Area 51 Palmdale facility. A search for a suitable testing site for the U-2 was conducted under the same extreme security as the rest of the project. He notified Lockheed, who sent an inspection team out to Groom Lake. According to Lockheed's U-2 designer Kelly Johnson: The lakebed made an ideal strip from which they could test aircraft, and the Emigrant Valley's mountain ranges and the NTS perimeter, about north of Las Vegas, protected the test site from visitors. The CIA asked the AEC to acquire the land, designated "Area 51" on the map, and add it to the Nevada Test Site.
Alabama State Route 51 reaches its northern terminus at Opelika. When SR 51 was formed in 1940, it covered only the route between Clayton and Midway. The highway was extended to its current southern terminus in 1957, and was extended to its current northern terminus in 1986. Alabama State Route 51 State Route 51 (SR 51) is a state highway in the southeastern and east-central parts of the U.S. state of Alabama. The southern terminus of the highway is at an intersection with U.S. Route 84 (US 84) near New Brockton. The northern terminus of the highway is at an interchange with I-85/US 29/US