U.S. Route 23 in Virginia

U.S. Route 23

Length:

61.16 mi^[1]^[2]^[3] (98.43 km)

Formed:

early 1930s

South end:

Major
junctions:

North end:

Virginia Routes
< SR 22		SR 24 >
Primary - Secondary - History - Turnpikes
United States Numbered Highways
List - Bannered - Divided - Replaced

U.S. Route 23 in Virginia runs north-south through the western part of the state. As part of Corridor B of the Appalachian Development Highway System, which follows US 23 from Asheville, North Carolina to Portsmouth, Ohio, it is a completely four-lane divided highway with interchanges at some major junctions. Much of the route and its former alignments, from Weber City to Norton, was built parallel to the Appalachia Division of the Southern Railway (now Norfolk Southern Railway).

US 23 enters Virginia from Tennessee at the north end of the State Route 137 freeway, a short continuation of Interstate 26. It turns west and joins U.S. Route 58 and U.S. Route 421 at Weber City, passing around the south side of Gate City before turning north through Clinchport to Duffield, where US 58 and US 421 split to the west, crossing Powell Mountain near the original route of the Wilderness Road. US 23 continues north from Duffield to near Big Stone Gap, where it joins with U.S. Route 58 Alternate and turns northeast to Norton. US 58 Alternate splits to the east at Norton, and US 23 heads north around the west side of Wise and Pound and into Kentucky just south of the U.S. Route 119 junction at Jenkins.

[edit] History

The road from Moccasin Gap (now Weber City) south to Tennessee towards Kingsport was added to the state highway system in 1923.^[4] As a spur of State Route 10 (now U.S. Route 58), it was assigned the State Route 102 designation,^[5] and was renumbered State Route 108 in the 1928 renumbering.^[6]

U.S. 23 in Scott County. Cliff Mountain is in the background.

Preceded by Tennessee	U.S. Route 23 Virginia	Succeeded by Kentucky