| State Route 23 | ||||
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| Route information | ||||
| Defined by S&HC § 323 | ||||
| Maintained by Caltrans | ||||
| Length: | 32.030 mi[1] (51.547 km) SR 23 is broken into pieces, and the length does not reflect the US 101 and SR 118 overlaps that would be required to make the route continuous. |
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| Major junctions | ||||
| South end: | SR 1 in Malibu | |||
| US 101 in Thousand Oaks SR 118 in Moorpark |
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| North end: | SR 126/A St in Fillmore | |||
| Highway system | ||||
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State highways in California(list • pre-1964)
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State Route 23 (SR 23) is a state highway in the U.S. state of California. The route runs roughly from Fillmore to Malibu. This route is part of the California Freeway and Expressway System.[2]
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Route 23 is known as the Military Intelligence Service Memorial Highway from US 101 to California Route 118.[3]
Route 23 consists of three distinct sections. The southern section begins as Decker Canyon Road near Trancas in Malibu, where Route 23 intersects with the Pacific Coast Highway (State Route 1), or "PCH." 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. Former Bassist Philip Taylor Kramer who was with the rock band Iron Butterfly from 1974-1977 allegedly committed suicide by driving his van over the side along this route. During its steep and winding path through the Santa Monica Mountains as an increasingly windy canyon road until its intersection with Potrero Road, Route 23 becomes Westlake Boulevard, where it departs Los Angeles County for Ventura County and heads roughly two miles northeast through the Westlake section of Thousand Oaks, a developed residential community. SR 23 then merges with the Ventura Freeway (U.S. Route 101) and runs concurrently with it north to the Moorpark Freeway.
The middle section, known as the Moorpark Freeway, is a major route for traffic headed between Thousand Oaks and Moorpark. It starts in Thousand Oaks, splitting off from the concurrency with Route 101 and heading north, with three lanes in both directions. The Moorpark Freeway terminates at the exit for Los Angeles Avenue when the freeway turns east to become the Ronald Reagan Freeway (State Route 118). Funding for widening of the freeway was approved August 18, 2005, with construction to begin in February 2006, to be completed in 2009. The widening was completed ahead of schedule in April 2008. 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 northernmost section begins at State Route 118 in Moorpark (called Los Angeles Avenue in Moorpark), and heads north as Grimes Canyon Road through orange groves and sandstone cliffs. In Fillmore, it terminates at State Route 126. The road in Fillmore actually continues past Route 126 up to the foot of the Los Padres National Forest.
On the SR 23 from Tierra Rejada Road and Olsen Road (and vice versa) is a bike lane. After crossing Tierra Rejada Road (going North) and Olsen Road (going South), bicyclists are prohibited from crossing.
State Route 23 has been designated as such since 1934. However, at this time it was also designated as Legislative Route 155. The freeway portion of SR 23 opened in several phases between 1971 and 1994.[4] Before then, SR 23 intersected with U.S. 101 near Newbury Park, although it still ran concurrently with U.S. 101, which was then an expressway.[5]
SR 23 was designated as part of the Freeway and Expressway System in 1959.[4]
Decker Freeway was a never built north–south freeway that would connect CA 118, US 101, and CA 1. The freeway was part of a 1958 plan by the Metropolitan Engineering Board,[6][7] but was later considered to be geographically improbable and the plans were abandoned.
The freeway's southern portion, from CA 1 to US 101, follows the general alignment of Decker Canyon Road and Westlake Blvd, a segment of CA 23. It would continue north before terminating at CA 118 near First Street.[6]
| County | Location | Postmile [1][8][9] |
Exit [10] |
Destinations | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Los Angeles LA 0.00-8.90 |
Malibu | 0.00 | SR 1 (Pacific Coast Highway) – Oxnard, Santa Monica | ||
| Ventura VEN 0.00-24.17 |
Thousand Oaks | T1.49 | Portrero Road – Hidden Valley | ||
| R2.26 | Triunfo Canyon Road | ||||
| R2.88 | Agoura Road, Hampshire Road | ||||
| R3.32 0.70[N 1] |
US 101 south (Ventura Freeway) / Westlake Boulevard – Los Angeles | Interchange; south end of US 101 overlap | |||
| South end of freeway on US 101 | |||||
| 1.62[N 1] | 41 | Hampshire Road | |||
| 3.11[N 1] R3.34 |
12B | US 101 north (Ventura Freeway) – Ventura | North end of US 101 overlap; no exit number northbound | ||
| R3.70 | 13 | Hillcrest Drive, Thousand Oaks Boulevard – Thousand Oaks | Southbound exit and northbound entrance | ||
| R5.06 | 14 | Janss Road | |||
| R6.03 | 15 | Avenida de los Arboles | |||
| R7.17 | 16 | Sunset Hills Boulevard | |||
| R8.21 | 17 | Olsen Road – Simi Valley | |||
| Moorpark | R10.16 | 19 | Tierra Rejada Road | ||
| North end of freeway | |||||
| R11.43 T18.21[N 2] |
20B | SR 118 east (Ronald Reagan Freeway) – Los Angeles | Interchange; south end of SR 118 overlap | ||
| R17.49[N 2] R12.90 |
SR 118 west (Los Angeles Avenue) / Moorpark Avenue – Saticoy, Ventura | North end of SR 118 overlap | |||
| Fillmore | 24.17 | SR 126 (Ventura Street) – Santa Clarita, Santa Paula, Ventura | |||
| 24.17 | A Street | Continuation beyond SR 126 | |||
| 1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi Concurrency terminus • Closed/Former • Incomplete access • Unopened |
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