U.S. Route 23

U.S. Route 23 (US 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.

Route description

Florida

U.S. Route 23 begins at U.S. Route 1 (Ocean Street) at the northern end of downtown Jacksonville, starting as a one way pair, with the northbound lanes meeting with Florida State College. It is also unsigned State Road 139 from its southern terminus to its interchange with US 1 in northwestern Jacksonville (SR 139 continues east along SR 10A from the end of US 23 to SR 115). 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 (Martin Luther King Jr. Parkway), becoming concurrent with the highway through the rest of its journey through Florida. The road continues northwest, intersecting with Interstate 295 and eventually makes its way out of Jacksonville. At Callahan, US 1/US 23 meets with U.S. Route 301, beginning a three way concurrency as the road continues northward towards the St. Mary's River, leaving Florida and entering Georgia.

U.S. Route 23 in Ohio

U.S. Route 23 (US 23) is a United States Numbered Highway that runs from Jacksonville, Florida, to Mackinaw City, Michigan. In the US state of Ohio, it is a major north–south state trunkline highway that runs from the Kentucky border at Portsmouth, Ohio to the Michigan border at Sylvania, Ohio.

History

Before the establishment of the United States Numbered Highways system in 1926, the route of what would eventually become US 23 was numbered as SR 4 from Portsmouth to Marion; SR 22 from Marion to Carey; SR 63 from Carey to Fostoria; SR 199 from Fostoria to Millbury; and SR 2 from Millbury to Toledo. Over the years, portions of US 23 have been realigned to divided highway, freeway, or expressway portions. Among these are a bypass of Circleville built in 1958; the Marion-to-Carey expressway routing, on which work began in 1962; and a bypass of Chillicothe, on which work began in 1966.

U.S. Route 23 in Michigan

US Highway 23 (US 23) is a United States Numbered Highway that runs from Jacksonville, Florida, to Mackinaw City, Michigan. In the US state of Michigan, it is a major, 362-mile-long (583 km), north–south state trunkline highway that runs through the Lower Peninsula (LP). The trunkline is a freeway from the Michigan–Ohio state line near Lambertville to the city of Standish, and it follows the Lake Huron shoreline from there to its northern terminus. Serving the cities of Ann Arbor and Flint, US 23 acts as a freeway bypass of the Metro Detroit area. Overall, the highway runs through rural areas of the state dominated by farm fields or woodlands; some segments are urban in character in the Ann Arbor, Flint and Tri-Cities areas. The section from Flint north to Standish also carries Interstate 75 (I-75) along a concurrency that includes a segment that carries almost 70,000 vehicles on a daily basis.