New Jersey Route 23

Route 23
Route information
Maintained by NJDOT
Length	52.63 mi[1] (84.70 km)
Existed	1927–present
Major junctions
South end	CR 506 / CR 577 in Verona
Major intersections	I-80 / US 46 in Wayne US 202 in Wayne I-287 in Riverdale Route 94 in Hamburg Route 284 in Sussex
North end	I-84 / US 6 at the New York state line
Location
Country	United States
State	New Jersey
Counties	Essex, Passaic, Morris, Sussex
Highway system
New Jersey State Highway Routes Interstate US State Scenic Byways
← Route 22 → Route 24

Route 23 is a state highway in the northern part of New Jersey, United States. The route runs 52.63 miles (84.70 km) from Bloomfield Avenue (County Route 506, CR 506) and Prospect Avenue (CR 577) in Verona, Essex County, northwest to the border with New York at Montague Township in Sussex County, where the road continues to Port Jervis, New York, as CR 15. Route 23 heads through Essex and Passaic counties as a two- to four-lane surface road and becomes a six-lane freeway north of a complex interchange with U.S. Route 46 (US 46) and Interstate 80 (I-80) in Wayne. The freeway carries Route 23 north to a concurrency with US 202. Past the freeway portion, the route heads northwest along the border of Morris and Passaic counties as a four- to six-lane arterial road with a wide median at places, winding through mountainous areas and crossing the interchange with I-287 in Riverdale. The route continues northwest through Sussex County as a mostly two-lane surface road that passes through farmland and woodland as well as the communities of Franklin, Hamburg, and Sussex before reaching the New York state line, just south of an interchange with I-84 and US 6 in Port Jervis, in Montague Township near High Point State Park.

Route 23 was established in 1927 to run from Verona to the New York state line near Port Jervis, replacing pre-1927 Route 8 between Verona and Sussex. The route followed two turnpikes that were created in the early 19th century: the Newark–Pompton Turnpike and the Paterson–Hamburg Turnpike. In the mid-1950s, there were plans to build an Interstate Highway along Route 23 between I-80 and I-287, but it was never built. In the 1960s, the route was planned to be upgraded to a freeway all the way up to Port Jervis and south to Piscataway, Middlesex County; however, both freeway proposals were cancelled in the early 1970s. In the mid-1980s, the portion of Route 23 from north of US 46 in Wayne to I-287 in Riverdale was improved, with the road upgraded to a six-lane freeway south of the interchange with Alps Road and to a six-lane arterial road north of Alps Road.