State Route 157 (SR 157) is a 91-mile-long (146 km) state highway in the northern and northwestern parts of the U.S. state of Alabama. Its southern terminus is at an intersection with U.S. Route 278 (US 278) approximately 10 miles (16 km) east of Cullman, where it continues as County Road 719. The northern terminus of the highway is at the Tennessee state line northwest of Florence, where it continues as Tennessee State Route 227 (SR 227).
Route description
SR 157 begins at a 4-way stop with US 278. South of the 4-way stop, the road continues as Cullman County Road 719.
Throughout North Cullman, SR 157 is oriented in an east-to-west trajectory, passing by a large Buick/GMC dealership at its junction with U.S. 31, then past several restaurants, and ultimately reaching I-65. In northern Cullman County, the route makes a gradual curve north. The county line with Morgan County is marked in the middle of a steep downgrade/upgrade known as Battleground Mountain for the nearby town of Battleground.
After this descent/ascent, the route winds its way to Danville, where it junctions with CR-55 and CR-41 (Danville Road). It crosses the line into Lawrence County and shortly junctions with SR 36, which leads to Hartselle and Wren.
Eventually, the route reaches Moulton, where it serves as the main north-to-south thoroughfare for the east district of Moulton, which contains most of its restaurants and shops. It eventually junctions with SR 24 (Corridor V) and SR 33.
Past this point, the route passes through Hatton and SR 101. It eventually reaches the Colbert County line and thence junctions with SR 20.
The concurrent routes reach Muscle Shoals, where the route turns north in a concurrency with SR 133, losing SR 20.
Past this point, the route crosses the Tennessee River and the Lauderdale County line. The route passes through Florence on a freeway directly through town, intersecting with U.S. 72 and U.S. 43, also losing SR 133 and gaining SR 17 before and at this specific interchange respectively. On the north side of town, the route re-engages in a concurrency with SR 133 and now SR 17. After a short concurrency, the route drops SR 17 and continues west with SR 133. Eventually, it turns off of the concurrency and heads north, crossing the Tennessee state line directly beside the Natchez Trace Parkway. The route becomes Tennessee SR 227, which loops around and acts as the northern terminus to SR 101.
This route is an important connector between multiple cities in Northwestern Alabama with SR 20, SR 24, and SR 13.
History
Most of the length of SR 157 was constructed between 1957 and 1962.[2][3]
In 1969, the route was rerouted in Cullman County onto a new road, from an older two-lane road. This older routing is now discontinuous and impossible to traverse at once without using the new route, compiled of modern-day County Road 1188, County Road 1181, County Road 1174; and (on the east side of Interstate 65) 'Old Highway 157' and St. Joseph Street NW. After that point, SR 157 was routed onto the modern-day routing, also a two-lane road. This new routing featured an interchange with Interstate 65 and continued straight to U.S. Route 31. Over the last several years, this routing has been widened and extended to be a continuous four-lane divided highway from U.S. Route 31 to the county line; and now extends all the way to U.S. Route 278 on the east side of the city.[4][5][6]
The stretch between SR 36 at Oakville and SR 33 at Moulton was constructed later, between 1967 and 1968.
[7][8] SR 157 has been four-laned along almost its entire length. This project, which began in the 1980s, was finally completed in the summer of 2007.[citation needed]
US 278 / CR 719 east of Cullman
SR 227 at Tennessee state line near Cloverdale
