WIS 172 maybe should be a rerouted WIS 29 .....?

[skluth]

Hoping not to be teetering on the edge of Fictional Highways here I'd like to see a I-541 or even a I-543...hard to tell which they'd go with because 43 sort of wraps around Green Bay, whereas 41, which clearly is the more dominant freeway, should definitely have a Child Route.

I-543 would be cool since all Green Bay zip codes start with 543.

[I94RoadRunner]

^^I LIKE THAT TRAIN OF THOUGHT!!!

though, knowing WisDOT they'll  multiplex I-194 and I-43...i guess that'd mean effectively turning it into a Super Long Badgerland Beltway of sorts....say I-294 and south of GB it'd be I-43/294.

I jest...

I had thought of I-92 for the WIS 29 corridor - just reversing the numbers and put them into an interstate shield! I guess it would be technically out of the grid north of I-94, but I-82 is another good example .....

That and I also am partial to the thought of I-294 (or I-435) is a good choice for the finished MN 610 corridor in the northern Twin Cities IMO.

[merrycilantro]

I'm told that MnDot is the killjoy of interstate conversion...as I am not a resident I don't know if that is true...

[SEWIGuy]

There really is no reason to go through the expense of upgrading WI-29 to an interstate compatible freeway anytime soon.  The rural areas between Eau Claire and Wausau, and Wausau and Green Bay, are in the low 10,000s  per day.  (Underneath 10,000 in some parts between Wausau and Green Bay.)

Contrast that to US-41 between Milwaukee and Fond du Lac that sees daily counts about three times that size.

[merrycilantro]

What would be nice is for those few State Highways (such as Wis 29 and Wis 23, once it gets finished, and Wis 57) that are built to Expressway Standards but not quite Interstate Standards, to get some sort of designation that travelers who might not necessarily know, would be like "Oh OK this is a 'might-as-well-be freeway, I can travel that like I would an Interstate"...such a designation for US 41 would have been nice too...but well what would you call it. People so tend to travel Interstates over State Hwys and even US Hwys thinking they're going to all be just 2-lane rural routes outside the big cities. Perhaps a different State Highway Sign along with maybe a name (a'la the Chicago Freeway System)...or turnpike, if that wouldn't reference a toll (at least it does in my mind, correct me if I'm wrong)...just let drivers know hey this is a special state highway, this is an expressway...even if it's so dumb as to call it the Green Bay-Eau Claire Expressway...Milwaukee's got the East-West and the North-South Freeways, so nothing could be more obvious than that.

Call Wis 29 from Eau Claire to Green Bay the Cranberry Expressway, Wis 57 the Kettle Moraine Expressway, maybe just have the same Wisconsin State Highway Shield we do now, only blue...just to indicate some form of elevation. Wis 50 - Lake Geneva Turnpike...Wis 23 - Plank Road Expressway (in reference to its old name). Wis 172 - Lombardi Expressway (or anything in reference to the beloved Packers)...Wis 54 - Door County Turnpike...ya know? Maybe I'll make a map and figure out how to post, but I will post in the Fictional Highways forum just in case.

Thanks for Listening. Sorry for Rambling.

**I take back all the Turnpike uses...By Definition Turnpike is an expressway on which a toll is charged. My bad. But y'all get the point.

[I94RoadRunner]

I'm told that MnDot is the killjoy of interstate conversion...as I am not a resident I don't know if that is true...

I am relatively new to MN myself - about 5 and a half years now, so no idea if that is the truth. Froggie is really the one to ask that question .....

[triplemultiplex]

In my opinion, WisDOT should be moving faster on freeway conversion between Shawano and Green Bay.  The Michigan Lefts in Brown County are a little safer, but there is plenty of traffic to justify the full upgrade.  That's been my observation every time I drive that stretch.

[mgk920]

In my opinion, WisDOT should be moving faster on freeway conversion between Shawano and Green Bay.  The Michigan Lefts in Brown County are a little safer, but there is plenty of traffic to justify the full upgrade.  That's been my observation every time I drive that stretch.

Actually 'Bonduel' - WI 29 is already a fully interstate-compatible freeway from a short distance east of WI 47/55 to the west edge of the Shawano area.  The several remaining non-freeway sections east of Shawano are not that long and should not be difficult at all to upgrade.

IMHO, WI 29 is 'evolving' in the same manner that US(I)-41 has been since the early post-WWII years, only a few decades behind it in the timeline.

Mike

[triplemultiplex]

Right.  I should've referred to the Shawano freeway segment and not just Shawano.