U.S. Route 23
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| Image:US 23.svg | |||||||||
| U.S. Route 23 | |||||||||
| Image:US 23 map.png | |||||||||
| Length: | 1535.66 mi[1] (2471.41 km) | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Formed: | 1926[2] | ||||||||
| South end: | Image:US 1.svgImage:US 17.svg US 1/17 in Jacksonville, FL | ||||||||
| Major junctions: | Image:I-95.svg I-95 in Jacksonville, FL Image:I-16.svgImage:I-75.svg I-16/75 near Macon, GA Image:I-20.svg I-20 in Atlanta, GA Image:I-40.svg I-40 near Asheville, NC Image:I-64.svg I-64 near Ashland, KY Image:I-70.svgImage:I-71.svg I-70/71 in Columbus, OH Image:I-75.svg I-75 in Perrysburg, OH Image:I-94.svg I-94 in Ann Arbor, MI Image:I-96.svg I-96 in Brighton, MI Image:I-69.svg I-69 in Flint, MI | ||||||||
| North end: | Image:I-75.svg I-75 at Mackinaw City, MI | ||||||||
| |||||||||
U.S. Route 23 is a long north-south U.S. highway between Jacksonville, Florida, and Mackinaw City, Michigan. It is an original 1926 route which originally reached only as far south as Portsmouth, Ohio, and has since been extended.
Contents |
[edit] Route description
| Lengths | ||
|---|---|---|
| mi[1] | km | |
| FL | 37.67 | 60.66 |
| GA | 391.69 | 630.74 |
| NC | 109.22 | 175.88 |
| TN | 78.14 | 125.83 |
| VA | 60.91 | 98.08 |
| KY | 258.25 | 415.86 |
| OH | 234.86[3] | 378.20 |
| MI | 364.92 | 587.63 |
| 1535.66 | 2471.41 | |
[edit] Florida
US 23 uses the following unsigned state roads:
- SR 139 from downtown Jacksonville to the 20th Street Expressway in Jacksonville
- SR 15 from the 20th Street Expressway in Jacksonville to Georgia
Except in downtown Jacksonville, US 23 is concurrent with U.S. Route 1 south of Alma, Georgia. US 23 is also concurrent with U.S. Route 301 between Homeland, Georgia and Callahan.
[edit] Georgia
Enter from Florida concurrent with US 1 and US 301 at
- Homeland, leave 301 and continue northwest with 1 but split from US 1 just north of Alma
- Hazlehurst intersect US 221 and begin US 341 concurrency
- McRae intersect with US 280, US 319 and US 441
- Eastman leaves US 341 concurrency
- Cochran begin US 129-ALT concurrency
- Macon intersect: US 41, US 80 and leaves US 129-ALT
- Enter Atlanta as Moreland Ave and leave as Buford Highway
- Gainesville intersect US 129
- Cornelia intersect US 123 and begin US 441 concurrency
- Clayton intersect US 76
- North Carolina state line
Though US 23 roughly parallels Interstate 75 from Macon to Atlanta, and the two routes come within a few miles in Atlanta, U.S. 23 only intersects with I-75 at the Riverside Drive exit in Macon, Georgia. It crosses back over 75 a few miles south. This is the only place that 23 runs west of 75 until many miles to the north, in Perrysburg, Ohio (near Toledo).
[edit] North Carolina
The highway runs concurrent with U.S. 441 between the Georgia state line and Dillsboro, then with U.S. 74 through Waynesville, followed by U.S. 19 through Canton and Enka-Candler. North of Asheville, the highway follows I-26 to the Tennessee state line.
[edit] Tennessee
US 23 runs concurrently with the newly-upgraded I-26 from the North Carolina state line past Johnson City and Kingsport. Just west of Kingsport, I-26 stops but US 23 continues to run north to the Virginia State Line.
[edit] Virginia
US 23 extends for 61 miles through extreme Southwest Virginia with the southern point beginning at Weber City and the northern point ending at Pound. It runs concurrent with US 58 and US 421 from Gate City to Duffield. It crosses the Clinch River near Clinchport. From Duffield to Big Stone Gap, it passes through the Jefferson National Forest. The entire route is a four-lane divided highway.
US 23 passes through the following cities and counties in Virginia as well: Gate City in Scott County, Norton (an independent city), and Wise in Wise County.
[edit] Kentucky
US 23 enters Kentucky at Jenkins in Letcher County and then proceeds in a northerly direction thru Pike, Floyd and Johnson Counties into Lawrence County where it then proceeds along the left bank of the Big Sandy River into Boyd County and thence along the left bank of the Ohio River thru Ashland into Greenup County and on to South Portsmouth, where it crosses the Ohio River north into West Portsmouth, Ohio. The Kentucky portion of the route is mainly four-lane divided.
[edit] Ohio
- US 23 crosses the Ohio River from Kentucky and enters Portsmouth.
- US 23 goes through the towns of Lucasville, Waverly, Piketon, Chillicothe, and Circleville, before reaching Columbus.
- US 23 mostly follows High Street in Columbus, which was the original route. However, it now bypasses the central business district and northern Columbus neighborhoods by following the one-way pair 4th Street (northbound) and 3rd/Summit Street (southbound) between the downtown area and Hudson Street, and Indianola Avenue north before returning to its original course on High Street at Morse Road.
- US 23 follows High Street northbound from Columbus, going through Worthington, skirting the village of Lewis Center, entering Delaware at the Cheshire Road intersection.
- After US 23 intersects the northern terminus of Ohio State Route 315 and passes a retail district, it becomes a limited access expressway, bypassing downtown Delaware, before resuming as a freeway with at-grade crossings north of the city.[4]
- At Waldo, US 23 again becomes a freeway. It continues as a freeway throughout most of Marion County, then resumes at-grade crossings with a mix of some freeway-style junctions which are otherwise signalized after the Morral interchange.[4]
- US 23 coincides with divided State Route 15, until it takes a different route at the Carey exit. SR 15 continues on to Findlay, and is designed to allow most traffic to bypass the northern stretch of US 23 by offering a fast connection to Interstate 75.
- US 23 continues north through Carey, Fostoria, and Woodville.
- After Woodville, US 23 intersects with US 20, where it has a coincidental route for several miles.
- US 23 then joins I-75 near Perrysburg, then follows I-475 around the west side of Toledo, passing through Sylvania before entering Michigan. In the portion where I-75 and US 23 overlap, this is a wrong-way concurrency, with southbound I-75 concurrent with northbound US 23, and northbound I-75 concurrent with southbound US 23 in this stretch.
US 23 passes near the birthplace of U.S. President Rutherford B. Hayes in Delaware, as well as near the home of U.S. President Warren G. Harding in Marion.
[edit] Michigan
US 23 is a freeway bypass for Interstate 75 west of Detroit, Michigan, and then the Sunrise Side Coastal Highway along the shore of Lake Huron to its end at Mackinaw City.
US 23 crosses the former path of the now defunct M-23 (now US 12) south of Ann Arbor.
[edit] History
| This section does not cite any references or sources. Please improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources. Unverifiable material may be challenged and removed. (September 2007) |
[edit] Florida
US 23 was extended into Florida along U.S. Route 1 in 1951. When the 20th Street Expressway was built around downtown Jacksonville, U.S. Route 1 was moved but US 23 remained. It has never changed its route in Florida, though at one time it was planned to extend south, maybe to Fort Myers via US 17, SR 19, SR 33, US 98, US 17, and SR 31.
[edit] Drug taskforce
Law enforcement officials from Ohio and Kentucky set up the "US Route 23 Drug Taskforce" in 1996 to patrol the highway for drug trafficking, attempting to halt a major artery of drug networks bringing high quality cannabis (outdoor sativa) grown in Kentucky, North, for distribution in Ohio and elsewhere. Signs can be spotted along Route 23 from Columbus, Ohio to Portsmouth, Ohio warning traffickers that efforts have been taken to prevent their actions.
Some random police stings have been set up at portions of the highway.
[edit] See also
[edit] Related routes
[edit] References
- ^ a b DeLorme Street Atlas USA 2007, Driving Directions. Retrieved on 2007-07-20.
- ^ Oklahoma Department of Transportation. 1926 United States Numbered Highways [map]. Retrieved on 2007-07-20.
- ^ Technical Services Straight Line Diagrams. Ohio Department of Transportation. Retrieved on 2007-07-20.
- ^ a b 2003-2004 Official Ohio Transportation Map. Produced by the Ohio Department of Transportation.
[edit] External links
- US Highways from US 1 to US 830
- US-23 endpoint photos
- Michigan US 23 ends
- US-23 on Michigan Highways (Christopher Bessert)
| Image:US blank.svg | Main U.S. Routes | ||||||||||||||||||
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| 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 | 35 | 36 | 37 | 38 | |
| 40 | 41 | 42 | 43 | 44 | 45 | 46 | 48 | 49 | 50 | 51 | 52 | 53 | 54 | 55 | 56 | 57 | 58 | 59 | |
| 60 | 61 | 62 | 63 | 64 | 65 | 66 | 67 | 68 | 69 | 70 | 71 | 72 | 73 | 74 | 75 | 76 | 77 | 78 | 79 |
| 80 | 81 | 82 | 83 | 84 | 85 | 87 | 89 | 90 | 91 | 92 | 93 | 94 | 95 | 96 | 97 | 98 | 99 | ||
| 101 | 163 | 400 | 412 | 425 | |||||||||||||||
| Lists | U.S. Routes - Bannered - Divided - Bypassed - Portal | ||||||||||||||||||
sv:U.S. Route 23
Categories: Articles with sections needing expansion | Articles needing additional references from September 2007 | Freeways and expressways in Michigan | U.S. Highway System | U.S. Highways in Florida | U.S. Highways in Georgia (U.S. state) | U.S. Highways in Michigan | U.S. Highways in North Carolina | U.S. Highways in Ohio | U.S. Highways in Tennessee | Interstate 75 | Dixie Highway
