U.S. Route 231


U.S. Route 231 is a parallel route of US 31. It runs for from St. John, Indiana, at US 41 to south of US 98 in downtown Panama City, Florida.
One of its most notable landmarks is the William H. Natcher Bridge, a nearly mile-long cable-stayed bridge that connects Rockport, Indiana, to Owensboro, Kentucky, spanning the Ohio River.

Route description

Florida

In Florida, US 231 is paired with unsigned State Road 75. The southern terminus is at Business US 98 in downtown Panama City. The highway is carried by Harrison Avenue until its intersection with US 98. Continuing north, US 231 passes through Youngstown, Fountain, Alford, Cottondale, and Campbellton before entering Alabama. Major intersections include Business US 98, US 98, SR 77, SR 20, Interstate 10, US 90, SR 73, SR 273, and SR 2.

Alabama

In Alabama, US 231 is paired with unsigned State Route 53 from Huntsville to Dothan.
The route passes through mostly straight terrain between the Tennessee state line and Meridianville, which is home to its junction with Bob Wade Lane, which eventually becomes SR 255.
The route descends down a slight hill and enters Huntsville. It becomes a freeway. It junctions with US 72 east/ Sparkman Drive. After a short concurrency with US 72, it splits off onto University Drive. The route almost immediately junctions with Interstate 565. It then junctions with a two-part interchange. Here, it gains SR 53 and loses US 431. The route continues south as a freeway until it reaches a specific point when it becomes a four-lane divided highway. It passes by Redstone Arsenal Gate 3's access road, Hobbs Road. The route continues south until it reaches the Clement C. Clay Bridge. It promptly crosses the Tennessee River into Morgan County.
The route eventually junctions with SR 36. It climbs up Brindlee Mountain into Union Hill. While climbing, the route makes a slight curve from the southwest to the southeast that is easily noticeable on road maps. It then passes through Morgan City and enters Marshall County. However, the climb up Brindlee Mountain is closed as of March 2020 due to severe erosion and cracks in both directions of the road. Traffic is being rerouted along SR-36, SR-67, Interstate 65, and local roads around Morgan County.
The route heads through mountainous terrain to Arab, which is home to its junction with SR 69. This junction is a diamond interchange and is directly above the line with Cullman County.
There are no major junctions in Cullman County.
It eventually crosses the line into Blount County. The road turns to the southwest and junctions with SR 67. It quickly junctions with US 278. Eventually, the route reaches Blountsville, and past Blountsville, the route junctions with SR 79 North. It reaches Cleveland and splits off from SR 79, which continues on its right of way to Birmingham. US 231 then junctions with SR 160 West, which continues on its next right-of-way. It passes through mountains until it reaches Oneonta, which is home to its junction with SR 75. The route climbs up a high hill and descends it, now crossing into St. Clair County.
The route eventually junctions with US 11 and then I-59. It enters Ashville. It junctions with SR 23 and US 411/SR 25 North. After a moderate concurrency with the two routes, US 411 and SR 25 turn southwest towards Leeds. US 231 heads directly south towards Pell City. The route heads through extremely hilly terrain as a two-lane and three-lane road. It reaches Coal City and junctions with SR 144. It continues down through the same terrain to I-20. It reaches US 78 and then SR 34.
US 231 reaches Shelby County. It parallels the Coosa River as it reaches Vincent, which is home to its next junction with SR 25. They continue south to Harpersville. SR 25 junctions with US 231 for the last time here as US 231 turns onto US 280.
The routes then cross into Talladega County. After a long journey to Sylacauga, the route turns off of US 280 at its junction with SR 21, which is a Diamond Interchange. The route enters Coosa County near this point.
In Coosa County, the route junctions with SR 22 in Rockford. It then enters Elmore County after a long journey south.
In Elmore County, there are no major junctions until it reaches SR 9. This point is the line with the city of Wetumpka. The route junctions with SR 14 and SR 170 north of the city. Within the city, the routes junction with SR 111. The routes then enter Montgomery County.
The routes junction with SR 152/Northern Boulevard, a half-beltway around Montgomery. The routes join the half-beltway. SR 152 ends at this point, though. The routes turn from east to south and junction with Atlanta Highway. The routes junction with I-85 and gain US 80. The routes turn to the west. US 231 and US 82 turn to the south. SR 21, US 80, and SR 9 continue onward with US 82 west to I-65, US 331, and US 31. US 82 and US 231 continue onward to Pike Road, which is not a road, but a town. South of here, US 82 turns off of US 231 and US 231 continues onward on a four-lane divided highway into Pike County.
There are no major junctions in Pike County until US 231 reaches Troy. Here, the route junctions with US 29, SR 10 west, and SR 87. US 231 continues southeast to Brundidge, which is home to its junctions with SR 10 east, SR 93, and SR 125. The route then cuts a corner of Coffee County.
There are no major junctions in Coffee County.
The route then enters into Dale County. The route junctions with SR 123 and SR 51 in the far-vicinity of Ariton, Alabama. The route reaches Ozark, which is home to its junctions with SR 27, SR 249, and once again SR 123. In Midland City, the route junctions with SR 134 and SR 605. The route has officially entered the Dothan Metropolitan Area.
In Houston County, the route has no major junctions until it reaches the Ross Clark Circle, which is US 84 and SR 210. This same junction is the junction with US 231 Bus. and the point where SR 53 ultimately leaves its state-wide concurrency with US 231. The route turns south onto the Ross Clark Circle and heads to the junction with US 84 Bus. East/US 84 West. Here, US 84 leaves the Ross Clark Circle. It then continues southeast until it reaches SR 52. SR 52 does not have a business route, unlike US 231 and US 84. The route turns to the full east and junctions with US 431 once again, for the first time since Huntsville, Alabama, alongside US 431 Bus.. This junction marks the southern terminus of US 431. The route turns south off of the Ross Clark Circle with SR 1. It then heads south for the Florida state line. The route junctions with SR 109 in Hodgesville and SR 605 once again in Madrid, before finally crossing the state line into Campbellton, Florida.

Tennessee

US 231 enters Tennessee from Alabama in a concurrency with US 431 until it reaches Fayetteville. North of there it runs through Shelbyville and later passes through the eastern part of the Nashville metro area, passing through the cities of Murfreesboro, and Lebanon. By the time it reaches Bethpage, it joins U.S. Route 31E in another concurrency to the northeast before finally crossing the Kentucky State Line north of Westmoreland. The route is approximately from Tennessee's northern border to its southern border.

Kentucky

US 231 parallels Interstate 65 before reaching Bowling Green. From Bowling Green, US 231 closely parallels I-165 until it reaches Owensboro. At Owensboro, US 231 joins US 60 around the city's east side, which it then follows to just north of Maceo. US 60 then leaves toward the east while US 231 turns to the north, leaving the state via the William H. Natcher Bridge across the Ohio River.
A portion of the Owensboro-area route is relatively new; in 2014, a new section from Kentucky 54 to Kentucky 2830 opened, bypassing the former bypass route. Part of that former route has been renumbered as Kentucky 603. The remainder, south of 603, is partly a dead-end city street and an abandoned lane that will eventually become part of the David Adkisson Greenbelt trail.

Indiana

In Indiana, US 231 has the distinction of being the state's longest continuous highway. It covers approximately in the Hoosier State. US 231 passes through the towns of Dale, Huntingburg, Jasper, and Loogootee before reaching Bloomfield. In Bloomfield, US 231 passes Shawnee Field, a local airport. US 231 slices through central Indiana before reaching Lafayette, where it runs just south of Purdue University. Next it winds northwest along Interstate 65 and then it splits off and terminates at US 41.
Indiana's Major Moves program, which derives its funding from the lease of the Indiana Toll Road to private interests, has made it possible for the state to build many new miles of roadway throughout the state. As part of this program, US 231 is currently being updated to a new-terrain four-lane highway from the Indiana-Kentucky border through Spencer County to Interstate 64. This segment of US 231 has been named the Abraham Lincoln Memorial Parkway.
As of April 2011, the Lincoln Parkway is complete from the Kentucky line to the interchange at I-64 and the bypass of Dale at the northernmost end of the project. It is a fully operational partial cloverleaf and the previous two-lane 231 overpass has been demolished. It has been replaced by a new four-lane overpass.
The section from SR 162 to Indiana State Highway 70 near Chrisney was the last to be opened, after a ribbon-cutting ceremony on March 15, 2011, much sooner than the original July 2011 projected date.
In addition to the Spencer County project, a four-lane bypass of the Dubois County cities of Huntingburg and Jasper is also in the planning stages, but funding has not been secured. A firm timetable for construction has yet to materialize.

History

U.S. Route 152 was commissioned in 1934, connecting Indianapolis with Hammond. It followed US 52 from Indianapolis to northwest of Lafayette, where it turned north to end at US 20 in Hammond. In 1938, the route was decommissioned, and became a southern extension of State Road 53 from northwest of Lafayette to Crown Point, a new State Road 152 from Highland to Hammond, and was simply dropped in favor of the overlapping US 52, State Road 8, and US 41 elsewhere. These parts of SR 53 and SR 8 became US 231 in 1952, when US 231 was extended north from Montgomery to US 41 south of St. John.

Kentucky Route 71

In Kentucky, US 231 was originally signed as Kentucky Route 71. KY 71 originally ran from Scottsville to Owensboro. Portions of the original KY 71 in Butler County was rerouted to a bridge over the Green River in the early 1950s, replacing the Morgantown Ferry. In 1952, US 231 replaced the entire alignment of KY 71 in its entirety.

Major intersections

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