Wisconsin notes

[SEWIGuy]

It is doubtful this reroutes US-151. No indication of that whatsoever.

Though it should be done.

[thspfc]

Maybe dipping into fictional territory, but what about rerouting WI-78 along Old U Rd between its last 90-degree corner and the triplex, and building a new interchange there? I always thought that would make sense, but it's clearly not going to happen now. Should have been done when I-39 was first built.

[invincor]

I was driving around downtown Manitowoc yesterday, and went to see the car ferry docks, which have a neat "East US 10" reassurance shield posted right at the dock where there's nothing beyond it but the water. 

When I left, though, I drove US 10 westbound through town and found several of the normal reassurance and directional markers for it missing, and the only way I knew for sure I was still on it was to pull over and consult my Apple Maps app.  In fact there's one left turn jog it takes that's not signed at all.  Once I got out of town, everything was normal from there on, but what gives inside Manitowoc? 

[TheHighwayMan3561]

I was driving around downtown Manitowoc yesterday, and went to see the car ferry docks, which have a neat "East US 10" reassurance shield posted right at the dock where there's nothing beyond it but the water. 

When I left, though, I drove US 10 westbound through town and found several of the normal reassurance and directional markers for it missing, and the only way I knew for sure I was still on it was to pull over and consult my Apple Maps app.  In fact there's one left turn jog it takes that's not signed at all.  Once I got out of town, everything was normal from there on, but what gives inside Manitowoc? 

US 10 in town was recently rerouted and I guess it's possible something didn't catch up yet with field signage.

[SEWIGuy]

Yeah I am wondering if your Apple Maps App isn't updated.  I have been through town on the new route and my recollection is that it was signed fine.

[The Ghostbuster]

I don't think US 151 should have been truncated to Interstate 43. I still think it should have followed STH 42 until its junction with US 10 at the S. 8th Street/Maritime Dr. intersection.

[invincor]

Yeah I am wondering if your Apple Maps App isn't updated.  I have been through town on the new route and my recollection is that it was signed fine.

I started from the ferry dock and tried to do it just following the signage without the app.  After a while I lost confidence in what I was on, stopped, looked at the app, saw it still said US 10 (and 42) then continued, and at the light where it takes a left turn to head west, I turned there but saw no signage indicating that it turns, and after a while started seeing reassurance shields again.

[TheHighwayMan3561]

Yeah I am wondering if your Apple Maps App isn't updated.  I have been through town on the new route and my recollection is that it was signed fine.

I started from the ferry dock and tried to do it just following the signage without the app.  After a while I lost confidence in what I was on, stopped, looked at the app, saw it still said US 10 (and 42) then continued, and at the light where it takes a left turn to head west, I turned there but saw no signage indicating that it turns, and after a while started seeing reassurance shields again.

As I recall the push for these changes came from the city and there was confusion initially about whether Manitowoc even got the state's permission or approval to make them. It sounded a lot like a "we want this and we're doing this whether you're (the state) ready or not:" It could explain why it seems to haphazard.

[SEWIGuy]

The State approved it. Otherwise they wouldn't have changed the BGS signs.

[dvferyance]

I was on the new Hwy 23 the other day. My thoughts are I am surprised they still did not give any exit numbers. Typically any freeway/expressway that long in this case about 40 miles would have it. Not a fan of the number of J turns they have I am sure they have been very confusing. I thought that unusual interchange at Hwy K jsut before Fond Du Lac. was very odd.

[JREwing78]

Hwy 23 is one of those routes in Wisconsin where I'm positive the folks who designated it were well into their 4th or 5th pitcher at the local tavern. The section west of I-39/90 or the Dells could easily be a different route designation.

Frankly, if I had to assign milemarkers and exit numbers on the FdL-Sheboygan section of Hwy 23, I'd start them at 201 at the US-151 interchange, and work my way up eastward. While I doubt any part of Hwy 23 will change much south of the Dells, there's a possibility in the next 50 years that bypasses could be built around towns between I-39/US-51 and I-41 in Fond du Lac. WisDOT could also throw Hwy 23 onto US-151 and I-41 as a FdL bypass. No sense assigning precise milemarkers when they're not going to remain so.

[SEWIGuy]

I don't think there is much chance for WI-23 upgrades west of Fond du Lac. It's a good, not overly busy highway that works fine. Furthermore, I can't imagine bypasses of places like Ripon or Montello would be much of a priority with what WIDOT has on its plate.

[thspfc]

Hwy 23 is one of those routes in Wisconsin where I'm positive the folks who designated it were well into their 4th or 5th pitcher at the local tavern. The section west of I-39/90 or the Dells could easily be a different route designation.

Frankly, if I had to assign milemarkers and exit numbers on the FdL-Sheboygan section of Hwy 23, I'd start them at 201 at the US-151 interchange, and work my way up eastward. While I doubt any part of Hwy 23 will change much south of the Dells, there's a possibility in the next 50 years that bypasses could be built around towns between I-39/US-51 and I-41 in Fond du Lac. WisDOT could also throw Hwy 23 onto US-151 and I-41 as a FdL bypass. No sense assigning precise milemarkers when they're not going to remain so.

West of I-39/US-51, WI-23 and WI-82 should swap.

[dvferyance]

I don't think there is much chance for WI-23 upgrades west of Fond du Lac. It's a good, not overly busy highway that works fine. Furthermore, I can't imagine bypasses of places like Ripon or Montello would be much of a priority with what WIDOT has on its plate.

If anything they should upgrade the Sheboygan to Plymouth section as a full freeway.

[SEWIGuy]

I don't think there is much chance for WI-23 upgrades west of Fond du Lac. It's a good, not overly busy highway that works fine. Furthermore, I can't imagine bypasses of places like Ripon or Montello would be much of a priority with what WIDOT has on its plate.

If anything they should upgrade the Sheboygan to Plymouth section as a full freeway.

Eh. We'll see. It just opened as a four lane expressway.

[JoePCool14]

Hwy 23 is one of those routes in Wisconsin where I'm positive the folks who designated it were well into their 4th or 5th pitcher at the local tavern. The section west of I-39/90 or the Dells could easily be a different route designation.

Agreed. To put into context how ridiculous WI-23's routing is, I used the very southern/western section to get to Platteville, a town in the southwest of the state. Weird to think about.

[peterj920]

The new state highway map is available. Not too many changes. Wis 23 is shown as a 4 lane highway after completion, not as an expressway. In the city maps, the changes in Manitowoc and Wis 311 is added in Mt. Pleasant. Wis 74 is removed. Railroads that CN sold are now labeled as "Fox."  Wis 30 is marked as freeway to US 151 but the Madison Beltline, Wis 145, 175, and 119 are still simply 4 lane divided despite being full freeways.

[The Ghostbuster]

I just ordered a 2023 map for myself, and one for my mother. I'll tell her when she calls this evening.

[SEWIGuy]

Hwy 23 is one of those routes in Wisconsin where I'm positive the folks who designated it were well into their 4th or 5th pitcher at the local tavern. The section west of I-39/90 or the Dells could easily be a different route designation.

Agreed. To put into context how ridiculous WI-23's routing is, I used the very southern/western section to get to Platteville, a town in the southwest of the state. Weird to think about.

It is really just history. WI-82 used to be a 3dwi (WI-135) west of Packwaukee, but it only went as far as Oxford. WI-82 supplanted WI-135 when the new Wisconsin River bridge east of Mauston was opened in 1955. By that point, WI-23 was on its complete routing.

[The Ghostbuster]

STH 23 originally only went from Sheboygan to Packwaukee in 1918, before being extended south to the Iowa border at Dubuque in the early 1920's (it was later truncated to Dodgeville in 1926 with the coming of US 118, and reextended to its present terminus at STH 11 when US 118 became part of US 151 in 1938). Incidentally, STH 22 also switches from an east-west highway to a north-south highway at Shawano.

[mgk920]

I don't think there is much chance for WI-23 upgrades west of Fond du Lac. It's a good, not overly busy highway that works fine. Furthermore, I can't imagine bypasses of places like Ripon or Montello would be much of a priority with what WIDOT has on its plate.

If anything they should upgrade the Sheboygan to Plymouth section as a full freeway.

Eh. We'll see. It just opened as a four lane expressway.

Give it its due time.  I'm also thinking that rerouting US 151 to follow what is now WI 23 between Fond du Lac and Sheboygan is ultimately a good idea for some time in the long term foreseeable future.

Mike

[triplemultiplex]

the Madison Beltline, Wis 145, 175, and 119 are still simply 4 lane divided despite being full freeways.

It just boggles my mind that they do that wrong.  In what universe is the Beltline not a freeway?
And out of no where too! A few years back after showing it correctly for decades, we're just gonna say, "DERP!"
It offends me as a map nerd and cartographer and a person with (I hope) common sense.

[thspfc]

I don't think there is much chance for WI-23 upgrades west of Fond du Lac. It's a good, not overly busy highway that works fine. Furthermore, I can't imagine bypasses of places like Ripon or Montello would be much of a priority with what WIDOT has on its plate.

If anything they should upgrade the Sheboygan to Plymouth section as a full freeway.

Eh. We'll see. It just opened as a four lane expressway.

Give it its due time.  I'm also thinking that rerouting US 151 to follow what is now WI 23 between Fond du Lac and Sheboygan is ultimately a good idea for some time in the long term foreseeable future.

Mike

On the basis of a single corridor, state route vs. US route does not matter anymore.

[dvferyance]

The new state highway map is available. Not too many changes. Wis 23 is shown as a 4 lane highway after completion, not as an expressway. In the city maps, the changes in Manitowoc and Wis 311 is added in Mt. Pleasant. Wis 74 is removed. Railroads that CN sold are now labeled as "Fox."  Wis 30 is marked as freeway to US 151 but the Madison Beltline, Wis 145, 175, and 119 are still simply 4 lane divided despite being full freeways.

That's too bad the beltline without question should be marked as a freeway. I am shocked they did not correct that this time. Does it no longer show an interchange at Hwy 100 and Hwy 57?

[mgk920]

I had the day off, so I made a quick trip up to the Green Bay, WI area.  Not too much to report, there was no preliminary work (ie, utility relocations, ROW clearance, etc) yet visible on the part of I-41 that will be upgraded starting next spring.  WisDOT is nearly done with the WI 29/32/Counry 'VV' interchange, only minor finishing touches are left (just the ROW fence on the north side of the highway east of the interchange has a week or two of work left).  With that, all of the WI 29 freeway in Brown and Outagamie Counties west of I-41 will be complete westward to the Brown/Shawano County line.  WisDOT did not remark the crossings of the Brown/Outagamie County line.

Mike