University Drive is a major east–west thoroughfare in
Huntsville, Alabama,
following
US Route 72
U.S. Route 72 (US 72) is an east–west United States highway that travels for from southwestern Tennessee, throughout North Mississippi, North Alabama, and southeastern Tennessee. The highway's western terminus is in Memphis, Tennessee and ...
into the city from the west. The highway carries on average approximately 56,000 vehicles a day at .
Route Description
From the west, US 72 enters
Madison County inside the city limits of Huntsville and runs east eventually running through the north tip of the city of
Madison, where it splits Huntsville and Madison's city limits, with Huntsville to the north, Madison to the south. At Jeff Road, the four lane US 72 takes on the name of University Drive and passes to the south of Huntsville Memorial Gardens and over Indian Creek, where it meets Providence Main Street, where it widens to seven lanes.
Continuing east, University Drive passes through multiple shopping centers and car dealerships. University Drive meets Research Park Blvd / Alabama 255 with a
six-ramp partial cloverleaf and passes just to the north of
MidCity Huntsville, formerly
Madison Square Mall. University Drive then passes to the south of Huntsville West Shopping Center. An overpass over
Sparkman Drive
Bob Wallace Avenue and Sparkman Drive are major thoroughfares in Huntsville, Alabama that connect to make a horseshoe-shaped road around the city. The two roads run through several residential neighborhoods and school zones including the Universit ...
with on- and off-ramps provides access to the
University of Alabama in Huntsville. Following the interchange, the road runs under a pedestrian and bicycle bridge and then meets Alabama 53 / Jordan Lane.
University Drive eventually connects to
Memorial Parkway, where US-72 splits off and heads north with US 231/431. Going through the intersection, University Drive narrows to five lanes and intersects Church Street, where it becomes Pratt Ave. Pratt Ave continues east, directly connecting to
Five Points and then runs up
Monte Sano Mountain.
Major intersections
Retail
University Drive is a major commercial thoroughfare through west Huntsville that includes a number of shopping centers, hotels, fast food locations, and other various businesses including two movie theaters, Carmike Huntsville 10 and Madison Square 12.
Shopping Centers:
*
Midcity
*The Fountain
* Northwood Plaza Shopping Center
* Westside Center
Major retail stores include:
*
Trader Joe's
*
Books-a-Million
Books-A-Million, Inc., also known as BAM!, is a bookstore chain in the United States, operating 260 stores in 32 states. Stores range in size from 4,000 to 30,000 square feet and sell books, magazines, manga, collectibles, toys, technology, ...
*
Best Buy
Best Buy Co. Inc. is an American multinational consumer electronics retailer headquartered in Richfield, Minnesota. Originally founded by Richard M. Schulze and James Wheeler in 1966 as an audio specialty store called Sound of Music, it was rebra ...
*
Sam's Club
*
Super Target
Target Corporation (doing business as Target and stylized in all lowercase since 2018) is an American big box department store chain headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It is the seventh largest retailer in the United States, and a compon ...
*
Walmart Supercenter
Transportation
Access to
shuttle buses
Public transport bus services are generally based on regular operation of transit buses along a route calling at agreed bus stops according to a published public transport timetable.
History of buses Origins
While there are indications ...
provided by the city of Huntsville are available along University Drive.
[{{Cite web , url=http://www.huntsvilleal.gov/PublicTran/public_trans.php , title=City of Huntsville Public Transit , access-date=January 10, 2012 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111227074654/http://www.huntsvilleal.gov/PublicTran/public_trans.php , archive-date=December 27, 2011 , url-status=dead ]
See also
*
Huntsville, Alabama
*
Research Park Blvd
*
Governors Drive
*
Memorial Parkway
References
Streets in Alabama
Roads in Alabama
Transportation in Huntsville, Alabama
U.S. Route 72