Bessemer Super Highway

This article is about the highway, for the hip hop album, see 2Lue.

Bessemer Super Highway (or Bessemer Superhighway, originally the Birmingham-Bessemer Boulevard) is the section of U. S. Highway 11 connecting the cities of Bessemer and Birmingham. Between Border Street and Western Hills Mall, it is called Bessemer Road.

The divided four-lane highway, the first in the state, replaced a circuitous route through West End, Powderly and Lipscomb which was slowed by numerous railroad grade crossings. It was designed in the 1930s by Alabama State Highway Department engineers who used the German Autobahn system as a model. The chosen route followed a nearly straight line from 3rd Avenue West in Fairview, past the Alabama State Fairgrounds at Five Points West to 19th Street North in the heart of downtown Bessemer. It continues through Bessemer as 9th Avenue North.

As the project proceeded, many of the rail lines along the route were elevated on steel and concrete trestles to bridge over the highway. The new highway itself was raised onto a long viaduct, later named the Mary Bryant Bridge, as it crossed over rail yards on the way into Bessemer.

Due to the shortage of funds prevailing during the Great Depression, the State set aside plans to build large interchanges that would allow for limited freeway access. Had it been built according to the initial designs, the Bessemer Super Highway would have been distinguished, ahead of the Merritt Parkway in Connecticut and the Pennsylvania Turnpike, as the first freeway in the United States. In 1940 the highway department did install lighting along the entire route, thus creating what was, at the time, the longest "white way" east of the Rocky Mountains.

The Super Highway, as it quickly came to be known, spurred the development of new businesses catering to the driving public in the post-World War II boom. The corridor's economic growth continued nearly unabated until the completion of I-59/20.

In 2010 the Regional Planning Commission of Greater Birmingham proposed a revitalization plan for the Super Highway anchored by improved mass transit. The transit corridor would include primary stops at Five Points West, Aaron Aronov Drive/B. Y. Williams Drive, downtown Bessemer, Academy Drive, and Eastern Valley Road. Commercial revitalization would be encouraged at those intersections.

Notable locations

Midfield

• Weibel Drive/Aaron Aronov Drive (north) / B. Y. Williams Drive (south) intersection, road continues east as Bessemer Road
  • South side
    • 100: Egg Roll Express, former location of Golden Skillet fried chicken (1975)
    • 104: Wendy's
  • North side
    • Western Hills Plaza shopping center (extends into Fairfield)
      • 101: Walgreen's / Western Union
      • 103: Henderson's
      • 127: Riviera Fitness Center
      • 137: Check 'N Go / Top Fashion
      • 141: Shoe Show Mega Store
      • 155: Hair Show
      • 157: Citi Trends
      • 165: Fred's
    • 199: Mutual Savings Credit Union
• Brookwood Road East / Brookwood Road West intersects (south only)
  • South side
    • 500: Midfield Motor Co.
  • North side
    • 401: T & M Wholesalers
• Woodward Road intersects
  • South side
    • 506: Adamson West, former location of Bill Byrd Kia
    • 512: former location of Angry Revolt head shop
    • 560: King Boyz Towing / U-Haul neighborhood dealer
    • 580: Midfield Paint, Body & Mechanic Shop
    • 588: Coram Wholesale Used Tires, former location of Ingels Evinrude (1978)
  • North side
    • 549: DriveTime Inspection Center
    • 555: Auto Professional Car Sales
    • 575: Public Storage
    • 587: Rockett's Car Audio Window
    • 589: JCCEO Midfield Energy Office
    • 591-623: Woodfield Square shopping center
      • 591: The Game Room
      • 601: Onyx House of Style
      • 605: Octapharma Plasma
      • 613: Fresenius Kidney Care Midfield
      • 623: Acceptance Auto Insurance
• Etheridge Drive intersects (north only)
  • South side
    • 650: International Auto Wholesalers
    • 652: Phil's Tint & Alarm
    • 654: TitleBucks
    • 656: AutoZone
  • North side
    • 631: Western Health Center
• Wilkes Road (north) / Cairo Avenue (south) intersects, numbering from Birmingham ends
  • South side
    • 5323: Lavada's Flowers
    • 5317: Valhalla Funeral Home
    • 5301: Pop-In 'N'-Out / Citgo gas station
    • 5275: Lloyd's Auto Sales
  • North side
    • 5410: Church's Chicken
    • 5400: former location of Paulson's Restaurant and Ma Reatha's
    • 5320: O'Reilly Auto Parts
    • 5300: Chevron gas station / Fedcorp

Brighton

• Wilkes Boulevard (north) Sugar Ray Drive (south) intersects
  • South side
    • 5228 [sic]: Car Circus / Circus Pawn Shop
    • 5227: Hatcher Law Office
    • 5205: Astro Auto Dismantlers
    • 5203: Blue Bird Tires
    • 5201: Blue Bird Sunoco, formerly Blue Bird BP
    • 5131: former location of Westwood Auto Parts
    • 5137-5163: Smart Bidz electronics
  • North side
    • 5233 [sic]: Church of God In Christ Alabama State Headquarters
    • 5204: Bre's Restaurant & Catering, former location of Angela's Southern Style
    • 5200: Great Start day care center
• Bessemer Avenue (north) / Martin Luther Avenue (south) intersects

Brighton (north side) / Birmingham's Roosevelt neighborhood (south side)

• Rose Avenue intersects (Bon-Aire Community)
  • • 5170: former location of Anthony Underwood Automotive (2011-2014)
    • 5000: former location of Piggly-Wiggly, Sav U Foods (-2012)
    • 4901: Intensive Care Beauty Salon
    • 4601: Birmingham Fire Station No. 11 (2005)

Brighton

• • • 4539: Ace Motel
    • 4517: RCP Auto Parts, former location of Wigwam Village #5 motor court
    • 4510: Club Grasshopper
    • 4500: Exxon gas station
    • 4400: Holiday Mobile Home Park
    • 4341: Family Dollar
    • 4315-4321: Holiday Bowl (built 1959)
    • 4301: Hiway Host Motel (originally the first Holiday Inn in Alabama and the first location of Michael's steak house)
    • 4200: Long Lewis Western Star
    • 4201: Terrace Oaks Care & Rehabilitation Center

• • • 4006: Anthony Underwood Automotive (2015-)
    • 4005: Los Diaz Tienda Mexicana

Bessemer

Addresses in downtown Bessemer are generally on 9th Avenue North.

• • Auto Movies #1 (Alabama's first drive-in cinema and the 17th in the US)
  • Sound of Birmingham recording studio
  • Whitson's Famous Foods
• 19th Street North Bessemer intersection (continues as 9th Avenue North)
• Bessemer veterans memorial

References

• Holley, Joe (n. d.) "Bessemer Super Highway" Archiblog/AL.com
• Norris, Toraine (April 27, 2010) "Plans in works to revitalize Bessemer Superhighway area." The Birmingham News
• Norris, Toraine (April 27, 2010) "History of Bessemer Superhighway." The Birmingham News