The Future of US 12 in Wisconsin

[SEWIGuy]

WI-59 between Whitewater and Milton is busier than County N and should be a state highway.  At least that's my anecdotal experience.  An extension of WI-20 makes sense. 

[GeekJedi]

WI-59 between Whitewater and Milton is busier than County N and should be a state highway.  At least that's my anecdotal experience.  An extension of WI-20 makes sense. 

You may be right, but it always seems opposite for me. N always seems to carry the bulk of the traffic when I'm out that way. Seems like more people are interested in cutting over to I-90 than going to Milton.

[hobsini2]

WI-59 between Whitewater and Milton is busier than County N and should be a state highway.  At least that's my anecdotal experience.  An extension of WI-20 makes sense. 

You may be right, but it always seems opposite for me. N always seems to carry the bulk of the traffic when I'm out that way. Seems like more people are interested in cutting over to I-90 than going to Milton.

I always thought that N should be Wis 59 and the current 59 should be a Bus Wis 59.

[skluth]

WI-59 between Whitewater and Milton is busier than County N and should be a state highway.  At least that's my anecdotal experience.  An extension of WI-20 makes sense. 

You may be right, but it always seems opposite for me. N always seems to carry the bulk of the traffic when I'm out that way. Seems like more people are interested in cutting over to I-90 than going to Milton.

I always thought that N should be Wis 59 and the current 59 should be a Bus Wis 59.

An out-of-the-way 12 mile long business route for a 5000-person town is as Wisconsin as it gets. Open up a supper club serving grasshoppers and Brandy Alexanders on the edge of town and you've nailed it.

[hobsini2]

WI-59 between Whitewater and Milton is busier than County N and should be a state highway.  At least that's my anecdotal experience.  An extension of WI-20 makes sense. 

You may be right, but it always seems opposite for me. N always seems to carry the bulk of the traffic when I'm out that way. Seems like more people are interested in cutting over to I-90 than going to Milton.

I always thought that N should be Wis 59 and the current 59 should be a Bus Wis 59.

An out-of-the-way 12 mile long business route for a 5000-person town is as Wisconsin as it gets. Open up a supper club serving grasshoppers and Brandy Alexanders on the edge of town and you've nailed it.

Yes. And? Problem? There is nothing that states a Business Route can't be more than 10 miles. If it did happen, you would at least keep the local businesses happy.

[SEWIGuy]

WI-59 between Whitewater and Milton is busier than County N and should be a state highway.  At least that's my anecdotal experience.  An extension of WI-20 makes sense. 

You may be right, but it always seems opposite for me. N always seems to carry the bulk of the traffic when I'm out that way. Seems like more people are interested in cutting over to I-90 than going to Milton.

I always thought that N should be Wis 59 and the current 59 should be a Bus Wis 59.

I would...

Keep WI-59 on its current route ending at WI-26 in Milton. 
Extend WI-20 over US-12, taking over Rock County N and WI-59 westward.
Turn WI-59 between County N (extended WI-20) and Milton into an extension of Rock County Y.
Explore turning over WI-59 (extended WI-20) between US-14 and WI-11 to the various counties.

[triplemultiplex]

An out-of-the-way 12 mile long business route for a 5000-person town is as Wisconsin as it gets. Open up a supper club serving grasshoppers and Brandy Alexanders on the edge of town and you've nailed it.

Naw man, brandy old fashions. That's our unofficial state cocktail.

[thspfc]

CTH-N is definitely the preferred route between the Interstate and Whitewater, but at what point do you draw the line and say that a community (in this case Milton) is big enough to warrant the state highway taking a detour? Milton is just over 1/3 the size of Whitewater. Anything more than that, and I would say the detour is justified, but as it stands I would swap WI-59 and CTH-N.

[SEWIGuy]

CTH-N is definitely the preferred route between the Interstate and Whitewater, but at what point do you draw the line and say that a community (in this case Milton) is big enough to warrant the state highway taking a detour? Milton is just over 1/3 the size of Whitewater. Anything more than that, and I would say the detour is justified, but as it stands I would swap WI-59 and CTH-N.

Couple of things.  It's not just about the City of Milton.  Milton and Janesville have pretty much grown together so it is also about serving traffic that goes to that entire region. 

Also WI-59 is a perfectly worthy state highway between Whitewater and Milton.  It has plenty of traffic and definitely serves a purpose.  WIDOT isn't going to remove it from the state highway system, nor should they.  County N is also a candidate to be a state highway.  But it doesn't have to be a choice between the two.

[thspfc]

CTH-N is definitely the preferred route between the Interstate and Whitewater, but at what point do you draw the line and say that a community (in this case Milton) is big enough to warrant the state highway taking a detour? Milton is just over 1/3 the size of Whitewater. Anything more than that, and I would say the detour is justified, but as it stands I would swap WI-59 and CTH-N.

Couple of things.  It's not just about the City of Milton.  Milton and Janesville have pretty much grown together so it is also about serving traffic that goes to that entire region. 

Also WI-59 is a perfectly worthy state highway between Whitewater and Milton.  It has plenty of traffic and definitely serves a purpose.  WIDOT isn't going to remove it from the state highway system, nor should they.  County N is also a candidate to be a state highway.  But it doesn't have to be a choice between the two.

In that case, WI-59 between Whitewater and WI-26 could become an extension of WI-20.

[I-39]

Getting back to US 12, how is the realignment coming along at County C?

[skluth]

An out-of-the-way 12 mile long business route for a 5000-person town is as Wisconsin as it gets. Open up a supper club serving grasshoppers and Brandy Alexanders on the edge of town and you've nailed it.

Naw man, brandy old fashions. That's our unofficial state cocktail.

I know. I grew up in Green Bay. I've enjoyed many a brandy old-fashioned at basement parties. But my mom would order a Brandy Alexander or two every time we went out for dinner at a supper club, so I associate sweet, creamy drinks with supper clubs.

[SSOWorld]

I believe when this new exit opens, it will be numbered Exit 269. Eventually, all of US 12/18 from Interstate 39/90 to CTH-N (Exit 272) will be completely up to freeway standards. I wouldn't hold my breath on the freeway upgrades on the opposite end of the corridor happening for quite a while.

Also, and I have mentioned this before, I firmly believe that WisDOT made a major and ultimately EXPENSIVE mistake in not designing the I-90/94/US 12 interchange in Lake Delton (Wisconsin Dells area) to have the freeways being completly separate from the local surface traffic, like they are now doing at I-39/90/I-43/WI 81 in Beloit.  As that major tourist area grows and develops, the wisdom of having a separate 'system' interchange there for the overhead through traffic between I-90/94 to/from the northwest and US 12 to/from the south will become more and more apparent.

--------

That could also be a good long-term endpoint for downgrading existing US 12 towards Minneapolis - "[US 12] follow [I-94]".



Mike

That is not needed until US 12 becomes a full four lane corridor between the Dells and Madison. The next biggest priority needs to be a Sauk City bypass.

US 12 between Cambridge and Illinois is fine. It does not need any further four lane upgrades as most of the traffic is local.

If US 12 follows I-94, what follows the former US 12? The Alphabet???

[mgk920]

If US 12 follows I-94, what follows the former US 12? The Alphabet???

Some of it, yea, especially parts that are northwest of Tomah.  The part from Wisconsin Dells to Tomah is duplexed with WI 16, other sections are duplexed with WI 27 and WI 29, etc, so they would remain state highways.  I can also see the part from WI 23 through Baraboo being renumbered as a state highway.

Mike

[SEWIGuy]

Some of those stretches that parallel I-94 are surprisingly busy with local traffic. 

[peterj920]

Getting back to US 12, how is the realignment coming along at County C?

The northern half of the new alignment is open on the new westbound lanes. The southern portion has a lot higher grade than the original. Concrete is being used to pave the new alignment.

[JREwing78]

Getting back to US 12, how is the realignment coming along at County C?

The northern half of the new alignment is open on the new westbound lanes. The southern portion has a lot higher grade than the original. Concrete is being used to pave the new alignment.

A week ago, it looked damn close to being flipped to two-way traffic on the southbound lanes while the southern portion of the northbound lanes are rebuilt. Very possible that's already taken place - they have 3 months to get this done before winter weather takes hold.

WisDOT clearly designed this realignment with the intent to incorporate it as part of an eventual modern expressway/freeway rebuild of US-12 in the area - thus the rebuild with concrete. Other sections were merely resurfaced - the stretch through the bluffs south of Baraboo, for instance. The pavement was in bad shape and wouldn't hold up long enough for funding to come in to rebuild that correctly.

I'll be surprised if WisDOT doesn't come back in a few years to level and realign the grade, but that's an expensive undertaking with a lot of rock removal. There's bigger issues to fix first - namely, the 2-lane stretch west of Sauk City (and the pending Sauk City bypass).

[The Ghostbuster]

The realignment is already shown on Google Maps: https://www.google.com/maps/@43.3543845,-89.7659485,1296m/data=!3m1!1e3. The Street View image on US 12 is from September 2019, so we'll have to wait for that to be updated.

[GeekJedi]

I've been spending a lot of time lately on US-12 from the Elkhorn to Fort Atkinson corridor. I can see the need for the Whitewater bypass, however I don't really see the need for any further improvements. Maybe a Ft. Atkinson bypass, but traffic there really just isn't that heavy. With the 70MPH speed limit on I-43 and I-39/90 along with the upgraded WI-26, US-12 is more of a regional road these days.

[SEWIGuy]

I lived in the area, three blocks off of US-12, for 20 years and I agree with you 100%.  The Whitewater bypass was needed mostly because the entire city lies along Main Street (former US-12), and when the University is busy it causes a lot of traffic on the west side of town.

In Fort Atkinson, that's not the case.  Historically, WI-26 was the busier route through town, and business is spread around a bit more.

And not to mention that, outside of some summer weekends, almost all of the traffic along that corridor is local.

[CtrlAltDel]

They need to resurface it through Walworth county first. Absolute worst road I've driven on.

They do need to rebuild the freeway from Lake Geneva to Elkhorn. That road is atrocious. Not add more lanes but just repave it.

I have to agree with this assessment. The road, at least from WI-50 to Elkhorn, has definitely seen better days. Is there any repaving on the horizon?

[JREwing78]

They need to resurface it through Walworth county first. Absolute worst road I've driven on.

They do need to rebuild the freeway from Lake Geneva to Elkhorn. That road is atrocious. Not add more lanes but just repave it.

I have to agree with this assessment. The road, at least from WI-50 to Elkhorn, has definitely seen better days. Is there any repaving on the horizon?

Per this document, 2022:
https://wisconsindot.gov/Documents/projects/6yr-hwy-impr/proj-info/sermap.pdf

[US 12 fan]

There should be a roundabout at the Hwy 12, 20, and 67 intersection. If you are trying to get onto 12 West from either 20 or 67, it's awkward because you better hope there's nobody speeding when you try to enter it.

[The Ghostbuster]

A roundabout might work here, but what would you do with US 12's bypass of the WIS 20/WIS 67 intersection?

[mgk920]

A roundabout might work here, but what would you do with US 12's bypass of the WIS 20/WIS 67 intersection?

Remove it, have US12 go around the circle.

Mike