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presents

The Roads and Rails of Mercer County, WV /

CR 23

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Highway	Names	Start	Terminus	Length (km)
CR 23 (current alignment)	Littlesburg Rd.	WV 20, Littlesburg	US 52, Brush Fork	6
CR 23 (original alignment)	Littlesburg Rd.	WV 20, Littlesburg	Tazewell County, Virginia state line	10

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Overview

County Route 23 is a predominantly single-lane road in southwestern Mercer County, running from the community of Littlesburg through Hatcher Hollow to Brush Fork, north of Bluefield. The westernmost 500 metres of the road is two-laned, and is an unsigned concurrency with CR 11.

History

CR 23 was commissioned in 1933, and routed upon pre-existing infrastructure from the late nineteenth century. The route originally continued west beyond Brush Fork to the Virginia border, continuing into Falls Mills as SR 643.

In about 1956-57, the portion of CR 23 west of US 52 in Brush Fork was widened and incorporated into CR 37, an access road for the new Mercer County Airport. A 700m portion of CR 23's former course was also bypassed, resulting in a stub numbered CR 23/3.

CR 37 was later "promoted" to the status of a primary highway, WV 123, whose number is a homage to this older route.

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The west leg of CR 23 becomes CR 37, then WV 123. (WVSRC, 1946; unknown, ca. 1974; WVDH, 1978.)

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Fractional spur roads

Road	Names	Start	Terminus	Length (km)	Notes
23/1	Dawson School Rd., Mowles Chapel Rd., Stoney Ridge Rd., Mercer St.	CR 23	Bluefield Ave., Bluefield	6	Original 1930s road. Includes short concurrency on WV 123.
23/2	(unknown name)	CR 23/1	dead end	insignificant	Probably a stub of CR 25/3 left over when airport construction caused the road to be truncated.
23/3	Armory Rd.	WV 123 (former CR 23), Brush Fork	CR 11, Brush Fork	insignificant	Former alignment of CR 23, bypassed by 1958.
23/4	Idle Acres Dr.	CR 23/3, Brush Fork	dead end	insignificant
23/5	Idle Ln.	CR 23/4, Brush Fork	dead end	insignificant
23/6	(unknown name)	CR 23, Brush Fork	dead end	insignificant

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