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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.

As with other minor highways in the Princeton-Bluefield interurban area, CR 23 has been truncated and reconfigured. 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 was widened. A 700-metre section of road in Brush Fork itself was bypassed to improve access between CR 23 and Airport Road; however, it's unknown whether or not the CR 23 designation was transferred to the new alignment.

In 1976, all the east-west roads serving the Mercer County Airport were unified and "promoted" to a primary highway, WV 123. This included the west portion of CR 23...and indeed, the "123" number was a homage to the old route it was built from.

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The west leg of CR 23 becomes WV 123. (WVSRC, 1945; 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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