Gas prices near 35007

Alabaster's fuel life happens at Exit 238, where U.S. 31 crosses Interstate 65 and the Promenade Alabaster shopping center pulls in shoppers from across south Shelby County. This is one of the Birmingham metro's fastest-growing suburbs, with a growth rate well over 60 percent in recent years, and that surge has packed the interchange with stations competing for both highway traffic and a large local base.

The Walmart Supercenter and the big retail centers off Exit 238 anchor the cheaper end, and the sheer volume keeps the surrounding corners in check. With I-65 currently being widened between Alabaster and Calera, the corridor stays heavy with through-traffic, but the cluster of stations around the Promenade prices against each other and against the Walmart fuel, so the local shopper usually comes out ahead of the traveler just passing through.

Demand here is overwhelmingly local and commuter-driven, since Alabaster sits about 20 miles south of downtown Birmingham and feeds a large pool of daily drivers heading north toward the city. That steady base, plus the new District 31 development adding retail south of the existing centers, keeps fresh competition coming to the corridor and tends to work in residents' favor at the pump.