Montgomery Highway

Montgomery Highway is an older name for the portion of what is now U.S. Highway 31 as it leads south from Birmingham through Homewood, Vestavia Hills, Hoover, Pelham, Alabaster, and Calera and beyond toward Montgomery. Over the years, some cities along Montgomery Highway have given new names to the highway within their city limits. These include Homewood (Independence Drive), Pelham (Pelham Parkway), and Alabaster (1st Street). The cities of Vestavia Hills, Hoover, and Calera, however, still use the Montgomery Highway name.

Prior to the opening of the Elton B. Stephens Expressway, Montgomery Highway crossed Red Mountain at Lone Pine Gap as 18th Street South. It then came down the mountain into Homewood, turned east on 29th Avenue South, then turned south again to what is now known as Independence Drive, just north of Hollywood Boulevard/Oxmoor Road. At the time, both ends of 29th Avenue were curved to make the route easier for highway traffic, although both 18th Street and Independence Drive (then East Avenue) continued straight past 29th.

In 1937, the highway was improved as a so-called "Trailer Route" with gentler curves than the previously existing Montgomery Highway. The improvements created a wider, straighter route up the north side of Shades Mountain. Portions of the old highway at this point still exist as Old Montgomery Highway.

In Vestavia Hills, the highway's route has remained largely unchanged, although between Kentucky Avenue and Vesthaven Way, a portion of the original highway exists as something of a service road to the main highway.

At the current Interstate 65 interchange, where Montgomery Highway meets Columbiana Road, the former originally followed a route further to the east that is now known as Lorna Road. Just south of where the Riverchase Galleria is now, Montgomery Highway was west of its current route, which still exists as Lorna Road and then Old Montgomery Highway. The old and current routes rejoin again just south of Helena Road.

Locations

Vestavia Hills

For a more detailed list of locations, see Montgomery Highway (Vestavia Hills).

• (continues north as Independence Drive)
  • Sibyl Temple
• Shades Crest Road intersection
  • 513: Vestavia Hills City Hall
  • 600-790: Vestavia Hills City Center
  • 1221: Vestavia Hills Public Library
  • Wald Park
• Patton Creek crossing
• Columbiana Road intersection
• Interstate 65 interchange

Hoover

For a more detailed list of locations, see Montgomery Highway (Hoover).

• Interstate 65 interchange
• Lorna Road intersection
  • 1615: Hoover Commons
• Patton Chapel Road intersections
• Interstate 459 interchange
  • Riverchase Galleria
• John Hawkins Parkway/Lorna Road intersection
• Cahaba River crossing
• Helena Road/Valleydale Road intersection (continues south at Pelham Parkway)