Woodstock and Birmingham.

The second section of SR-5 begins near the historic Legion Field stadium in Birmingham, where US-11 and SR-5 intersect with US-78. At that point, the overlapping of SR-5, and US-11 ends, and the 13-mile (21 km)-long overlapping of SR-5 and US-78 begins. US-78 and SR-5 formerly ran concurrently from Birmingham to Jasper, passing through the Birmingham suburbs of Forestdale, Adamsville and Graysville. With the completion of much of Interstate 22 in northwestern Alabama, US-78 and SR-5 now split at Graysville, with US-78 now being routed on I-22. At Jasper, SR-5 forks away from the former routing of US-78, continuing through the rural areas of Walker County and Winston County. The northern terminus of SR-5 is at its junction with US-278 and SR-13 at Natural Bridge.

History

In the original numbering of state roads in the mid-1920s, the highway that would become SR-5 had several numbers. SR-6 was the highway from Mobile north via Thomasville to Selma. SR-35 split from SR-6 at Safford and ran northeast near Woodstock, where traffic could continue to Birmingham on SR-2 (US-11). SR-43 split from SR-8 (US-78) at Jasper, taking traffic from Montgomery via US-78 to Phil Campbell.

SR-43 also ran southwest from Jasper to SR-33 at the village of Bankston, though the exact route had not been defined by 1927. From there, travelers could continue north on part of SR-5 to Florence, and SR-50 to the State of Tennessee, where the road became Tennessee State Route 6 towards Lawrenceburg, Tenn., and Nashville, Tenn.

By late 1928, a large renumbering of highways had been carried out. The new SR-5 stretched from Mobile to Tennessee via Birmingham and Florence, and included several former routes: most of SR-6, all of SR-35, most of SR-43, part of SR-5, and all of SR-50. The remainders of SR-35 and SR-43 became parts of SR-22 and SR-18. The old SR-5 was split among several routes. The two halves of new SR-5 were linked between somewhaere near Woodstock and Jasper by overlap with SR-7 (US-11) and SR-4 (US-78) via Birmingham. US-43 was added to the route south of Thomasville and north of Phil Campbell in 1933 or 1934. In between those two, SR-5 used a shorter route, mainly SR-13.

Except for minor relocations and widenings, SR-5 remained the same until the 1950s. Around 1950, a new highway, running southeast from SR-5 at Haleyville to local roads at Natural Bridge, was added to the state highway system as SR-195.

Maintenance by the Alabama Highway Department was extended southeast from Natural Bridge to SR-5 near Jasper by 1957. In that year, in the renumbering of the state highways of Alabama, substantial changes were made to the route of SR-5. Both portions of it that had been co-routes with US-43—south of Thomasville and north of Phil Campbell—became SR-13, which essentially became the unsigned partner to US-43 across the state. SR-13 used a shorter highway between Bankston and Haleyville, joining SR-5 at Natural Bridge and making the north end of SR-5 an overlap with SR-13. US-43 has never been moved to this route.

In addition, SR-5 and SR-195 were swapped between Jasper and Haleyville, giving SR-5 a more direct route that had just been paved. This removed almost half of the original Alalama highway 5, leaving it a reflected C-shaped route, with both ends of connecting with US-43, and its eastmost point in Birmingham.

Major intersections

County	Location	Mile	Destinations	Notes
Clarke	Thomasville	0.00	US-43 (SR-13)
Wilcox		5.710	SR-25 north
	Pine Hill	11.02	SR-10 (MacMillan Avenue)
	Kimbrough	14.05	SR-162 east
Marengo	No major junctions
Wilcox	Catherine	28.10	SR-28
Dallas		35.51	SR-66 west
	Safford	36.77	SR-22 north
	Browns	47.64	US-80 (SR-8)
Perry		58.71	SR-183 south	Southern end of SR-183 concurrency
	Marion	61.18	SR-289 north (Fikes Ferry Road)
		62.94	SR-183 north	Northern end of SR-183 concurrency
		62.18	SR-14 (Martin Luther King Parkway)
		69.86	SR-175 south
Bibb		80.83	SR-25 south	Southern end of SR-25 concurrency
	Brent	83.85	SR-25 north (Main Street)	Northern end of SR-25 concurrency; southern end of SR-25 Truck concurrency (it ends at this intersection)
		87.50	US-82 (SR-6) / SR-25 Truck north / SR-219 Truck south	Southern end of SR-25 Truck concurrency; northern end of SR-219 Truck concurrency
		92.23	SR-219 south	Northern end of SR-219 Truck concurrency (it ends at this intersection)
	Woodstock	105.55	US-11 south (SR-7 south)	Southern end of US-11 concurrency
Tuscaloosa		108.62	I-20 west / I-59 south – Tuscaloosa	Southern end of I-20/I-59 concurrency
		111.77	Abernant, Bucksville (SR-216 west)	I-20/I-59 exit 100
Jefferson		113.89	McAshan Drive	I-20/I-59 exit 104
		117.68	I-459 north – Gadsden, Atlanta	I-20/I-59 exit 106
	Bessemer	119.87	I-20 east / I-59 north – Birmingham	Northern end of I-20/I-59 concurrency
		123.30	SR-150 east (14th Street)
	Birmingham	133.47	US-11 (SR-7) / US-78 (SR-4) (3rd Avenue)	Southern end of US-78 concurrency; northern end of US-11 concurrency
		134.58	I-20 / I-59 to I-65 – Downtown Birmingham
		137.00	Daniel Payne Drive
	Adamsville	141.43	CR-65 (Minor Parkway)
	Graysville	145.46	Flat Top Road – Graysville, West Jefferson
		146.50	I-22 / US-78 west (SR-4 west) – Jasper, Birmingham	Northern end of US-78 concurrency
Walker	Jasper	169.00	SR-69 north	Southern end of SR-69 concurrency
		172.18	SR-69 south	Northern end of SR-69 concurrency
		173.57	SR-195 north
Winston	Natural Bridge	197.78	US-278 (SR-74) / SR-13 south SR-13 north	SR-13 continues north
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi      Concurrency terminus •      Closed/former •      Incomplete access •      Unopened