State Route 176 (SR 176) was created in September 1980 along previous County/Secondary State Roads 81 and 89 in DeKalb County and part of County/Secondary State Road 89 in Cherokee County. Part of the route took over what had been State Route 275 and forms the northern end of the Little River Canyon Rim Parkway: a scenic, but severely substandard highway following the northern rim of the limestone canyon for 22 miles (35 km).
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State Route 176 only follows half of that route, beginning at State Route 35 south of Fort Payne continuing west for 11 miles (18 km) before forking off from Old State Route 275 at Eberhardt's Point west to the Dogtown community. In the Dogtown community, State Route 176 (which up to that point followed former County Road 81) turns southwest at a four-way intersection along part of what had been Dekalb County Road 89. From there, the route extends into Cherokee County to State Route 68 near Collinsville where the highway ends. The road, however, continues south as Cherokee County Road 3 to Gadsden.
The entire route is in DeKalb County.