Wikipedia / U.S. Route 10
Wikipedia / U.S. Route 10
U.S. Route10 or U.S. Highway10 (US10) is an east–west United States Numbered Highway located in the Midwest and Great Lakes regions of the U.S. Despite the "0" as the last digit in the number, US10 is no longer a cross-country highway, and it never was a full coast-to-coast route. US10 was one of the original long-haul highways, running from Detroit, Michigan, to Seattle, Washington, but then lost much of its length when new Interstate Highways were built on top of its right-of-way.
US10 used to be broken into two segments by Lake Michigan. In 2015, the ferry between Ludington, Michigan, and Manitowoc, Wisconsin, was officially designated as part of the highway. The ferry operates only between May and October.
The eastern terminus of US10 is near Bay City, Michigan, at its interchange with Interstate 75 (I-75) (near US10's milepost139 and I-75's milepost162). The western terminus of US10 is in the city of West Fargo, North Dakota, at its interchange with I-94.
Route description
|- |ND | |- |MN | |- |WI | |- |MI | |- |Total | |}
North Dakota
In the state of North Dakota, US10 runs for about , from I-94/US52 at exit343 to the Red River of the North. It is one of the primary east–west streets in West Fargo and Fargo and is called Main Avenue for its entire length in North Dakota. At the Red River, US10 crosses over a bridge to Moorhead, Minnesota.
Minnesota
US10 is a major divided highway for almost all of its length in Minnesota. The road enters Minnesota in Moorhead and travels through Detroit Lakes, Wadena, Staples, Little Falls, St. Cloud, and Elk River. It becomes a freeway in Anoka and passes through the northern suburbs of Minneapolis and Saint Paul, It enters Saint Paul paired with I-35E and exits Saint Paul paired with US 61. It leaves US61 just north of Hastings as a two-lane highway shortly before entering into Wisconsin.
Wisconsin
US10 enters Wisconsin at Prescott and travels southeastward passing Durand, Neillsville, Marshfield, Stevens Point, and Appleton before reaching its eastern terminus near the Lake Michigan shore in Manitowoc. Ferry service between the western and eastern portions of US10 is provided between May and October by the ferry . US10 is now a four-lane divided highway from State Trunk Highway 80 (WIS80) south of Marshfield to I-39. This allows travelers to bypass Hewitt, Auburndale, Blenker, Milladore, Junction City, and downtown Stevens Point. This completes the plan to upgrade US10 to a freeway or expressway status from Marshfield to Menasha. US10 is an expressway between Stevens Point and Waupaca. It has been upgraded to a freeway in the Waupaca area and is also a freeway between Fremont and Appleton.
Michigan
The western terminus of US10 in Michigan is Ludington. US10 runs concurrently with US 31 from the east side of Ludington to Scottville before US31 turns northward. The road then heads easterly through Baldwin and Reed City before it becomes a freeway west of US 127 near the junction with highway M-115. US127 and US10 overlap for a short distance near Clare. US10 bypasses Midland and terminates at I-75 in Bay City.
History
When the Joint Board on Interstate Highways submitted its report in October 1925 proposing the United States Numbered Highway System, Route No. 10 was planned to travel eastward from Seattle to Minneapolis–St. Paul, then southeast to Chicago, then northeast to Detroit. In the same proposal, U.S. Route 12 was intended to cross US10 near Minneapolis, travel eastward through Wisconsin, make use of the Lake Michigan ferry connecting Manitowoc, Wisconsin, to Ludington, Michigan, and then travel eastward to the same endpoint in Detroit. In the finalized system, approved on November 11, 1926, these designations east of the Twin Cities were switched, with US10 using the ferry and US12 rounding the southern end of Lake Michigan at Chicago.
Much of the former route of US10 was supplanted by I-90 and I-94 beginning in the 1960s, particularly from Seattle to Fargo. In 1970, Washington replaced its segment of US10 with State Route 10. In 1977, the portion of US10 running through the Idaho Panhandle and western Montana, from the intersection with US 95 Alternate east of Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, to the intersection with US 93/MT 200 in Wye, near Missoula, Montana, was decommissioned. In 1986, the segment of US10 between Wye and West Fargo, North Dakota, was decommissioned, reducing the route to its current western terminus.
Some sections of the old US10 road still exist in such cities as Bismarck, Missoula, Spokane, and between Cle Elum and Ellensburg as Washington State Route10 (SR10). The last section of I-90 to be completed was between Coeur d'Alene and Wallace in the early 1990s. Much of this route was conumbered as both I-90 and US10 until the final completion of I-90 through Idaho. Some decommissioned sections of US10 are designated I-90 Business (I-90 Bus.) or I-94 Bus. routes. At least four US10 Alternate (US10 Alt.) routes were used, including one from Spokane to Missoula from 1941 to 1967 via Sandpoint, Idaho (represented today by US 2, State Highway 200, MT 200, and US 93), US10 Alt. between US10 (4th Avenue S. and Dearborn Street in Seattle) and present-day US2 in Everett (Rucker Avenue and Hewitt Avenue) along US 99, US10 Alt. between the western terminus of US10 and Issaquah along the pre-truncated version of SR 900, and the Pintler Scenic Route through Philipsburg, and Anaconda, renamed MT 1 when Montana's US10 was decommissioned in 1986. US10 split between Garrison and Three Forks into US10N and US10S from 1936 until 1960. US10N through Helena and dropping into Three Forks, while the Southern section of the split followed US10's traditional routing through Deer Lodge and Butte, Montana, to get across the Rocky Mountains. Previous to the split, US10N was designated as another US10 Alt.
At the eastern end, US10 originally went south from Midland to Saginaw, Michigan, on what is now highway M-47. It then joined up with US 23 in Saginaw and continued south until it split from US23 near Flint. It then continued southeast as the Dixie Highway to Pontiac, where it followed Woodward Avenue, now designated M-1. From there, US10 continued on an almost straight line to Downtown Detroit, where it intersected US 16, US 25, and US 12.
In the 1960s, US10 was rerouted to bypass downtown Pontiac to the west, replacing M-58 along Square Lake Road and Telegraph Road, with the downtown route designated Business US10. In 1970, US10 was rerouted off Woodward Avenue in Metro Detroit and onto the John C. Lodge Freeway (formerly Business Spur696, now M-10) and Telegraph Road, where it was concurrent on the latter road with US 24. The segment of US10 between Detroit and Bay City, Michigan, was decommissioned in 1985, at which point the Lodge Freeway was redesignated to M-10, while the segments of Telegraph Road and Dixie Highway between the northern end of US24 in Pontiac and the interchange with I-75 in Clarkston were designated an extension of US24, and the Pontiac business route was changed to Business US24 as a result.
In 2015, the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials officially designated the car ferry as part of the highway's official route, joining US 9 as the only two routes with a ferry connection.
Major intersections
North Dakota
in West Fargo
in Fargo
Minnesota
in Moorhead. The highways travel concurrently through the city.
in Wadena
on the Mounds View–Shoreview city line. The highways travel concurrently to the Mounds View–Arden Hills city line.
in Arden Hills. The highways travel concurrently to Little Canada.
in Little Canada. I-35E/US10 travel concurrently to Saint Paul.
in Saint Paul. I-94/US10 travel concurrently through the city.
in Saint Paul. The highways travel concurrently to Denmark Township.
in Newport
Wisconsin
west of Ellsworth. The highways travel concurrently to east of Ellsworth.
west of Osseo. The highways travel concurrently to Osseo.
in Osseo
south of Fairchild. The highways travel concurrently to east-southeast of Fairchild.
north-northwest of Stevens Point. The highways travel concurrently to Stevens Point.
east-southeast of Fremont. The highways travel concurrently for approximately .
north of Neenah
northwest of Manitowoc. The highways travel concurrently to west of Manitowoc.
in Manitowoc
SS Badger in Manitowoc. US10 utilizes the ship as a car ferry across Lake Michigan to Ludington, Michigan.
Michigan
SS Badger in Ludington.
in Amber Township. The highways travel concurrently through the township.
in Grant Township. The highways travel concurrently to Clare.
in Monitor Township
Related routes
US10 has had alternate routes designated in the past, but none are active as of 2017. A multistate alternate route between Washington and Montana was largely replaced in 1947 by the western extension of US 2 and later decommissioned entirely in 1967.
Between 1926 and 1934, there was a pair of suffixed routes between St. Cloud, Minnesota, and Moorhead, Minnesota. US10N, the northern half of the pairing, connected St. Cloud, Little Falls, Motley, and Detroit Lakes before reaching Moorhead. US10S ran from St. Cloud through Alexandria and Fergus Falls before rejoining US10N at Moorhead. In the mid-1930s, US 52 was extended into Minnesota, and US10S was renamed to US52 (now also I-94). US10N was renamed to US10.
See also
References
External links