U.S. Route 80 (US 80) is a major U.S. Highway in the American state of Alabama. The Alabama Department of Transportation internally designates the majority of US 80 throughout the state as State Route 8 (SR 8), save for parts of the route throughout Selma and near the Mississippi border. Serving as the main east to west highway through Alabama's Black Belt region, US 80 became well known as the main route for the 1965 Selma to Montgomery marches; it was the route along which the Civil Rights demonstrators walked, from Selma to Alabama, and the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma was the site of Bloody Sunday. The highway was also once a major transcontinental highway reaching from Tybee Island, Georgia, to San Diego, California, but has since been truncated to Dallas, Texas because it was largely replaced by the Interstate Highway System.
US 11 and US 80 at the Alabama state line.
The Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma.
The Alabama State Capitol on Bainbridge Street and Dexter Avenue marks the end of the 1965 marching route.
Post card of the Jackson Motor Court, a Motel on US 80 near Selma
Selma is a city in and the county seat of Dallas County, in the Black Belt region of south central Alabama and extending to the west. Located on the banks of the Alabama River, the city has a population of 17,971 as of the 2020 census. About 80% of the population is African-American.
Image: St. James Hotel, Selma, Alabama Highsmith
Image: Edmund Pettus Bridge 03
Image: National Voting Rights Museum and Institute (27833744111)
Union General James H. Wilson