Putting a Name to Wisconsin Expressways in light of I-41 Conversion

[merrycilantro]

I am unsure as to which board/forum I should put this in...not exactly Fictional, because it involves real roads, but not exactly NOT fictional, either. My apologies to the admins if I've posted in the wrong place.

I believe Wisconsin, like any other state, has expressways that some travelers are hesitant to use, as they are State or US Routes. In light of the reasoning behind the Conversion of US 41 to I-41, I'd like to propose the following: Why not take a page from other states, and say, give these expressways names, that would let travelers know "Hey, this isn't an interstate, but it's a 4-Lane, Limited Access(ish) route that will get you where you want to go quickly. The following are most of the expressways in Wisconsin (I may have missed a few), and my proposed names for them. Keep the numbering as is, don't change a thing except additional signage, but once you add that term Expressway to it, Lets the driver/traveler know they won't be stuck on a 2 lane country road stomping all over creation trying to get to their destination. Might bring more economy to that particular area and save WisDOT the hassle if they don't plan on upgrading these expressways to Interstates...and even if they do, they can still retain the name.

In No Particular Order, my Proposed Wisconsin Expressway Names are as follows:

US 151 Dubuque to Fond du Lac — Badger Expressway (since it goes thru Madison, the capital)

Wis 29 Eau Claire to Wausau — Cranberry Expressway (heart of Cranberry Country)

Wis 29 Wausau to Green Bay - Shawano Expressway (Shawano is the midpoint city between)

Wis 23 Fond du Lac to Sheboygan — Plank Road Expressway (23 was the Old Plank Road to Sheboygan)

Wis 16 Pewaukee to Oconomowoc — Lake Country Expressway (that area is referred to by the locals as Lake Country)

Wis 26 Janesville to north of Watertown — Koshkonong Expressway (Koshkonong is largest lake it passes)

Wis 57 Port Washington to Kiel - Kettle Moraine Expressway or Niagara Expressway (both natural features of the area, Niagara being the Niagara Escarpment)

Wis 57 Green Bay to Sturgeon Bay - Door County Expressway

US 45 & 10 Oshkosh to Stevens Point - Chief Oshkosh Expressway, or Butte des Morts Expressway

Wis 441/US 10 Appleton (US 41-45) already named Tri-County Expressway

US 10 Stevens Point to Marshfield - Marshfield Spur

US 53/Wis 157 Wis 16 to north of Holmen - Onalaska Expressway

US 53 Eau Claire to Superior - Indianhead Expressway (not derogatorily named, this is a known name for the region as the river of the border of Wisconsin is in the shape of an Indian Head)

Wis 50 Kenosha to Lake Geneva (this one is a bit of a long stretch) - Lake Geneva "Expressway" (i put expressway in quotes because to me it appears to be just a four-lane route, no exits, but it does offer 4 lanes (for the most part) to Lake Geneva.

US 12 Elkhorn to Genoa City (for now) - Walworth Freeway

US 45 Richfield to West Bend - West Bend Spur

Wis 172 Green Bay - Lombardi Freeway, or Vince Lombardi Freeway

[NE2]

How would a name that doesn't appear on state-level maps tell you that it's a high-speed route if you're unfamiliar with the area?

[merrycilantro]

Fair enough, but who says it doesn't appear on state-level maps? Rand McNally could put that in the new Road Atlas, and Big Brother Google could just tack it onto their Google Maps like they do for the Chicagoland Freeway/Expressway names.

I suppose one could even venture to say that BGSes at the ends of the route could display control cities along with the expressway name too, such as in Milwaukee for Wis 57:

Wis 57
Kettle Moraine Expressway
Plymouth - Kiel

[NE2]

Fair enough, but who says it doesn't appear on state-level maps? Rand McNally could put that in the new Road Atlas, and Big Brother Google could just tack it onto their Google Maps like they do for the Chicagoland Freeway/Expressway names.

Long names like these take up a bunch of space. (The Goog doesn't show any names until you zoom in to city level.)

It might be more likely that they adopt a different color for high-speed surface roads.

[merrycilantro]

See I was thinking that too, something like the current State Highway Shield but maybe tinted Blue. I just didn't know how feasible that would be.

[NE2]

See I was thinking that too, something like the current State Highway Shield but maybe tinted Blue. I just didn't know how feasible that would be.

No, I mean a different color for the lines on the map.

[Zeffy]

See I was thinking that too, something like the current State Highway Shield but maybe tinted Blue. I just didn't know how feasible that would be.

It sounds like these routes would be what OSM considers a "trunk route". What could be done, but would be considered a bit overkill, is something like the toll roads in Oklahoma, with their own shield and such. Of course, it wouldn't show up on Google, but...

This is probably the one thing I dislike Google for. You have basically three colors - white for residential streets (or for minor arterials, which are a thicker outlined white), yellow for everything that isn't a freeway or residential road, and then orange for freeways. Nothing in between.

[NE2]

It sounds like these routes would be what OSM considers a "trunk route".

Not really. OSM started in the UK, where green is the "primary route network". This includes anything from full freeways that are not designated as motorways to city streets.

[DaBigE]

I am unsure as to which board/forum I should put this in...not exactly Fictional, because it involves real roads, but not exactly NOT fictional, either. My apologies to the admins if I've posted in the wrong place.

I believe Wisconsin, like any other state, has expressways that some travelers are hesitant to use, as they are State or US Routes. In light of the reasoning behind the Conversion of US 41 to I-41, I'd like to propose the following: Why not take a page from other states, and say, give these expressways names, that would let travelers know "Hey, this isn't an interstate, but it's a 4-Lane, Limited Access(ish) route that will get you where you want to go quickly. The following are most of the expressways in Wisconsin (I may have missed a few), and my proposed names for them. Keep the numbering as is, don't change a thing except additional signage, but once you add that term Expressway to it, Lets the driver/traveler know they won't be stuck on a 2 lane country road stomping all over creation trying to get to their destination. Might bring more economy to that particular area and save WisDOT the hassle if they don't plan on upgrading these expressways to Interstates...and even if they do, they can still retain the name.
...

A few of those already bear names similar to what you suggest, however, are known only internally within WisDOT. Generally, you'll only see corridor names like that on the title sheet of the plan set. For example, US 45 north from the 41 split is the West Bend freeway. Others have been named as honorary highways, however signage with those declarations have been declared "non-essential" and allowed to be removed and not replaced, (due to reconstruction projects, end of useful service life, or most commonly, due to knock-downs).

While a nice idea, I don't see it catching on this late in the game, especially with how lazy Wisconsinites are with highways (everything is a highway, regardless of what shield it bears).