The Lost Malls of Huntsville, Alabama

In the mid-1950s, Huntsville, Alabama was a sleepy southern town of sixteen thousand inhabitants. Then came the Space Race, with Huntsville chosen as the site for America's missile research, as well as the development of much of the nation's space program. By the early 1960s, the city was booming.

To facilitate its traffic flow, the first section of Memorial Parkway was dedicated in December 1955. The original 4-lane thoroughfare had just one grade-separated overpass. More were added between 1969 and 2012.

By the 1980s, Huntsville had the dubious distinction of being the largest city in "The Lower 48" with no Interstate Highway connection. A 22 mile spur route -Interstate 565- was dedicated between 1989 and 1991. It linked the Rocket City with Interstate 65 to the west.