U.S. Route 23
U.S. Route 23 or U.S. Highway 23 is a major north–south United States Numbered 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. It was formerly part of the major highway known as the Dixie Highway. The highway's southern terminus is in Jacksonville, Florida, at US 1/US 17. The northern terminus is at Interstate 75 in Mackinaw City, Michigan.
Route description
Florida
US 23 begins at US 1/US 17 at the northern end of downtown Jacksonville, starting as a one-way pair, with the northbound lanes meeting with Florida State College at Jacksonville. It is also unsigned State Road 139 from its southern terminus to its interchange with US 1 in northwestern Jacksonville. West of I-95, US 23 ends the one-way pair, continuing as Kings Road through northwestern Jacksonville, as an off-grid road. A few miles to the west, US 23 meets with US 1/SR 15, becoming concurrent with the highway through the rest of its journey through Florida. The road continues northwest, intersecting with I-295 and eventually makes its way out of Jacksonville. At Callahan, US 1/US 23 meets with US 301, beginning a three-way concurrency as the road continues northward toward the St. Marys River, leaving Florida and entering Georgia.Georgia
In Georgia, US 23 enters from Florida running concurrently with US 1 and US 301 just south of Folkston. Within Homeland, US 301 branches off and US 23 continues northwesterly with US 1 as a divided four-lane highway toward Waycross where it intersects US 82. US 23 splits from US 1 north of Alma and continues to Hazlehurst as a two-lane highway.In Hazlehurst, US 23 intersects US 221 and begins running concurrently with US 341, a divided four-lane highway designated the Golden Isles Parkway. Continuing into McRae the highway intersects US 280, US 319, and US 441. In Eastman, US 23 leaves US 341 to intersect I-16 near Macon.
US 23 is two lanes from Eastman to the community of Empire, then five lanes with a center turning lane to the Cochran bypass, which is two lanes. In Cochran, US 23 runs concurrently with US 129 Alternate. North of Cochran, it is undivided four lanes for to the junction with State Route 96 in Tarversville, then two lanes for the next to the junction with I-16 near Macon near old Camp Wheeler. North of I-16, US 23, known as Ocmulgee East Boulevard, turns on Emery Highway and then turns onto Spring Street before crossing under I-75 and the Ocmulgee River. After the river, US 23 turns onto Riverside Drive, then parallels the Ocmulgee River and I-75, US 41, and US 80, and leaves US 129 Alt. US 23 then crosses I-75 again and continues to Jackson.
In Henry County, US 23 continues north concurrently with SR 42. US 23 follows Moreland Avenue concurrently with SR 42 in Clayton County and Metro Atlanta, running for several miles in a perfectly straight and due north–south line, which is also the Fulton–DeKalb county line. The highway then turns onto Ponce de Leon Avenue, splitting from SR 42, to follow US 29, US 78, and US 278. Farther along, US 23 turns onto Clairemont Avenue and onto Buford Highway to leave Metro Atlanta. In Buford, US 23 turns right onto SR 20, then onto I-985. The highway intersects US 129 in Gainesville. At the end of I-985, US 23 then continues concurrently with SR 365 north.
US 23 intersects US 123 in Cornelia and begins following US 441. In Clayton, the highway then intersects US 76.
Though US 23 roughly parallels I-75 from Macon to Atlanta, and the two routes come within a few miles in Atlanta, US 23 only intersects with I-75 at the Riverside Drive exit in Macon. It crosses back over I-75 a few miles south. This is the only place that US 23 runs west of I-75 until many miles to the north, in Perrysburg, Ohio,.
North Carolina
The highway runs concurrent with US 441 between the Georgia state line and Dillsboro, then with US 74 through Waynesville as the Great Smoky Mountains Expressway, followed by US 19 through Canton and Enka–Candler. West of Asheville, the highway follows I-26 to the Tennessee state line.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 and I-81, I-26 stops at the junction with US 11W, and US 23 continues to run north to the Virginia state line.Virginia
US 23 extends for through far 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 George Washington and Jefferson National Forests. The entire route is a four-lane divided highway. The stretch of highway is known as The Crooked Road: Virginia's Heritage Music Trail and is a symbol of the highway's importance to country music.US 23 passes by the following towns, cities, and counties in Virginia as well: Gate City in Scott County; Norton ; and Big Stone Gap and Pound in Wise County.
Kentucky
US 23 is known as the "Country Music Highway" as it enters Kentucky from Virginia after crossing Pound Gap near Whitesburg. Loretta Lynn, Dwight Yoakam, Billy Ray Cyrus, Patty Loveless, Crystal Gayle, Chris Stapleton, Hylo Brown, and more are all noted along US 23's path through Kentucky. US 23 combines with US 119 near Pikeville and continues northward. Just south of Pikeville, it joins US 460 and Kentucky Route 80. It then passes through the Pikeville Cut-Through and US 119 diverges from the route near Coal Run Village. KY 80 splits to the south from US 23 near Prestonsburg, and US 460 splits to the west in Paintsville. US 23 then passes through the outer edge of Louisa and intersects I-64 in Catlettsburg. The highway also begins to run concurrently with US 60 from Catlettsburg to Ashland.In Ashland, US 23 follows Winchester Avenue and then Greenup Avenue through downtown. Winchester Avenue continues north from 33rd Street as US 23 Business until rejoining US 23 at 6th Street. From here, US 23 passes the Ashland Town Center Mall and the Melody Mountain shopping district before exiting the city limits. Continuing north near Bellefonte, the highway passes AK Steel's Ashland Works then enters Greenup County. It passes several shopping centers and downtown Russell and then briefly enters Flatwoods before entering Raceland along the southern banks of the Ohio River. After passing through the cities of Wurtland, Greenup, and South Shore, the highway crosses the Ohio River at South Portsmouth and enters Ohio at Portsmouth.
Since 1999, the entire Kentucky portion is a four-lane highway; in some of the larger cities, there are additional traffic lanes present in both directions. In northeastern Kentucky, from the I-64 junction north into Ohio, some sections are four-lanes undivided, with a double yellow line instead of a median. These are the oldest four-lane sections of US 23 in Kentucky which were upgraded in 1950s and 1960s before divided highways became the design standard. They can be found on US 23 in the cities of Catlettsburg, Ashland, and Russell.
Ohio
The majority of US 23 in Ohio is a divided expressway, with the exception of downtown Columbus and the portion of the route between Carey and US 20 east of Perrysburg.US 23 crosses the Ohio River from Kentucky, enters Portsmouth, and passes through the towns of Lucasville, Piketon, Waverly, Chillicothe, and Circleville, before reaching Columbus. The highway then 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 pairing of 4th Street and 3rd/Summit Street 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 then follows High Street northbound from Columbus, going through Worthington, passing the village of Lewis Center, entering Delaware at the Cheshire Road intersection. After US 23 intersects the northern terminus of State Route 315 and passes a retail district, it becomes a limited-access freeway, bypassing downtown Delaware, before resuming as an expressway with at-grade crossings north of the city.
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. US 23 runs concurrently with divided SR 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 I-75. US 23 continues north through Carey, Fostoria, and Risingsun.
West of Woodville, US 23 intersects US 20, where it has an overlap 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 President Rutherford B. Hayes in Delaware, as well as near the home of President Warren G. Harding in Marion.
Michigan
In Southeast Michigan, US 23 serves as a north–south bypass to the west of Metro Detroit. US 23 enters Michigan as a full freeway, sharing a brief concurrency with US 223 until that highway splits west toward Adrian. US 23 continues north to Ann Arbor, where it intersects I-94 and bypasses the city to the east and north, before turning northbound once more. US 23 shares an interchange with I-96 at Brighton before continuing north to the Flint area, where it begins a nearly concurrency with I-75. The combined freeway passes to the west of Flint, sharing an interchange with I-69, before continuing north toward Saginaw and Bay City.US 23 enters Northern Michigan south of Standish, exiting the I-75 freeway at a trumpet interchange and continuing easterly on a short freeway before intersecting M-13, where US 23 turns northbound along a two-lane road. Beginning here, US 23 follows the shoreline of Lake Huron northerly, passing through cities such as Tawas City, Alpena, and Cheboygan. US 23 ends at a directional interchange with I-75 in Mackinaw City, just south of the approach to the Mackinac Bridge.