Mississippi Highway 23
Mississippi Highway 23 (MS 23) is a state highway in Mississippi. The route starts at MS 25 in the town of Smithville. It travels northeastward through the forests of eastern Itawamba County. The highway intersects Interstate 22 (I-22) and U.S. Route 78 (US 78) in Tremont. MS 23 ends at the Mississippi–Alabama state line, just west of Red Bay.
Mississippi Highway 23
Mississippi Highway 23
32.135 mi[1] (51.716 km)
c. 1932–1940
c. 1950–present
MS 25 in Smithville
Tammy Wynette Highway near Red Bay, AL
The routing that became part of MS 23 was first constructed as a graded road in 1925, from north of Amory to the state line. Gravel was added to sections of the route in the 1930s. The designation was added to maps around 1950, and it was extended to Smithville in 1960. The route was fully paved by 1980.
History[edit]
The MS 23 designation was used for another route from 1932 to 1940. The routing was from Starkville to Shannon when it was first designated.[12] The section from Shannon to Okolona was paved by 1937.[13][14] The next year, six miles (9.7 km) of the route was paved from West Point southwards.[14][15] MS 25 was extended south in 1939, replacing all of MS 23 from Starkville to north of West Point.[15][16] The MS 23 designation was replaced with the MS 45W one by 1940.[16][17] MS 45W was renumbered in 1968 to US 45 Alternate, its current designation.[18][19]
The earliest sections of the current routing of MS 23 have existed since 1925,[20] and the road that became MS 23 was part of the state map in 1928 as a graded road. The road traveled from north of Amory to the state line.[21] The section from US 78 northward was paved in gravel by 1933.[12][22] It was straightened out and extended southwestward three years later.[23][13] The route designation re-appeared on the state map by 1950.[24][25] A small section near Tremont was paved five years later,[26][27] and the majority of the route was paved by 1957.[28][29] MS 23 was extended to MS 25 and Smithville along a gravel road, and the entire section north of US 78 was paved in 1960.[30][31] The Monroe County section of the route was paved in 1965,[32][33] and a part of the route south of Tremont was paved in 1973.[34][35] The entire route was paved by 1980.[36][37] In 1991, US 78 was rerouted onto a divided highway, and a new interchange was constructed at MS 23.[38][39] A part of the Appalachian Development Highway System, Corridor V, was constructed to MS 23 by 2014.[40][41]