U.S. Route 23 (US 23) is a

United States Numbered Highway The United States Numbered Highway System (often called U.S. Routes or U.S. Highways) is an integrated network of roads and highways numbered within a nationwide grid in the contiguous United States. As the designation and numbering of these hi ...

that runs from

Jacksonville, Florida Jacksonville is a city located on the Atlantic coast of northeast Florida, the most populous city proper in the state and is the List of United States cities by area, largest city by area in the contiguous United States as of 2020. It is the co ...

, to

Mackinaw City, Michigan Mackinaw City ( ) is a village in Emmet and Cheboygan counties in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 846 at the 2010 census, the population increases during summertime, including an influx of tourists and seasonal workers who serve ...

. In the state of

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

, it is a major north–south state highway that runs from the Kentucky border at

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council. Portsmouth is the most dens ...

to the Michigan border at Sylvania.

Route description

The route crosses over the Ohio River via the U.S. Grant Bridge into the city of

. Through downtown Portsmouth, it follows parallel one-way streets; northbound traffic is on Gay Street and southbound on Chillicothe Street. These roads merge into Scioto Trail, which becomes a divided highway north of Rosemount, and again north of Lucasville, through Piketon to just south of Waverly. Within Waverly, the route runs concurrently with State Route 104 (SR 104), in addition to a four-block concurrency with SR 335 that ends in downtown Waverly. The concurrency with SR 104 ends just south of Chillicothe at which point US 23 becomes an expressway. The route bypasses Chillicothe to the east, including a short concurrency with US 35 before once again becoming a divided highway near Kingston. It continues as such through Circleville to the southern edge of Columbus, at the southern junction of Interstate 270 (I-270).

Columbus

In downtown Columbus, the route is applied to a

one-way pair A one-way pair, one-way couple, or couplet refers to that portion of a bi-directional traffic facilitysuch as a road, bus, streetcar, or light rail linewhere its opposing flows exist as two independent and roughly parallel facilities. Descripti ...

. It first jogs easterly via Livingston Avenue (north) and Fulton Street (south) before continuing northerly with northbound traffic on Fourth Street and southbound traffic on Third Street, which becomes Summit Street north of Fifth Avenue. The one-way pair ends at Hudson Street on the border of the SoHud and Glen Echo neighborhoods; both directions of US 23 jog westerly onto Hudson Street before continuing northerly on Indianola Avenue, closely paralleling

I-71 Interstate 71 (I-71) is a north–south Interstate Highway in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes/Midwestern and Southeastern region of the United States. Its southern terminus is at an interchange with Interstate 64 in Kentucky, I-64 and ...

. The route then moves westerly again via Morse Road, then north again onto High Street on the north edge of the East Beechwold neighborhood. North of the northern junction with I-270, High Street becomes Columbus Pike. The section immediately north of the northern junction with I-270 was upgraded with a northbound-only set of express lanes which passes under Dimension Drive, Campus View Boulevard, Radio City Boulevard, and Flint Road, with the former alignment of US 23 providing access to those roads. This configuration, known as the "Trench", opened to traffic in September 2015, and its construction coincides with a reconfiguration of the I-270 exit. After the Trench, US 23 leaves Columbus heading north.

North of Columbus

Heading north, US 23 becomes a four-lane road with a grass median, intersections at street level, and numerous public and private driveways. Starting at a short concurrency with US 42 south of

Delaware Delaware ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Maryland to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and New Jersey and the Atlantic Ocean to its east. The state takes its name from the adjacent Del ...

, the route becomes a freeway through downtown Delaware, intersecting with US 36 and ending the concurrency with US 42. North of downtown Delaware, US 23 becomes a five-lane road, with a center lane dedicated for left-hand turns, from both directions. When it reaches the Delaware Dam and Delaware State Park south of Waldo, a grass median returns. From Waldo to southwest of

Carey Carey may refer to: Names * Carey (given name), a given name * Carey (surname), a surname ** List of people with surname Carey Places Canada * Carey Group, British Columbia; in the Pacific * Carey Island (Nunavut) in James Bay United Kingdom ...

the route is an expressway, all intersections with numbered US and state routes are Interstate-style interchanges, while most county and local streets that intersect, are at street level and unsignaled. US 23 bypasses Waldo,

Marion Marion may refer to: People *Marion (given name) *Marion (surname) *Marion Silva Fernandes, Brazilian footballer known simply as "Marion" *Marion (singer), Filipino singer-songwriter and pianist Marion Aunor (born 1992) Places Antarctica * Mario ...

, and

Upper Sandusky Upper Sandusky is a city and the county seat of Wyandot County, Ohio, United States, along the upper Sandusky River, which flows north to Sandusky Bay and Lake Erie. The city is approximately 59 mi (96 km) south of Toledo and 62 mi ...

to the east. To the east and north of Upper Sandusky, US 23 runs concurrently with US 30 for about . Southwest of Carey the route then departs the expressway passing through Carey, running concurrently with SR 103 while the expressway continues westerly as SR 15. Within Carey, the concurrency with SR 103 ends, and a concurrency with SR 199 begins. The two co-signed routes continue as a rural highway to Fostoria. Within Fostoria, US 23 runs concurrently with SR 18 while turning westerly along Lytle Street, then northerly along the Midblock Underpass in concurrency with SR 12. At the northern end of the expressway, SR 12 departs while US 23, still concurrent with SR 18/SR 199, continues westerly along Tiffin Street, then northerly along County Line Street. SR 18/SR 199 departs within Fostoria city limits, while US 23 continues northerly and becomes Fostoria Road. Northeast of

Bradner Bradner is a village in Wood County, Ohio, United States. The population was 985 at the 2010 census. History Bradner was platted in 1875, and named for John Bradner, proprietor. A post office called Bradner has been in operation since 1876. The ...

, the route has a junction with US 6. Northwest of Woodville, the route runs concurrently with US 20; the highway continues northwesterly to Perrysburg. There, US 23 begins a brief

wrong-way concurrency A concurrency in a road network is an instance of one physical roadway bearing two or more different route numbers. When two roadways share the same right-of-way, it is sometimes called a common section or commons. Other terminology for a concurr ...

with

I-75 Interstate 75 (I-75) is a major north–south Interstate Highway in the Great Lakes and Southeastern regions of the United States. As with most Interstates that end in 5, it is a major cross-country, north–south route, traveling from St ...

, then departs for a concurrency with I-475, the western bypass of the Toledo metropolitan area. US 23 and I-475 run concurrently for the latter route's entire north–south portion, until I-475 departs in Sylvania to become an east–west aligned route. US 23 then continues northerly into Michigan as a freeway.

History

Before the establishment of the

United States Numbered Highway System The United States Numbered Highway System (often called U.S. Routes or U.S. Highways) is an integrated network of roads and highways numbered within a nationwide grid in the contiguous United States. As the designation and numbering of these h ...

in 1926, the route of what would eventually become US 23 was numbered as SR 4 from

; SR 22 from Marion to

; 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–Carey expressway routing, on which work began in 1962; and a bypass of Chillicothe, on which work began in 1966. When first established, US 23 followed its current routing from Fostoria to Woodville, then continued north along present-day Fostoria Road into Millbury and northwest along present-day SR 51 (Woodville Road) into East Toledo. There, it followed East Broadway Avenue, Starr Avenue, and Main Street to the Cherry Street Bridge (now the Martin Luther King Bridge) across the Maumee River. The route then followed Cherry Street (present-day SR 120) to Detroit Avenue ( US 24), before turning west onto Laskey Road and north onto Lewis Avenue. Only a year later, the Fostoria–Toledo routing was shifted westerly, taking a northwest–southeast route that was originally designated SR 63 between Fostoria and Perrysburg, then East River Road into Toledo. It crossed the Maumee River via the Fassett Street Bridge, then followed South, Sumner, Logan, Summit, and Huron streets to rejoin its original routing. The Fostoria–Millbury routing was designated SR 199, and the Millbury–Toledo routing became SR 102, which in turn became present-day SR 51 in 1955. By 1940, US 23 was shifted westerly again in Toledo, taking the Anthony Wayne Bridge to Summit Street, then to Jefferson Avenue and Collingwood Boulevard before rejoining the previous routing. US 23 was realigned to follow Monroe Street northwesterly out of Toledo, joining with the first constructed segment of its current freeway routing in Sylvania. The freeway was extended southerly to US 20 (Central Avenue) by 1964. By 1969, the entire western freeway bypass of Toledo was complete, carrying the current routings of both US 23 and I-475. In addition, US 23 and SR 199 were swapped north of Fostoria in 1969, as US 23 reverted to its pre-1927 routing between Fostoria and Woodville, then running concurrently with US 20 from there to Perrysburg. The 1927–1969 routing of US 23 between Fostoria and Perrysburg thus became part of SR 199. A plan was proposed by the

Ohio Department of Transportation The Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT; ) is the administrative department of the Ohio state government responsible for developing and maintaining all state and U.S. roadways outside of municipalities and all Interstates except the Ohio T ...

(ODOT) in July 2020 to improve safety along US 23 in

Wyandot County Wyandot County is a county located in the northwestern part of the U.S. state of Ohio. As of the 2020 census, the population was 21,900. Its county seat is Upper Sandusky. It was named for the Wyandot Indians, who lived here before and after ...

by reconfiguring several intersections and closing others to eliminate cross traffic and turns across opposing traffic for the stretch of US 23 between the interchange at SR 231 in Marion County and the interchange at SR 199 south of Upper Sandusky. After public comments, the proposal was revised to drop one intersection from the plan over concerns about the impact on emergency services. The rest of the plan was rejected by the Wyandot County Commission in May 2021 because of the impacts on the community and the community's preference for an interchange at SR 294.

Future

North of Upper Sandusky in Salem Township, Wyandot County, there have been a number of serious crashes at the intersection with County Road 44 and Township Road 44 from 2016 to 2021. To improve its safety, beginning April 11, 2022, ODOT will convert the intersection to a pair of RIROs and close the median crossover. Once this conversion is completed, the stretch of US 23 from SR 199 south of Sandusky, through this junction, will be free of cross traffic and turns across opposing traffic.

Major intersections

References

External links