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US Highway 23 is a north–south United States Numbered Highway in the state of Michigan that is a major, 362-mile-long (583 km) through the Lower Peninsula. The highway is a freeway from the Michigan–Ohio state line near Lambertville to the city of Standish, and it follows the Lake Huron shoreline from there to its northern terminus. Serving the cities of Ann Arbor and Flint, the southern end of US 23 acts as a freeway bypass of the Metro Detroit area. Overall, the highway runs through rural areas of the state dominated by farm fields or woodlands; some segments are urban in character in the Ann Arbor, Flint and Tri-Cities areas. US 23 in the state follows sections of two Indian trails. In the early 20th century, four different auto trail names were applied to roads now a part of the highway. When the US Highway System was created in 1926, the new US 23 replaced two state highways. Through the 1930s and 1940s, the lakeshore routing was created to replace a path that ran further inland through the northern portion of the state. Starting in the early 1950s, various sections in the southeastern and central areas of the Lower Peninsula were upgraded to freeways, bypassing several major cities in the area. These improvements were completed by the end of the 1960s. (Full article...)