State Route 5 (SR 5) is a south–north

state highway A state highway, state road, or state route (and the equivalent provincial highway, provincial road, or provincial route) is usually a road that is either Route number, numbered or maintained by a sub-national state or province. A road numbered ...

in the western part of the U.S. state of

Alabama Alabama ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South, Deep Southern regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gu ...

. Prior to the renumbering of the highways of Alabama in 1957, it extended from Mobile north to the

Tennessee Tennessee (, ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Kentucky to the north, Virginia to the northeast, North Carolina t ...

state line and was one of the major routes between Mobile and

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Road Map: United States
Rand McNally & Company, 1953: note how SR 5 is one of only a few highways that are not U.S. Highways shown on the map of Alabama
Archived
October 24, 2009. It has since been shortened to about half of its former length, having been superseded by newer highways such as Interstate 65 (I-65).

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 U.S. Route 43 (US 43) at Thomasville. For the next , it proceeds northeasterly towards Birmingham, passing through the rural areas of the Black Belt; much of this segment is a two-lane road. In northern Bibb County, SR 5 joins

US 11 U.S. Route 11 or U.S. Highway 11 (US 11) is a major north–south United States Numbered Highway extending across the eastern U.S. The southern terminus of the route is at US 90 in Bayou Sauvage National Wildlife Refu ...

I-20 I20, I 20 or I-20 may refer to: * Interstate 20, a highway in the southeastern United States * I-20 (form), a United States government document that provides supporting information for the issuance of a student visa or change of status * I-20 (rap ...

, and I-59, and these continue their route to the northeast. SR 5 travels concurrently with US 11 for between

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and Birmingham. The second section of SR 5 begins near the historic

Legion Field Legion Field is an outdoor stadium in the southeastern United States in Birmingham, Alabama, primarily designed to be used as a venue for American football, but occasionally used for other large outdoor events. Opened in 1927, it is named in ...

stadium in Birmingham, where US 11 and SR 5 intersect with

US 78 U.S. Route 78 (US 78) is an east–west United States Numbered Highway that runs for from Swifton, Arkansas, to Charleston, South Carolina. From Byhalia, Mississippi to Graysville, Alabama, US 78 runs concurrently with Inters ...

. At that point, the concurrency of US 11 and SR 5 ends, and the -long concurrency of US 78 and SR 5 begins. US 78 and SR 5 formerly traveled concurrently from Birmingham to

Jasper Jasper, an aggregate of microgranular quartz and/or cryptocrystalline chalcedony and other mineral phases, is an opaque, impure variety of silica, usually red, yellow, brown or green in color; and rarely blue. The common red color is due to ...

, passing through the Birmingham suburbs of Forestdale, Adamsville, and Graysville. With the completion of much of I-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 U.S. Route 278 (US 278) is a parallel route of US 78. It currently runs for from Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, to Wickes, Arkansas at US 71/ US 59, passing through five states in the process. Landmarks along its route incl ...

and SR 13 at

Natural Bridge A natural arch, natural bridge, or (less commonly) rock arch is a natural landform where an arch has formed with an opening underneath. Natural arches commonly form where inland cliffs, coastal cliffs, fins or stacks are subject to erosion fro ...

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

, where traffic could continue to Birmingham on SR 2 (US 11). SR 43 split from SR 8 (US 78) at

, taking traffic from Montgomery via US 78 to Phil Campbell. SR 43 also traveled 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 Florence ( ; ) is the capital city of the Italy, Italian region of Tuscany. It is also the most populated city in Tuscany, with 362,353 inhabitants, and 989,460 in Metropolitan City of Florence, its metropolitan province as of 2025. Florence ...

, and SR 50 to the Tennessee state line, where the road became

Tennessee State Route 6 State Route 6 (SR 6) is a State highway (US), state highway that is unsigned highway, unsigned. It travels through the Central Tennessee, central part of the U.S. state of Tennessee from Lawrence County, Tennessee, Lawrence County to S ...

towards Lawrenceburg and

Nashville Nashville, often known as Music City, is the capital and List of municipalities in Tennessee, most populous city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County in Middle Tennessee, locat ...

Rand McNally Rand McNally is an American technology and publishing company that provides mapping software and hardware for consumer electronics, commercial transportation, and education markets. The company is headquartered in Rosemont, Illinois with a di ...

br>Auto Road Atlas
1926 State Highway Department of Alabama
System of State Roads
revised January 1, 1927 By late 1928, a large renumbering of highways had been carried out. The new SR 5 stretched from Mobile to Tennessee via Birmingham and

, 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 the new SR 5 were linked between somewhere near Woodstock and Jasper by a concurrency with SR 7 (US 11) and SR 4 (US 78) via Birmingham. General Drafting Company
State Road Map of Alabama
Fall of 1928 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. General Drafting Company
State Road Map of Alabama
1933 General Drafting Company
State Road Map of Alabama
November 1934 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

, was added to the state highway system as SR 195. Alabama State Highway Department
Alabama Highways
1949 Alabama State Highway Department
Alabama State Highway System
1951 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 concurrencies 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 SR 5, leaving it a reflected C-shaped route, with both ends of connecting with US 43, and its eastmost point in Birmingham. Alabama State Highway Department
1955-1956 Official Highway Map
/ref> Alabama State Highway Department
Official 1957 Alabama Highway Map
/ref> In 2020, the intersection of SR 5 and CR 58 in Brent was converted to a

roundabout A roundabout, a rotary and a traffic circle are types of circular intersection or junction in which road traffic is permitted to flow in one direction around a central island, and priority is typically given to traffic already in the junct ...

. An

urban legend Urban legend (sometimes modern legend, urban myth, or simply legend) is a genre of folklore concerning stories about an unusual (usually scary) or humorous event that many people believe to be true but largely are not. These legends can be e ...

claims that SR 5 near Lynn is haunted by the spirit of a teenage girl who was killed by a truck driver.

Major intersections

References

External links

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Transportation in Clarke County, Alabama Transportation in Wilcox County, Alabama Transportation in Marengo County, Alabama Transportation in Dallas County, Alabama Transportation in Perry County, Alabama Transportation in Bibb County, Alabama Transportation in Tuscaloosa County, Alabama Transportation in Jefferson County, Alabama Transportation in Birmingham, Alabama Transportation in Walker County, Alabama Transportation in Winston County, Alabama

Route description

History

Major intersections

See also

References

External links