Iowa Highway 23 (Iowa 23) is a

state highway A state highway, state road, or state route (and the equivalent provincial highway, provincial road, or provincial route) is usually a road that is either ''numbered'' or ''maintained'' by a sub-national state or province. A road numbered by a ...

in the southeastern part of the state. Its designation begins at

Iowa 149 Iowa Highway 149 is a highway which runs from south to north in Iowa. It has a length of . Iowa 149 begins at U.S. Highway 34 in Ottumwa and ends at Williamsburg at Interstate 80. The first of Iowa 149 are overlapped by U.S. Highway 63 Busi ...

north of Ottumwa and ends at

Iowa 92 Iowa Highway 92 (Iowa 92) is a state highway that runs from east to west across the state of Iowa. Iowa 92 is long. It begins at the Missouri River in Council Bluffs, where it is a continuation of Nebraska Highway 92. It stretches across ...

in Oskaloosa. The route was created in 1997 when U.S. Highway 63 (US 63) was rerouted along a new, four-lane

expressway Expressway may refer to: * Controlled-access highway, the highest-grade type of highway with access ramps, lane markings, etc., for high-speed traffic. * Limited-access road, a lower grade of highway or arterial road. *Expressway, the fictional s ...

that subsumed part of a previous Iowa 23. The new Iowa 23 was signed along the two-lane road that was vacated by US 63.

Route description

Iowa 23 begins at an

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with

along the Mahaska– Keokuk county line north of Ottumwa. It heads north along the

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for before it eases to the northwest into Mahaska County and into Fremont. West of Fremont, the highway follows an east-to-west path until it reaches

Cedar Cedar may refer to: Trees and plants *''Cedrus'', common English name cedar, an Old-World genus of coniferous trees in the plant family Pinaceae *Cedar (plant), a list of trees and plants known as cedar Places United States * Cedar, Arizona * ...

, an

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a region that is not governed by a local municipal corporation. Widespread unincorporated communities and areas are a distinguishing feature of the United States and Canada. Most other countries of the world either have ...

. In Cedar, Iowa 23 turns to the northwest. It continues to the northwest over a

plain In geography, a plain is a flat expanse of land that generally does not change much in elevation, and is primarily treeless. Plains occur as lowlands along valleys or at the base of mountains, as coastal plains, and as plateaus or uplands ...

. As it approaches Oskaloosa, the

corn Maize ( ; ''Zea mays'' subsp. ''mays'', from es, maíz after tnq, mahiz), also known as corn (North American and Australian English), is a cereal grain first domesticated by indigenous peoples in southern Mexico about 10,000 years ago. Th ...

and

soybean The soybean, soy bean, or soya bean (''Glycine max'') is a species of legume native to East Asia, widely grown for its edible bean, which has numerous uses. Traditional unfermented food uses of soybeans include soy milk, from which tofu an ...

fields that had lined the road give way to

agribusiness Agribusiness is the industry, enterprises, and the field of study of value chains in agriculture and in the bio-economy, in which case it is also called bio-business or bio-enterprise. The primary goal of agribusiness is to maximize profit w ...

es of on the outskirts of southeastern Oskaloosa. The roadway turns to the north near University Park. It then enters the city limits of Oskaloosa again where it ends shortly thereafter at

History

There have been 4 versions of Iowa Highway 23. The first lasted from 1920 to 1926 and went from the South Dakota border west of

Sioux City Sioux City () is a city in Woodbury and Plymouth counties in the northwestern part of the U.S. state of Iowa. The population was 85,797 in the 2020 census, making it the fourth-largest city in Iowa. The bulk of the city is in Woodbury County, ...

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. The second lasted from 1926 to January 1, 1969, and was a highway that went south from

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to the Missouri border. The third version of Iowa Highway 23 lasted from January 1, 1969, until July 16, 1997, and went from Eddyville to Ottumwa. This version was replaced by U.S. Highway 63. The current version of Iowa Highway 23 was created July 16, 1997 and was formerly the route for U.S. Highway 63.

Major intersections

References

{{Attached KML 023 U.S. Route 63 Transportation in Mahaska County, Iowa