U.S. Route 278 in Alabama

U.S. Route 278 (US 278), mostly internally designated by the Alabama Department of Transportation as State Route 74 (SR 74), is a major east–west U.S. highway across the northern part of the U.S. state of Alabama. West of Hamilton, SR 74 continues west to end at US 78 (unsigned SR 4), while US 278 turns south along US 43/SR 17/SR 171 to Guin, where it turns west along SR 118 to the Mississippi state line.

US 278 enters Alabama near Sulligent. After passing through the city, the route continues on a winding path until it reaches Guin, where it turns north and gains U.S. 43. It then junctions with I-22/US 78. It eventually reaches Hamilton, where it turns off of U.S. 43's right of way.

Leaving Hamilton, the route enters the Warrior Basin, meandering along rugged terrain. After traversing Bankhead National Forest, the route climbs up Brindley Mountain. There are several major grades (mostly uphill heading west and downhill heading east) as the route continues to Interstate 65 and downtown Cullman, where it reaches U.S. 31.

East of Cullman, the route follows a relatively straight route to its intersection with U.S. 231, descending down Brindley Mountain in the process. The route crosses several mountain valleys and plateaus, including the southernmost extent of Sand Mountain before descending towards the Coosa River. It is concurrent with U.S. 431 through Attalla, where it has a brief concurrency with U.S. 11 and crosses Interstate 59, and Gadsden, where it crosses the Coosa River and intersects U.S. 411. On the eastern side of the city, the route turns off the U.S. 431 right of way, heading east towards Piedmont.

Leaving Piedmont, the route begins its climb into the Piedmont, crossing into Georgia west of Cedartown.

From its creation in 1955 to 1965, US-278 followed a very different route from Whitehouse to Double Springs. It followed SR-129 from Whitehouse to Haleyville; In Haleyville, the route followed SR-13 to SR-195. It would then follow SR-195 to Double Springs, where it would turn onto its present-day routing. Oddly, State Route 74 followed the present day routing between the two cities via Natural Bridge from 1956 onward.^[2][3]

The routing of U.S. Route 278 in between Double Springs and Cullman has witnessed several minor changes from 1955 to the present day. From its creation until at least 1985, the route followed present-day Winston County Roads 3800 and 3700, crossing Brushy Creek at a now-abandoned bridge before climbing up to join its present-day route into Addison. On the east side of Addison, the route followed Main Street, descending down and crossing Blevens Creek at another abandoned bridge before rejoining the modern-day route.^[4] Both of these routings have been replaced with straighter routings. On the west side of Cullman, the route previously descended down into a hollow where it proceeded to cross Vest Creek before climbing up the hollow and rejoining the modern-day routing; this routing was replaced in 2012 with a much straighter bridge across the same creek.^[5] Until at least 1997, the route followed 4th Street into Cullman, where it engaged in a short concurrency with U.S. Route 31 before rejoining the modern-day route; this was replaced with the modern-day routing along 3rd Street.^[5]

During the 1960s–1980s, there were some different variations of the routing of US 278 through the cities of Gadsden and Attalla, however construction of four-lane segments on the western side of Gadsden and in Attalla allowed the highway to be placed on its current route which has been in place since the mid-1980s.

Until the mid-1980s, a US 278 Business (US 278 Bus.) existed in the city of Piedmont. US 278 is carried on a four-lane segment that bypasses the center of Piedmont. US 278 Bus. began where the four-lane segment began on the northeast side of Piedmont, then traveled southwest into the center of the city and intersected SR 9 and then traveled to the north, concurrent with SR 9 until it intersected the four-lane US 278 on the northern edge of the city.

A four-laning project is ongoing east of Gadsden near the town of Hokes Bluff.

State Route 74 (SR 74) exists mostly as the unsigned state route for all of US 278 throughout the state, east of Hamilton. It is signed however along a separate 4.9-mile-long (7.9 km) east-west segment in Marion County. Consisting of the former alignment of US 78 on the western side of town, it connects Hamilton with I-22. It is entirely a rural, two-lane highway except within Hamilton, where it is an undivided four-lane boulevard and is known as Bexar Avenue W.^[6]

The entire route is in Marion County.

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