Wisconsin County Roads/streets that are busier than nearby State Highways

Started by peterj920, August 10, 2022, 02:41:42 PM

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peterj920

There are a few instances where a county highway is busier than a state highway where there should probably be a swap, but most likely politics and cities are preventing a change. Here are a few places where the County Road or street is better and busier than the state highway:

County PB between US 151 and Wis 69/92 junction is preferred over Wis 69. Not only is County PB busier, it's also on the National Highway System. Belleville is most likely preventing a swap that WISDOT proposed according to info in wisconsinhighways.org

County S between Algoma and Sturgeon Bay is busier and shorter than Wis 42 that also runs between the 2 cities.

County AA/Wis 67 are busier than Wis 32/Wis 57 and is the preferred route for Wis 32/Wis 57 thru traffic in Kiel and avoids the twists and turns through downtown.

County B is busier than Wis 54 in between US 10 and I-39. County B utilizes the 4 lane US 10, has a lot busier interchange with I-39 than Wis 54 does. County B/US 10 provides a better route between Waupaca and Plover than Wis 54 does and the Wis 54 expressway to Wis Rapids starts at the west end of County B.

Highland Ave is shorter and the best thru route through Oconto Falls than Wis 22 is which is longer but passes through the downtown.

There are probably others but these 4 examples are the most significant that I've seen. The WISDOT traffic counts confirm that County roads/city streets are busier and for good reason. Should WISDOT try to more aggressively pursue route swaps/reroutes?


Big John


skluth

Concur with CTH A being busier than WI 26; that may be a similar situation to CTH PB with Juneau being the culprit.

SEWIGuy

Juneau is also the county seat.

Almost all of these are historical relics that haven't changed. And I doubt many will ever change given the hassles.

JREwing78

County N between Newville and Whitewater v.s. Hwy 59 between the same points:

Just east of Newville:
County N - 7400 vpd
Hwy 59 - 3500 vpd

Just east of Hwy 26:
County N - 5200 vpd
Hwy 59 (just east of County M) - 3800 vpd

Just west of Whitewater:
County N - 5000 vpd
Hwy 59 - 3500 vpd

peterj920

Quote from: JREwing78 on August 10, 2022, 10:20:07 PM
County N between Newville and Whitewater v.s. Hwy 59 between the same points:

Just east of Newville:
County N - 7400 vpd
Hwy 59 - 3500 vpd

Just east of Hwy 26:
County N - 5200 vpd
Hwy 59 (just east of County M) - 3800 vpd

Just west of Whitewater:
County N - 5000 vpd
Hwy 59 - 3500 vpd

Completely forgot about that. I'd even go as far as to say that County N is a big reason why the US 12 Fort Atkinson Bypass was shelved. I-39/I-90 to Wis 59 to County N is preferred from Madison to Whitewater over US 12.

SEWIGuy

Quote from: peterj920 on August 10, 2022, 11:49:25 PM
Quote from: JREwing78 on August 10, 2022, 10:20:07 PM
County N between Newville and Whitewater v.s. Hwy 59 between the same points:

Just east of Newville:
County N - 7400 vpd
Hwy 59 - 3500 vpd

Just east of Hwy 26:
County N - 5200 vpd
Hwy 59 (just east of County M) - 3800 vpd

Just west of Whitewater:
County N - 5000 vpd
Hwy 59 - 3500 vpd

Completely forgot about that. I'd even go as far as to say that County N is a big reason why the US 12 Fort Atkinson Bypass was shelved. I-39/I-90 to Wis 59 to County N is preferred from Madison to Whitewater over US 12.


Another historical relic when access to Milton from the west was more important than access to a dinky teacher's college town.

dvferyance

Maybe Hwy V in Fond Du Lac County over US 45. I am not familiar with that area but it appears to be a more direct route.

skluth

Quote from: dvferyance on August 15, 2022, 02:27:53 PM
Maybe Hwy V in Fond Du Lac County over US 45. I am not familiar with that area but it appears to be a more direct route.

WISDOT posts their traffic counts here if you're ever curious. It's a well-done ARCGIS-based webpage. I've used it a few times, though I didn't when I commented about CTH A vs WI 26 west of Juneau. (I did check for this post and CTH A has twice the traffic with an AADT of 5400 vs 2700 on WI 26 just north of their intersection.)

JREwing78

Quote from: SEWIGuy on August 11, 2022, 08:46:21 AM
Quote from: peterj920 on August 10, 2022, 11:49:25 PM
Completely forgot about that. I'd even go as far as to say that County N is a big reason why the US 12 Fort Atkinson Bypass was shelved. I-39/I-90 to Wis 59 to County N is preferred from Madison to Whitewater over US 12.


Another historical relic when access to Milton from the west was more important than access to a dinky teacher's college town.

Pre-Interstate, US-12 was the fastest route to Whitewater from Madison. Once the Interstate opened up, it became significantly faster to follow the Interstate to Hwy 59 - > County N than to stay on US-12.

County N would be a logical Hwy 20 extension candidate, particularly if the mythical US-12 freeway to Elkhorn ever takes shape.

SEWIGuy

Quote from: JREwing78 on August 15, 2022, 07:59:38 PM
Quote from: SEWIGuy on August 11, 2022, 08:46:21 AM
Quote from: peterj920 on August 10, 2022, 11:49:25 PM
Completely forgot about that. I'd even go as far as to say that County N is a big reason why the US 12 Fort Atkinson Bypass was shelved. I-39/I-90 to Wis 59 to County N is preferred from Madison to Whitewater over US 12.


Another historical relic when access to Milton from the west was more important than access to a dinky teacher's college town.

Pre-Interstate, US-12 was the fastest route to Whitewater from Madison. Once the Interstate opened up, it became significantly faster to follow the Interstate to Hwy 59 - > County N than to stay on US-12.

County N would be a logical Hwy 20 extension candidate, particularly if the mythical US-12 freeway to Elkhorn ever takes shape.

Yeah that is a real good point about the pre-interstate era.

dvferyance

Not the case anymore because it's a now a county highway itself but I am sure Hwy NN gets more traffic then Hwy LO which until the early 2000's was a state highway.

SEWIGuy

Quote from: dvferyance on August 22, 2022, 11:46:29 AM
Not the case anymore because it's a now a county highway itself but I am sure Hwy NN gets more traffic then Hwy LO which until the 2000's was a state highway.


Yeah, WI-99.  Ironically WI-99 and County NN swapped corridors sometime in the late 60s / early 70s.


SEWIGuy

Quote from: The Ghostbuster on August 22, 2022, 02:32:04 PM
http://wisconsinhighways.org/listings/WiscHwys90-99.html#STH-099.

So 1967. Historical Aerials' topos show it existing that way into the 1980s, but I doubt that's correct.  Interesting to know why they made that change. The current County NN is clearly the better route between Mukwonago and Eagle, and dvferyance is correct, carries the most traffic.  Were they trying to get people to use the other route instead?

mgk920

I'm kind of curious as to whether or not Northland Ave (Outagamie County 'OO'/pre-1960 US 41) between Richmond St (WI 47) in the City of Appleton, WI and I-41 is busier than paralleling Wisconsin Ave (WI 96/partly former US 10) between those two roads.

Ditto College Ave (WI 125).

Mike

dvferyance

Quote from: SEWIGuy on August 22, 2022, 02:17:53 PM
Quote from: dvferyance on August 22, 2022, 11:46:29 AM
Not the case anymore because it's a now a county highway itself but I am sure Hwy NN gets more traffic then Hwy LO which until the 2000's was a state highway.


Yeah, WI-99.  Ironically WI-99 and County NN swapped corridors sometime in the late 60s / early 70s.
Oh did they I didn't know that. I wonder if WI-99 would have survived the chopping block if it stayed on Hwy NN. I guess probably would not have mattered. I wondered if it went all the way to Hwy ES which at the time was the old WI-15. Or it could have stopped at WI-83 and the part east of there was a local road.

SEWIGuy

Quote from: dvferyance on August 23, 2022, 08:12:34 PM
Quote from: SEWIGuy on August 22, 2022, 02:17:53 PM
Quote from: dvferyance on August 22, 2022, 11:46:29 AM
Not the case anymore because it's a now a county highway itself but I am sure Hwy NN gets more traffic then Hwy LO which until the 2000's was a state highway.


Yeah, WI-99.  Ironically WI-99 and County NN swapped corridors sometime in the late 60s / early 70s.
Oh did they I didn't know that. I wonder if WI-99 would have survived the chopping block if it stayed on Hwy NN. I guess probably would not have mattered. I wondered if it went all the way to Hwy ES which at the time was the old WI-15. Or it could have stopped at WI-83 and the part east of there was a local road.

WI-99 ended at WI-83.  From WI-83 to WI-15 it was County EE.

thspfc

WI-23 between CTH-P and WI-33 near the Dells is less busy than CTH-P and CTH-H.

US 12 fan

I heard at one time there was a rumor that Highway 23 was going to be rerouted to County H from the Dells to Reedsburg. I could understand that since I've been on that road many times. It would make sense if they did but I'm sure there are no plans for it.

The Ghostbuster

There is some information on the fomer proposal to reroute STH-23 onto CTH-H between Reedsburg and Wisconsin Dells here: http://wisconsinhighways.org/listings/WiscHwys20-29.html#STH-023. Obviously, nothing ever came of that proposal since 23 and H are still on the same alignments to this day.

US 12 fan

I'm sure this doesn't qualify but I think they should either change Highway 134 to a county highway or it should be expanded. The road itself goes all the way to Waterloo. I know it changes to County O in London. Personally, it would be smarter to make it a county highway.

The Ghostbuster

STH 134 has existed with the same termini since 1923 (although at that time, US 12/18 were STH 12/41). I say leave it alone.

skluth

WI 134 falls on the Dane-Jefferson County Line from London until the curve where it is only in Dane County. I don't know how that might affect its future but total state highway mileage being capped means that two counties may fight over the mileage reallocation should the state highway designation be removed.

dvferyance

Quote from: US 12 fan on September 18, 2022, 11:35:17 AM
I'm sure this doesn't qualify but I think they should either change Highway 134 to a county highway or it should be expanded. The road itself goes all the way to Waterloo. I know it changes to County O in London. Personally, it would be smarter to make it a county highway.
It is the most useless state highway in Wisconsin hands down. I never understood why ones that were much longer like 163 were axed yet 134 to this day is still active. London isn't even incorporated and who ever goes there?



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