Wis Dot seems to have a bias agianst routes ending in 4's

[dvferyance]

Continuing the discussion from before. Here is a fact I noticed Wis Dot's seems to have a bias against most 2 digit routes ending in 4's. WI-24 is a shell of it's former self WI-34 has a long unnecessary duplex with WI-13 and should be a shell of it's former self. As I mentioned before WI-74 was recently decommissioned and even before that it was a shell of it's former self and WI-84 was decommissioned and has not existed in Wisconsin at all in about 20 years.  WI-14 and WI-94 don't exist due to conflicts with US-14 and I-94. It may be a coincidence but it seems the routes ending in 4's seem to be getting the chopping block more than routes ending in any other digit by far. The only non 4's routes in Wisconsin that don't exist anymore are WI-62 and WI-99. But I will agree those decommissionings made perfect sense.

[SEWIGuy]

I heard its because the Packers, Bucks and Brewers have all retired #4, that WIDOT decided to follow suit.

Too bad they can't easily get rid of WI-54 and WI-64 which both cross the entire state from east to west.

[GeekJedi]

It may be a coincidence

It is.

Since the numbers are not assigned using any particular method, it would then stand to figure that the removal of those routes would have little to do with their number.

[dvferyance]

I heard its because the Packers, Bucks and Brewers have all retired #4, that WIDOT decided to follow suit.

Too bad they can't easily get rid of WI-54 and WI-64 which both cross the entire state from east to west.

I didn't know the Bucks retired no. 4. I know this was likely a coincidence I am just pointing it out that the routes ending in 4's in Wisconsin have been on the chopping block way more than routes ending in any other number. They should renumber WI-80 as WI-84 so that it keeps the same number as the Illinois route. Once did before until Illinois changed theirs to avoid conflict with I-80.

[Big John]

I heard its because the Packers, Bucks and Brewers have all retired #4, that WIDOT decided to follow suit.

Too bad they can't easily get rid of WI-54 and WI-64 which both cross the entire state from east to west.

I didn't know the Bucks retired no. 4.

Sidney Moncrief

[SEWIGuy]

I heard its because the Packers, Bucks and Brewers have all retired #4, that WIDOT decided to follow suit.

Too bad they can't easily get rid of WI-54 and WI-64 which both cross the entire state from east to west.

I didn't know the Bucks retired no. 4. I know this was likely a coincidence I am just pointing it out that the routes ending in 4's in Wisconsin have been on the chopping block way more than routes ending in any other number. They should renumber WI-80 as WI-84 so that it keeps the same number as the Illinois route. Once did before until Illinois changed theirs to avoid conflict with I-80.

Weren't you just complaining about highway number changes in another topic?

[froggie]

He was.  There's just no winning with some people...

[tribar]

Probably, Something to do with Farve.

[triplemultiplex]

Why stop at 94?
114, 124, & 144 were all shortened, 184 and 194 were decommissioned entirely and even I-894 has been made useless by I-41.

[dvferyance]

Why stop at 94?
114, 124, & 144 were all shortened, 184 and 194 were decommissioned entirely and even I-894 has been made useless by I-41.

Yet the useless WI-134 is still there. Everyone still calls it I-894 it's I-41 that's useless.

[dvferyance]

He was.  There's just no winning with some people...

My complaint is there are just way too many. I don't know why they don't at least wait until the next state maps come out to make the change. That makes sense right? Drivers are going to be looking for routes that aren't there anymore despite even having the latest maps.

[GeekJedi]

Why stop at 94?
114, 124, & 144 were all shortened, 184 and 194 were decommissioned entirely and even I-894 has been made useless by I-41.

Yet the useless WI-134 is still there. Everyone still calls it I-894 it's I-41 that's useless.

Everyone still calls it I-894 it's I-41 that's useless. (In my opinion)

There. Fixed that for you. It hasn't been I-41 for even a year yet so yeah, it makes sense that everyone still calls it I-894. In fact, some people still call the Rock Freeway "Hwy 15".

[The Ghostbuster]

Old highway names never die!

[SSOWorld]

It's WisDOT - out-multiplexing your state since 1918!

[SEWIGuy]

He was.  There's just no winning with some people...

My complaint is there are just way too many. I don't know why they don't at least wait until the next state maps come out to make the change. That makes sense right? Drivers are going to be looking for routes that aren't there anymore despite even having the latest maps.

Most people don't use maps.

[Henry]

That's very interesting indeed! And also a coincidence that all three of the state's pro teams have retired No. 4 (Sidney Moncrief, Brett Favre and Robin Yount, IIRC).

[WarrenWallace]

Paul Molitor

[Big John]

Paul Molitor

Yep, Yount was #19.

[The Ghostbuster]

The one I find the most unusual is WI-24. It was decommissioned outside of Milwaukee County in the late 1980s. I assumed that happened because it happened about the same time the WI-15 freeway was renumbered to Interstate 43. Does anyone know if there was a correlation between the two events?

[GeekJedi]

The one I find the most unusual is WI-24. It was decommissioned outside of Milwaukee County in the late 1980s. I assumed that happened because it happened about the same time the WI-15 freeway was renumbered to Interstate 43. Does anyone know if there was a correlation between the two events?

I want to say that it was due to the extension of WI-164 from its former terminus in Waukesha to its current one at WI-36 near Waterford.

[SEWIGuy]

The one I find the most unusual is WI-24. It was decommissioned outside of Milwaukee County in the late 1980s. I assumed that happened because it happened about the same time the WI-15 freeway was renumbered to Interstate 43. Does anyone know if there was a correlation between the two events?

Going off on a tangent here, I understand that WI-24 was kept in Milwaukee because it is a state maintained highway.  But does signing itself as WI-24 provide any help from a navigation standpoint?  I wonder if many urban highways that are basically surface streets would just be better off as unmarked state maintained highways.

Highways like WI-24, WI-57 and WI-181 are examples.  US-151 in Madison as well.

[peterj920]

The one I find the most unusual is WI-24. It was decommissioned outside of Milwaukee County in the late 1980s. I assumed that happened because it happened about the same time the WI-15 freeway was renumbered to Interstate 43. Does anyone know if there was a correlation between the two events?

Going off on a tangent here, I understand that WI-24 was kept in Milwaukee because it is a state maintained highway.  But does signing itself as WI-24 provide any help from a navigation standpoint?  I wonder if many urban highways that are basically surface streets would just be better off as unmarked state maintained highways.

Highways like WI-24, WI-57 and WI-181 are examples.  US-151 in Madison as well.

A lot of highways near downtown Milwaukee aren't marked well or don't even have a reference to freeway exits.  US 18 was rerouted onto Highland Ave to 6th St a few years ago, and I doubt too many people noticed.  On I-43, the exit just says Highland Ave without a reference to US 18.  I-794 has an exit to Milwaukee St which is Wis 32 and Michigan St which is US 18 with the routes omitted.  There isn't a direct exit to 27th St but there are to 27th St signs which is Wis 57 and no reference to that either. 

Wis 119 was unsigned for the longest time but was added to actually help with navigation because people would see it on a map, but wouldn't see any signs along I-94 to the route itself. 

[The Ghostbuster]

If WI-24 were to be decommissioned, WI-241 would have to be retracted to WI-36. I think state highways should be better signposted than they currently are. On the beltline, there once were few reassurance signs along the roadway (such as eastbound near the Todd Drive interchange), the only ones being on the overhead signs at the interchanges. Now there are reassurance markers after every on-ramp.

[SEWIGuy]

If WI-24 were to be decommissioned, WI-241 would have to be retracted to WI-36. I think state highways should be better signposted than they currently are. On the beltline, there once were few reassurance signs along the roadway (such as eastbound near the Todd Drive interchange), the only ones being on the overhead signs at the interchanges. Now there are reassurance markers after every on-ramp.

I agree on highways like the Beltline, numbers should be singed better.  No doubt.  But I am talking about surface streets.

If WI-24 were decommissioned and WI-241 retracted back to WI-36, I would argue, who cares?  In Milwaukee, WI-24 (at that point) is Forest Home Avenue, WI-241 is 27th Street and WI-36 is Loomis Road.  No one refers to them by their numbers - until perhaps the latter two get south of I-894.

My point is why go through the effort and expense of signage when it doesn't really aide in guidance?  If the state continues to maintain those roads, then they can continue to do so.  They don't need a sign to signify that. 

As peter points out, the numbers are rarely referred to on the BGS.  And they oftentime take routes that aren't even all that effective. 

[peterj920]

I wouldn't be surprised if Wis 74 or some of those other numbers would be "recycled" and used for new state highways since Wisconsin really likes to reuse numbers.

In Green Bay, I can't think of any other reason that Wis 172 has its number other than it was once used for former US 12 in Eau Claire.

Wis 15 in Outagamie County and Wis 91 between Oshkosh and Berlin are 2 more recent state highways that were used elsewhere after being decommissioned.  Wis 15 will be completely 4 lanes in a few years continuing to be an important highway even after I-43 replaced most of it, while Wis 91 is longer than the previous short connector between former US 51 and US 8.  I'm sure there's plenty of other cases where the numbers were recycled.

I know it's a 3 digit number ending in 4, but Wis 164 was extended north of Waukesha and most of it is on the National Highway System.  Environmentalists keep holding up expansion north of Good Hope Rd. 

As for the double digit routes ending in 4, Wis 64 and Wis 54 make up 2 of the 8 state highways that cross the entire state east-west.  The only other ending number that has 2 is 0 (Wis 60, Wis 70.  Wis 11, Wis 33, Wis 29, and Wis 77 make up the others.)  North south the only 2 state routes that travel across are Wis 32 and Wis 35.