[2] The route was first conceived in the 1960s, but funding issues and pushback from environmental activists have stalled the project for decades with only a short, unused segment being constructed in the mid-2010s.

Additional studies are underway to determine the economic feasibility to continue the route from its proposed northeastern terminus southward to I-20 in the Leeds–Moody area in western St. Clair county.

[citation needed] In September 1993, the Birmingham Metropolitan Planning Organization made a $500,000 request from the Alabama Department of Transportation (ALDOT) for preliminary engineering of the beltline.

[citation needed] In 1997, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) reviewed a number of potential routes for the Birmingham Northern Beltline.

They submitted comments on September 8, 1997, and recommended ALDOT select a shorter, 30-mile (48 km) route due to its smaller environmental impact.

In 2000, the Northern Beltline was added to the area’s Transportation Plan, and, in 2001, Senator Richard Shelby and Congressman Spencer Bachus secured $60 million to buy right of-way and do preliminary engineering for the route.

However, construction of this segment of the interstate, which will be four lanes,[9] was delayed again and ALDOT did not expect to break ground on the resumption of the project until November 2023.

[15] The Northern Beltline is to cross Black Warrior and Cahaba river tributaries in 90 places, including two major sources of drinking water, and could affect 35 wetland areas once constructed.

[16] In late-June 2023, the Southern Environmental Law Center filed a complaint to ALDOT on the project on behalf of the Black Warrior Riverkeeper.

[17] Recent polling has shown that 74% of Birmingham civic and business leaders support the project, but only 54% of the respondents believe that ADOT can complete it by 2050.