From Fort Payne, SR 35 is routed along a four-lane divided highway as it heads towards Rainsville. The highway is a four-lane highway from its intersection with US 11 in Fort Payne to its intersection with US 72 in Scottsboro, except for a brief stretch from near its intersection with SR 71 in Section, to the foot of Sand Mountain and the east bank of the Tennessee River, where it intersects SR 40. The Alabama Department of Transportation plans to eventually four-lane this remaining section of the Fort Payne-Scottsboro route. The highway crosses the Tennessee River over the Comer Bridge (southbound) and the Bob Jones Bridge (northbound). A new bridge is under construction to replace the Comer Bridge, and was expected to open in 2012, but finally opened May 2016. In the early 1990s, a section of the highway was rerouted from a dogleg extending from Fort Payne through Pine Ridge to Rainsville along the natural slope of Sand Mountain, to the current four-lane route. The current route reaches the brow of Sand Mountain along a ramp through a manmade gap in the side of the mountain.