Construction commenced in 1962 with the initial blasting of the
Red Mountain Expressway Cut and construction of the interchange with Florida Short Route. The latter work was delayed by intransigence from the
Jefferson County Board of Education, which denied crews access to the
Shades Valley High School campus until the
Alabama Department of Transportation secured replacement land for that the one that was condemned for highway use. The Highland Avenue overpass was completed in January 1967. The cut was completed later that year, and the highway opened on April 16, 1970. Originally ending at 2nd Avenue North, its connection with I-20/I-59 and Carraway Boulevard was completed in the 1980s over the site of Birmingham's grand Terminal Station demolished in 1969. When the expressway was originally constructed, a cloverleaf exit was constructed at 1st Avenue North for southbound traffic. An on-ramp was constructed over the cloverleaf and used in the 1970s, but later removed. Currently, although the cloverleaf exit exists, it
is closed to traffic. In the months leading to
1996 Olympics soccer to be hosted in
Legion Field, the
Olympic soccer countdown clock was located on the Highland Avenue overpass. In 2020, a countdown clock was placed in the same position counting down to the
2021 World Games to be hosted in Birmingham. When the 2020 Tokyo Olympics were delayed by
COVID-19, the World Games were delayed until 2022, with the 365 days added to the clock. ==Exit list==