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 h ...

that runs from

Jacksonville, Florida Jacksonville ( ) is the most populous city proper in the U.S. state of Florida, located on the Atlantic coast of North Florida, northeastern Florida. It is the county seat of Duval County, Florida, Duval County, with which the City of Jacksonv ...

, to

Mackinaw City, Michigan Mackinaw City ( ) is a village at the northernmost point of the Lower Peninsula of Michigan, United States. Divided between Cheboygan and Emmet counties, Mackinaw City is located at the southern end of the Mackinac Bridge, which carries Inter ...

. In the state of

Ohio Ohio ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Erie to the north, Pennsylvania to the east, West Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Indiana to the ...

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

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to the Michigan border at Sylvania.

Route description

The route crosses over the

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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

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, 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 Kingston may refer to: Places * List of places called Kingston, including the six most populated: ** Kingston, Jamaica ** Kingston upon Hull, England ** City of Kingston, Victoria, Australia ** Kingston, Ontario, Canada ** Kingston upon Thames, ...

. It continues as such through Circleville to the southern edge of

Columbus Columbus is a Latinized version of the Italian surname "''Colombo''". It most commonly refers to: * Christopher Columbus (1451–1506), the Italian explorer * Columbus, Ohio, the capital city of the U.S. state of Ohio * Columbus, Georgia, a city i ...

, 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. Descriptio ...

. 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 midwestern and Southeastern United States, southeastern regions of the United States. Its southern terminus is at an interchange with Interstate 64, I-64 and Interstate 65, ...

. 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 U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic and South Atlantic states, South Atlantic regions of the United States. It borders Maryland to its south and west, Pennsylvania to its north, New Jersey ...

, 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

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, a grass median returns. From Waldo to southwest of Carey, the route is an expressway, all intersections with numbered U.S. 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,

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, and Upper Sandusky 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 cosigned 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 South 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, 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 Wrong way may refer to: * a traffic sign to warn of wrong-way driving * nickname of Douglas Corrigan (1907–1995), an American aviator who flew east from New York to Ireland instead of west to California in 1938 * nickname of Roy Riegels (1908–1 ...

with

I-75 Interstate 75 (I-75) is a major north–south Interstate Highway System, Interstate Highway in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes and Southeastern United States, Southeastern regions of the United States. As with most Interstates that end ...

, then departs for a concurrency with

I-475 Interstate 475 may refer to: * Interstate 475 (Georgia), a bypass of Macon, Georgia * Interstate 475 (Michigan) Interstate 475 (I-475) is a north–south List of auxiliary Interstate Highways, auxiliary Interstate Highway in the US state o ...

, the western bypass of the

Toledo Toledo most commonly refers to: * Toledo, Spain, a city in Spain * Province of Toledo, Spain * Toledo, Ohio, a city in the United States Toledo may also refer to: Places Belize * Toledo District * Toledo Settlement Bolivia * Toledo, Or ...

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 U.S. Numbered Highway System in 1926, the route of what would eventually become US 23 was numbered as SR 4 from

; SR 22 from Marion to Carey; SR 63 from Carey to Fostoria; SR 199 from Fostoria to Millbury; and SR 2 from Millbury to

. 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 Maumee River (pronounced ) (; ) is a river running in the Midwestern United States from northeastern Indiana into northwestern Ohio and Lake Erie. It is formed at the confluence of the St. Joseph River (Maumee River), St. Joseph and St. Mar ...

. 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 The Anthony Wayne Bridge, commonly called the High Level Bridge, and is a downtown Toledo, Ohio landmark named after General Anthony Wayne. It is a suspension bridge that spans the Maumee River. The bridge has some features that give it a unique ...

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

. 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 government of Ohio, Ohio state government responsible for developing and maintaining all state and U.S. roadways outside of municipalities and all List of In ...

(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 afte ...

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.

Weigh station A weigh station is a checkpoint along a highway to inspect vehicular weights and safety compliance criteria. Usually, trucks and commercial vehicles are subject to the inspection. Weigh stations are equipped with truck scales, some of which are ...

s were once located on US 23 just north of the split with US 35, but they were decommissioned and later converted into truck parking in 2023. Ross County had wanted the space to be utilized into a full interchange with Marietta and Seney Roads as a part of their 2008 Thoroughfare Plan.

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

right-in/right-out Right-in/right-out (RIRO) and left-in/left-out (LILO) refer to a type of three-way road intersection where turning movements of vehicles are restricted. A RIRO permits only right turns and a LILO permits only left turns. "Right-in" and "left-in" r ...

s and close the median crossover. Once this conversion is completed, the stretch of US 23 from SR 199 south of Upper Sandusky, through this junction, will be free of cross traffic and turns across opposing traffic. An interchange is planned to be constructed at the intersection with State Route 762 in Pickaway County.

Major intersections

References

External links