The highway crosses the
Chattahoochee River from
Alabama into
Columbus where it proceeds along J. R. Allen Parkway through the northern section of the city as a
limited-access freeway. Past Columbus, the road meanders through rural Georgia for roughly en route to
Macon where it becomes the Eisenhower Parkway, so named in 1969 after the death of
Dwight Eisenhower, and crosses
Interstate 475 (I-475) and then
I-75 before traveling through downtown Macon and merging with
US 129/
US 41 Bus. in a
concurrency. The concurrency with US 41 Bus. ends at Walnut Street, and the one with US 129 ends at Riverside Drive. After crossing the Otis Redding Memorial Bridge over the
Ocmulgee River, it has another interchange, this time with
I-16. The highway joins southbound
US 23/
US 129 Alt. and parallels the northern boundary of
Ocmulgee Mounds National Historical Park just east of the city. Beyond Macon, the highway turns southeastward, traveling through the cities of
Dublin, where it encircles the
Laurens County Courthouse. Before the highway leaves Dublin, it is joined by
US 319/
SR 31, where all four highways cross the
Herschel Lovett Bridge over the
Oconee River, entering
East Dublin, where US 319/SR 31 leaves to the northeast. Later it enters
Swainsboro, where it is concurrent with
SR 56, and
Statesboro where it is concurrent with
US 25, and traveling roughly parallel to I-16. On the outskirts of
Savannah, the highway crosses
I-95 and follows Louisville Road into the city's downtown area. After briefly merging with
I-516, US 80 continues eastward along
Victory Drive, just south of Savannah's
historic district. At the community of
Thunderbolt, where Victory Drive ends, US 80 crosses the
Wilmington River and proceeds across the islands and marshes along the Atlantic Coast east of Savannah. There it crosses
Lazaretto Creek onto
Tybee Island. The final stretch of US 80 follows Butler Avenue across Tybee Island. A small monument at the intersection of Butler and Tybrisa Street marks the end of the highway. . The following portions of US 80 in Georgia are part of the
National Highway System, a system of routes determined to be the most important for the nation's economy, mobility, and defense: • From the Alabama state line to the SR 96 intersection in Geneva • From the I-475 interchange to the southern end of the US 129 concurrency in Macon • From the northern end of the US 129 concurrency in Macon to the SR 57 intersection in East Macon • The portion between US 441 Byp./SR 117 and US 441/SR 29 in Dublin • From the western end of the US 25/SR 67 concurrency in Hopeulikit to the US 301 Byp./SR 73 Byp. intersection in Statesboro • From the I-95 interchange in Pooler to an indeterminate point in Tybee Island. ==History==