Huntsville to Jacksonville FL

[edwaleni]

I am looking for a more effective routing bypassing Atlanta as it seems it always is having some unplanned issues.

I have tried the Marianna/Montgomery/Birmingham routing before.

I also tried the US280 ( 4 lane) routing heading west from Tifton to Columbus. Then over to Birmingham and up to Huntsville. That worked but now suburban traffic east of B-ham on US-280 is getting a bit crazy and while there is an east bypass, it ends at I-59.

Any thoughts about better routing you might have taken?

Recently GM has been pushing an easterly route on US-72 to reach I-75 then south through Atlanta.

[formulanone]

We've been pushed from I-65 south to US 280 around the Birmingham "zone" by Google Maps. It's sometime free from the worst traffic on weekends, but clears up south of Chelsea. US 280 to Tifton/I-75 is okay, you're close enough to food and gas stops, but gets a bit sparse in places.

Have sometimes taken US 31 or 231 or 431 towards/from some spot on I-10, because it's a much calmer trip. Depends on where we've decided to spend the night. This year, it's St. Augustine because we have a spot right on the beach. 

I've usually found the the southwest quadrant of I-285 isn't too bad on Saturday mornings from the HSV-65-20-285-75 route, unless there's been a traffic tie-up along the way. The best and worst thing about the lack of a real Huntsville-Atlanta route is you can customize it a little each time with no huge loss of time.

I do use those trips to Florida as an excuse to pick up some new route mileage in the Panhandle and southern Alabama.   

[Tom958]

I'd be tempted to try US 431 to Gadsden, AL 77 to Talladega, AL 21 to Sylacauga, then US 280-GA 520 to Tifton. At 5:50 AM on Sunday, Google shows it as 15 miles shorter but 42 minutes longer than the preferred route, which... for me, Google always recommends AL 40 and friends through Mentone between Huntsville and Atlanta. Obviously, the distance advantage compared to going through Chattanooga would be much greater, and I wouldn't go through Chattanooga to avoid traffic congestion anywhere else. OTOH, parts of the route are mountainous, and there's a short section on AL 40 with a 13% grade.

I also checked taking GA 133 from Albany to Valdosta. It's 7 miles shorter but supposedly 12 minutes longer. I'm not sure I believe that. I'd be geeky enough to take it because much of it has been four-laned to the more recent standard with narrower medians.

[edwaleni]

We took the "northern" route for the first time today.

From Huntsville:
I565>US72>AL40>AL117>GA48>US27>GA140>I75>I285>I75>I10

8 hours 15 minutes.

ALDOT has it 4 lane to the Tennessee River. But it was 2 lane after on due to crossing several Appalachian ridges. The 4 lane returned east of Gore GA until GA140 and just 2 lane until I75.

One redirection at Atlanta due to an accident downtown, so took the west beltway.

Granted this was an early Sunday drive so we didn't encounter any boats on trailers or RV's struggling with the high grades.

[Rothman]

Probably should be moved to the Road Trips section.

[edwaleni]

Probably should be moved to the Road Trips section.

My bad, never posted for a "direction" before. I searched for Huntsville on the site to avoid any duplication, but didn't think of a topic called "Road Trips".

[freebrickproductions]

The 4 lane returned east of Gore GA until GA140 and just 2 lane until I75.

Sounds like they still haven't finished the widening of GA 140 between GA 53 and Adairsville yet. That section is always one of the more annoying parts of the most "direct" route to Atlanta, hopefully it gets finished before too long.

[edwaleni]

The 4 lane returned east of Gore GA until GA140 and just 2 lane until I75.

Sounds like they still haven't finished the widening of GA 140 between GA 53 and Adairsville yet. That section is always one of the more annoying parts of the most "direct" route to Atlanta, hopefully it gets finished before too long.

Issue was that the 4 lane goes on south to downtown Rome (the road is called "Rome Highway"), but that is not the most direct route to I-75. GA-140 to Adairsville is.

[formulanone]

The 4 lane returned east of Gore GA until GA140 and just 2 lane until I75.

Sounds like they still haven't finished the widening of GA 140 between GA 53 and Adairsville yet. That section is always one of the more annoying parts of the most "direct" route to Atlanta, hopefully it gets finished before too long.

The twist-up where US 411 / 41 "lets go" of GA 20 towards I-75 in Cartersville is also an unavoidable knot.

[Georgia]

I am surprised CW Matthews hasnt finished up the 140 4-laning quicker after they took over for the other construction company that went out of business.