Government Street is the name given to portions of U.S. Route 90 (US 90) and US 98 within the

city limits City limits or city boundaries refer to the defined boundary (real estate), boundary or border of a city. The area within the city limit can be called the city proper. Town limit/boundary and village limit/boundary apply to towns and villages. ...

of Mobile,

Alabama Alabama ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South, Deep Southern regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gu ...

. It is known as Government Boulevard west of Pinehill Drive, and as Government Street east of it. It is the most important road on Mobile's far south side and is the only nominally east–west road on Mobile's south side to enter the city from outside the western city limits and reach the downtown business district. The only other two east–west thoroughfares in the city to do so are Moffett Road/Springhill Avenue and Old Shell Road. Government Street is a four-lane highway throughout the city limits, from Water Street to the western city limits. It is the only thoroughfare in Mobile to have interchanges with both Interstate 10 (I-10) and

I-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 ...

within the city limits.

Route description

Government Street begins at the

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 ...

with the Old Spanish Trail on Blakeley Island, east of where it emerges from the Bankhead Tunnel. It expands after crossing Royal Street. US 98 leaves the route at Broad Street, with the remainder of Government Street continuing as US 90. It continues onward for approximately to Pinehill Drive, where it becomes Government Boulevard. It then continues for approximately until it ends at the southwesternmost limits of the city, in Theodore. This area, along with the Tillmans Corner business district, was annexed into the city in September 2008.

History

The street was laid out and named after the close of Mobile's colonial era, following the demolition of the obsolete Fort Conde. In the early 1820s the marshlands between the

Mobile River The Mobile River is located in southern Alabama in the United States. Formed out of the confluence of the Tombigbee and Alabama rivers, the approximately river drains an area of of Alabama, with a watershed extending into Mississippi, Georg ...

and Royal Street were filled in with the bricks and other material from the demolished fort. Government Street was run westward from the old

esplanade An esplanade or promenade is a long, open, level area, usually next to a river or large body of water, where people may walk. The historical definition of ''esplanade'' was a large, open, level area outside fortress or city walls to provide cle ...

that had been situated beside the river and fort. It has traditionally been a street where Mobile's government-related functions were concentrated. Barton Academy, Old City Hall, the Mobile County License Commissioner Offices, Mobile Government Plaza, the Mobile Public Library, Mobile Bar Association, and Social Security Administration all continue to lie along Government Street. Government had a reputation as the "mansion or millionaire's row" in the city, although many of the largest and grandest of the 19th-century mansions once lining the street were demolished as late as the 1980s. The area east of Houston Street still has many 19th- to early 20th-century mansions that date back to the time when Government was the most prestigious address that one could have in Mobile.

References

{{Mobile, Alabama Streets in Mobile, Alabama U.S. Route 90 U.S. Route 98

Route description

History

See also

References