County Trunk Highways | |
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Highway names | |
Interstates | Interstate X (I-X) |
US Highways | U.S. Highway X (US X) |
State | (State Trunk) Highway X (STH-X or WIS X) |
County: | (County Trunk) Highway X (CTH-X) |
System links | |
County trunk highways (also called County Highway, CTH; for national mapping software/app consistency, CR, or County Road are also used) are highways maintained at the county level or below in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. Every county maintains its own county trunk highway system.
Wisconsin uses letters as designations for its county roads. Highways may be labeled with a single letter (CTH-H), double letter (CTH-LL or CTH-AB) or triple letter (CTH-BBB). Roads are usually named sequentially, although the letter designation may stand for the initials of a road, a geographical feature, a political division (such as CTH-KR along the Kenosha–Racine county line), or in honor of a person. [1] [2] Two county highways running concurrently on the same roadway often take on both letters on that portion; for instance two highways designated CTH-J and CTH-L would take the designation CTH-JL on a certain route before their divergence down the road, returning to their individual route designations thereafter.[ citation needed ]
Designations may be repeated within a single county, depending on the size and population of the county. Designations may continue over a county line. Usually the letter designation remains the same when the route is a former state highway that has been decommissioned and turned over to county control. There are no east–west or north–south pattern restrictions on which letters can be used for a road, and they can be looped around counties and metropolitan areas. County highways can also run concurrently with state and U.S. Highways (the most prominent for the latter being a portion of CTH-M in Dane County Highway M that overlaps the Madison Beltline); there are no current concurrencies with county highways and Interstates.
For the most part, all county highway systems in the state are surfaced asphalt or concrete, though a few lightly-traveled historic roads (often designated by the Wisconsin Department of Transportation as Rustic Roads) are gravel roads.
County trunk highways first came into being in 1921. The first county highways were independent of the state's trunk highway system and lacked state legislative approval. By 1924, every county in Wisconsin had set up its own county highway system, with the state authorizing county highways in 1925. [3]
Interstate 39 (I-39) is a north–south Interstate Highway in Illinois and Wisconsin that runs from an interchange at I-55 in Normal, Illinois, to State Trunk Highway 29 (WIS 29) approximately six miles (9.7 km) south of Wausau, Wisconsin. In total, Interstate 39 is 306.14 miles (492.68 km) long. In Illinois, the route has a total length of 140.82 miles (226.63 km); in Wisconsin, I-39 has a distance of 182 miles (293 km).
A routenumber, designation or abbreviation is an identifying numeric designation assigned by a highway authority to a particular stretch of roadway to distinguish it from other routes and, in many cases, also to indicate its classification, general geographical location and/or orientation. The numbers chosen may be used solely for internal administrative purposes; however, in most cases they are also displayed on roadside signage and indicated on maps.
A concurrency in a road network is an instance of one physical roadway bearing two or more different route numbers. When two roadways share the same right-of-way, it is sometimes called a common section or commons. Other terminology for a concurrency includes overlap, coincidence, duplex, triplex, multiplex, dual routing or triple routing.
A county highway is a road in the United States and in the Canadian province of Ontario that is designated and/or maintained by the county highway department. Route numbering can be determined by each county alone, by mutual agreement among counties, or by a statewide pattern.
A supplemental route is a state secondary road in the U.S. state of Missouri, designated with letters. Supplemental routes were various roads within the state which the Missouri Department of Transportation was given in 1952 to maintain in addition to the regular routes, though lettered routes had been in use from at least 1932. The four types of roads designated as Routes are:
State Trunk Highway 11 is a state highway running east–west across southern Wisconsin. The highway connects Dubuque, Iowa with the cities of Janesville, Racine and Elkhorn. Most of the route is two-lane road with the exception of an expressway bypass of Monroe, a multilane bypass of Janesville, a section where it is concurrent with I-39 and I-90, a combined freeway/divided highway bypass of Burlington to the south, where it is partially concurrent with WI 36 and WI 83, and urban multilane highway in the greater Racine area.
State Trunk Highway 32 is a state highway in the U.S. state of Wisconsin that runs north–south in the eastern part of the state. It runs from the Illinois border north to the Michigan border. It is named the 32nd Division Memorial Highway after the U.S. 32nd Infantry Division, and the highway shields have red arrows—the division's logo—on either side of the number 32. The route of WIS 32 and the Red Arrow marking is set in state statute by the Wisconsin Legislature.
State Trunk Highway 36 is a state highway in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. It runs in a diagonal southwest–northeast direction across southeastern Wisconsin from Springfield which is north of Lake Geneva to Milwaukee.
State Trunk Highway 42 is a state highway in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. It runs for 135 miles (217 km) north–south in northeast Wisconsin from Sheboygan to the ferry dock in Northport. Much of the highway is part of the Lake Michigan Circle Tour from the eastern junction with U.S. Highway 10 (US 10) in Manitowoc to its junction with WIS 57 in Sister Bay. WIS 42 parallels I-43 from Sheboygan to Manitowoc, and parallels WIS 57 throughout much of the route, particularly from Manitowoc to Sturgeon Bay, meeting the northern terminus of WIS 57 in Sister Bay.
Wisconsin Highway 57 is a 191.82-mile-long (308.70 km) state highway in Wisconsin, United States. It runs from its southern terminus at WIS 59 in Milwaukee to its northern terminus at WIS 42 in Sister Bay. Much of WIS 57 parallels Interstate 43 (I-43) and WIS 42, particularly from Saukville to its northern terminus in Sister Bay. The highway runs concurrently with I-43 for 12 miles (19 km) in Ozaukee County. Like most Wisconsin state highways, WIS 57 is maintained by the Wisconsin Department of Transportation (WisDOT).
State Trunk Highway 66 is a state highway in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. It runs east–west in central Wisconsin from Rosholt to Stevens Point and along what used to be County Trunk Highway P (CTH-P) to Wisconsin Rapids. The entire length of this highway is designated the Polish Heritage Highway.
State Trunk Highway 68 is a 9.51-mile (15.30 km) state highway in Dodge County in the US state of Wisconsin that runs from WIS 33 in Fox Lake east to WIS 49 in Waupun. WIS 68 is maintained by the Wisconsin Department of Transportation (WisDOT).
State Trunk Highway 77 is a state highway in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. It runs east–west in northwest Wisconsin from the Minnesota border near Danbury to just west of the Michigan border in Hurley. The highway was first designated in 1920 and was extended to the current routing sometime between 1948 and 1956.
State Trunk Highway 81 is a state highway in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. It runs east–west in southwest and south central Wisconsin from Cassville to Beloit. Between Brodhead and Monroe it run concurrently with WIS 11 for 13 miles (21 km). The route was originally designated as a state highway in the early 1920s, but there were three different designations along the route. It was not signed as WIS 81 along the entire route until 1934.
State Trunk Highway 87 is a state highway in Polk and Burnett counties in the US state of Wisconsin that runs north–south in the northwestern portion of the state from St. Croix Falls to Grantsburg. It was first designated as a state highway in 1924.
State Trunk Highway 104 is a state highway in the US state of Wisconsin. It runs in a north–south direction in south central Wisconsin from Brodhead to Brooklyn. It was first designated in 1919–1920 before being rerouted in 1923–1926 and extended in 1999.
State Trunk Highway 113 is a state highway in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. It runs in north–south in south central Wisconsin from Madison to Baraboo, following the Chicago and North Western Railway. The highway uses the Merrimac Ferry, the last ferry in the Wisconsin state highway system, to cross the Wisconsin River at Merrimac. Over the length of the road, it runs through Dane, Columbia, and Sauk counties.
State Trunk Highway 136 is a state highway in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. It runs east–west in southwest Wisconsin from near Reedsburg to Baraboo. The route was first designated in 1917 but not as WIS 136 until 1935. The highway was extended in 2017.
An unsigned highway is a highway that has been assigned a route number, but does not bear road markings that would conventionally be used to identify the route with that number. Highways are left unsigned for a variety of reasons, and examples are found throughout the world. Depending on the policy of the agency that maintains the highway, and the reason for not signing the route, the route may instead be signed a different designation from its actual number, with small inventory markers for internal use, or with nothing at all.
The Wisconsin State Trunk Highway System is the state highway system of the U.S. state of Wisconsin, including Wisconsin's segments of the Interstate Highway System and the United States Numbered Highway System, in addition to its other state trunk highways. These separate types of highways are respectively designated with an I-, US, or STH- prefix. The system also includes minor roads designated as Scenic Byways, four routes intended to promote tourism to scenic and historic areas of the state; and as Rustic Roads, lightly traveled and often unpaved local roads which the state has deemed worthy of preservation and protection. The state highway system, altogether totaling 11,753 miles (18,915 km) across all of Wisconsin's 72 counties, is maintained by the Wisconsin Department of Transportation (WisDOT).