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U.S. Route 278 in Alabama

section of U.S. Numbered Highway in Alabama, United States

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General referenceInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionSep 2, 2026
Entity authorityQ876878
Source-derived summary

U.S. Route 278 (US 278), mostly internally designated by the Alabama Department of Transportation as State Route 74 (SR 74), is a major east–west U.S. highway across the northern part of the U.S. state of Alabama. West of Hamilton, SR 74 continues west to end at US 78 (unsigned SR 4), while US 278 turns south along US 43/SR 17/SR 171 to Guin, where it turns west along SR 118 to the Mississippi state line.

Route description

US 278 enters Alabama near Sulligent. After passing through the city, the route continues on a winding path until it reaches Guin, where it turns north and gains U.S. 43. It then junctions with I-22/US 78. It eventually reaches Hamilton, where it turns off of U.S. 43's right of way.

Leaving Hamilton, the route enters the Warrior Basin, meandering along rugged terrain. After traversing Bankhead National Forest, the route climbs up Brindley Mountain. There are several major grades (mostly uphill heading west and downhill heading east) as the route continues to Interstate 65 and downtown Cullman, where it reaches U.S. 31.

East of Cullman, the route follows a relatively straight route to its intersection with U.S. 231, descending Brindley Mountain in the process.

Editorial summary

“U.S. Route 278 in Alabama” enters the record as section of U.S. Numbered Highway in Alabama, United States. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Route, Alabama and section can confirm, complicate or overturn.

Editorial reviewA dependable orientation record for establishing vocabulary, names and a first evidence trail. The current 200-word lead offers orientation but no explicit four-digit date, so chronology should not be assumed. The selected authority fields contribute no independent date. Its strongest next move is a source search built around Route, Alabama and section.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

“U.S. Route 278 in Alabama” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Route, Alabama and section provides the most credible route into that argument.

Evidence profile

Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 2, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q876878. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference.

Critical limits

The absence of detail may reflect summary conventions rather than a lack of surviving documentation. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.

Best used for
  • Subject orientation
  • Search vocabulary
  • Locating named sources
Verify next

The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “U.S. Route 278 in Alabama”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow U.S. Route 278 in Alabama primary sources, U.S. Route 278 in Alabama archive and Route research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “U.S. Route 278 in Alabama”?
  2. What terminology or title could unlock a more precise catalogue search?
  3. Which institution is responsible for the underlying evidence?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from U.S. Route 278 in Alabama” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.