California State Route 23
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| Route 23 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Length: | 32 mi (51 km) | |||||||||||||||||
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| Formed: | ||||||||||||||||||
| Major cities: | Fillmore Thousand Oaks |
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| Direction: | North-South | |||||||||||||||||
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State Route 23 in the U.S. State of California is a state highway mostly in Ventura County, California that runs roughly North-South from Fillmore to Malibu.
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[edit] Route summary
Route 23 consists of three distinct sections:
- The northernmost section, Grimes Canyon Road, begins at State Route 126 in Fillmore (called A Street in Fillmore), and heads south through orange groves and Grimes Canyon. There, it meets Los Angeles Avenue in Moorpark and merges with Route 118. The road in Fillmore actually continues past Route 126 up to the foot of the Los Padres National Forest.
- The middle section, known as the Moorpark Freeway, is a major route for traffic headed between Thousand Oaks and Moorpark. It starts east of Moorpark, splitting off from Route 118 and heading south, with two lanes in both directions, terminating at the Ventura Freeway (U.S. Route 101). Funding for widening of the freeway was approved August 18, 2005, with construction to begin in February 2006, to be completed in 2009. Officially, this portion is named the Military Intelligence Memorial Freeway, in honor of the U.S. 100th Infantry Battalion and 442nd Regimental Combat Team, composed entirely of Japanese Americans. Traffic along this freeway during rush hour is extremely congested, particularly near the intersection with the 101.
- The southern section begins as Westlake Boulevard in Thousand Oaks and heads roughly two miles southwest through the Westlake section of Thousand Oaks before leaving the developed residential community to narrow and become an increasingly windy canyon road at its intersection with Potrero Road. During its steep and winding path through the Santa Monica Mountains, Route 23 becomes Decker Road, where it departs Ventura County for Los Angeles County and meets its southern terminus at State Route 1, the Pacific Coast Highway, near Trancas in Malibu. This portion provides numerous beautiful vistas of the Santa Monica Mountains and the Pacific Ocean during daytime, but extreme caution is advisable, especially as the road nears PCH. It is a notoriously dangerous road, and the rusted chassis of cars that have gone over the side can still be seen. Bassist Philip Taylor Kramer of the rock band Iron Butterfly allegedly committed suicide by driving his van over the side along this route.
[edit] State law
Legal Definition of Route 23: California Streets and Highways Code, Chapter 2, Article 3, Section 323
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Route 23 is part of the Freeway and Expressway System, as stated by section 253.3 of the California State Highway Code. |
Route 23 is known as the Military Intelligence Service Memorial Highway from US 101 to California Route 118. Source: 2004 Named Freeways, Highways, Structures and Other Appurtenances In California
[edit] Control Cities
Northbound
- Thousand Oaks - from CA 1 to US 101
- Fillmore - from US 101 to CA 126
Southbound
- Moorpark - from CA 126 to CA 118
- Thousand Oaks from CA 118 to US 101
- None - from US 101 to CA 1
[edit] Random Facts
- There is a large, high freeway bridge which transitions between the 23 and the 118 freeways in Moorpark, and the end of southbound side of the bridge
has been known by some as "the bump", as the ending of the bridge has a large dip in it.
