. (Ventura Freeway), seen towards east/south near
Moorpark SR 23 consists of three distinct sections. The southern section begins as Decker Canyon Road near Trancas in
Malibu, where SR 23 intersects with the
Pacific Coast Highway (State Route 1), or "PCH." This portion provides numerous vistas of the
Santa Monica Mountains and the Pacific Ocean during the daytime, but extreme caution is advised, especially as the road nears PCH. It is a notoriously dangerous road, and the rusted chassis of cars that have gone over the side can still be seen.
Philip Taylor Kramer, bassist with the rock band
Iron Butterfly from 1974–1977, allegedly committed suicide by driving his van over the side along this route. Along its steep and winding path through the
Santa Monica Mountains as an increasingly tight and twisting canyon road until its intersection with Potrero Road, SR 23 becomes Westlake Boulevard, where it departs
Los Angeles County for
Ventura County and heads roughly two miles northeast through the Westlake section of
Thousand Oaks, a developed residential community. SR 23 then merges with
Ventura Freeway (U.S. Route 101) and runs concurrently with it north to the Moorpark Freeway. The middle section is a major route for traffic headed between Thousand Oaks and
Moorpark. It starts in Thousand Oaks, splitting off from the concurrency with US 101 and heading north, with three lanes in both directions. This section terminates at the exit for Los Angeles Avenue when the freeway turns east to become the
Ronald Reagan Freeway (State Route 118). Funding for widening of the freeway was approved August 18, 2005, with construction to begin in February 2006, to be completed in 2009. The widening was completed ahead of schedule in April 2008. However, traffic along this freeway during
rush hour is extremely congested, particularly near the interchange with US 101. The northernmost section begins at
State Route 118 in Moorpark (called
Los Angeles Avenue in Moorpark), and heads north as Grimes Canyon Road through orange groves and sandstone cliffs. In
Fillmore, it terminates at
State Route 126. The road in Fillmore actually continues past Route 126 up to the foot of the
Los Padres National Forest. On SR 23 from Tierra Rejada Road to Olsen Road (and vice versa) is a bike lane. After crossing Tierra Rejada Road (going north) and Olsen Road (going south), bicyclists are prohibited from crossing. SR 23 is part of the
California Freeway and Expressway System, and the freeway portion is part of the
National Highway System, a network of highways that are considered essential to the country's economy, defense, and mobility by the
Federal Highway Administration. SR 23 is known as the
Military Intelligence Service Memorial Highway from US 101 to California Route 118, in honor of the
Military Intelligence Service, the
100th Infantry Battalion, and the
442nd Regimental Combat Team, composed entirely of
Japanese Americans. ==History==