State Route 55 (SR 55) is a

state highway A state highway, state road, or state route (and the equivalent provincial highway, provincial road, or provincial route) is usually a road that is either ''numbered'' or ''maintained'' by a sub-national state or province. A road numbered by a ...

in the southern part of the U.S. state of

Alabama (We dare defend our rights) , anthem = "Alabama (state song), Alabama" , image_map = Alabama in United States.svg , seat = Montgomery, Alabama, Montgomery , LargestCity = Huntsville, Alabama, Huntsville , LargestCounty = Baldwin County, Al ...

. The southern terminus of the highway is at the

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

state line, where the highway continues as Florida State Road 85 (SR 85). The northern terminus of the highway is at an

intersection In mathematics, the intersection of two or more objects is another object consisting of everything that is contained in all of the objects simultaneously. For example, in Euclidean geometry, when two lines in a plane are not parallel, their i ...

with SR 106 at Georgiana in southern Butler County.

Route description

SR 55 is a continuation of a route heading northward from

Fort Walton Beach Fort Walton Beach is a city in southern Okaloosa County, Florida. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the population was 20,922, up from 19,507 in 2010. It is the principal city of the Fort Walton Beach− Crestview− Destin Metropolitan Statistical Area ...

and

Crestview, Florida Crestview is a city in Okaloosa County, Florida, United States. The population was 27,134 at the 2020 census, up from 20,978 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Okaloosa County. With an elevation of above sea level, it is one of the h ...

. It enters the state at the border town of Florala, where it continues as Florida State Road 85. As the highway heads towards

Andalusia Andalusia (, ; es, Andalucía ) is the southernmost Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in Peninsular Spain. It is the most populous and the second-largest autonomous community in the country. It is officially recognised as a ...

, it travels through the

Conecuh National Forest The Conecuh National Forest in southern Alabama covers , along the Alabama - Florida line in Covington and Escambia counties. Topography is level to moderately sloping, broad ridges with stream terraces and broad floodplains. The Conecuh Trail ...

. The highway intersects

US 29 U.S. Route 29 (US 29) is a north–south United States highway that runs for from Pensacola, Florida to the western suburbs of Baltimore, Maryland in the Southern United States, connecting the Florida Panhandle to the Baltimore-Washington ...

/ US 84 at Andalusia, forming a brief

wrong-way concurrency A concurrency in a road network is an instance of one physical roadway bearing two or more different route numbers. When two roadways share the same right-of-way, it is sometimes called a common section or commons. Other terminology for a concurre ...

, as southbound US 29 shares the same roadway as northbound SR 55, as well as westbound US 84. SR 55 and US 84 are concurrent as they lead northwesterly from Andalusia. At the small community of River Falls, SR 55 splits from US 84 and heads northward towards McKenzie, where it joins with US 31. Just south of Georgiana, US 31 splits from the route which continues to its terminus at SR 106, which connects with Interstate 65 (I-65). The route is now a four-lane highway from its intersection with US 29 just south of Andalusia northward to its terminus with SR 106 and

Interstate 65 Interstate 65 (I-65) is a major north–south Interstate Highway in the central United States. As with most primary Interstates ending in 5, it is a major crosscountry, north–south route, connecting between the Great Lakes and the Gulf ...

near Georgiana. This highway is increasing in popularity with travelers headed to the Fort Walton/Destin area.

History

From its creation in 1928, S.R. 55 has been extremely important to the infrastructure of Alabama. From 1934 to 1955, its routing from McKenzie to

was also a portion of U.S. Route 84. U.S. 84 was rerouted onto a shorter, much more direct route from

Evergreen In botany, an evergreen is a plant which has foliage that remains green and functional through more than one growing season. This also pertains to plants that retain their foliage only in warm climates, and contrasts with deciduous plants, which ...

to Andalusia in 1955. In 1978, S.R. 55 was rerouted onto a new, much less curvy highway from McKenzie to Andalusia, bypassing Red Level - this new routing was a four-lane highway. In the mid-2000s, a bypass of Georgiana - home to its junction with SR-106 - was constructed. This new routing would junction with SR-106 west of Georgiana, continuing west to its junction with Interstate 65 - its present-day junction with the Interstate. On the other hand, its routing south of Andalusia has remained relatively unchanged, with the only major change to the routing being the addition of a bypass of downtown Andalusia in 1995 - thus making SR-55 through Andalusia a Truck-and-Business route complex.Alabama State Roads map
geography.ua.edu Retrieved April 9, 2023

Major intersections

References

External links

{{commons category-inline, Alabama State Route 55 055 Transportation in Covington County, Alabama Transportation in Conecuh County, Alabama Transportation in Butler County, Alabama

Route description

History

Major intersections

See also

References

External links