British Columbia Highway 23

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Highway 23
Nakusp – Mica Creek Highway
Route information
Maintained by the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure
Length	248 km[1] (154 mi)
Existed	1926–present
Major junctions
South end	Highway 6 in Nakusp
Major intersections	Highway 31 at Galena Bay Highway 1 (TCH) near Revelstoke
North end	Mica Dam north of Revelstoke
Location
Country	Canada
Province	British Columbia
Highway system
British Columbia provincial highways
← Highway 22A → Highway 24

Highway 23 is a north–south highway that straddles the Columbia River in the Columbia Country region of British Columbia, Canada. Its section north of Revelstoke is formerly known as the Big Bend Highway and was part of the original routing of Highway 1. The Big Bend area was well known as there was a gold rush there, beginning in 1864. Travelers used canoes or river steamers until a dirt-surfaced "highway" was built on the east bank around the Big Bend, from Revelstoke to Golden, from 1930 to 1937, opening officially in 1940, and it served as the trans-provincial highway until 1962 when the Rogers Pass portion of the Trans-Canada Highway was opened.

Highway 23 was initially opened in 1964, and it was re-aligned through the latter half of the 1960s. Realignment of the highway also occurred in the early 1980s, in anticipation of the creation of the reservoir for the Revelstoke Dam (Revelstoke Lake), which flooded lower parts of the highway.