U.S. Highway10 (US10) in Wisconsin runs east–west across the central part of the state. It runs from the Prescott Drawbridge over the St. Croix River at Prescott east to the dock in Manitowoc where crosses Lake Michigan to Ludington, Michigan. The highway is also designated as the Vietnam War Veterans Memorial Highway for its entire length.

Route description

US10 enters the state and Pierce County from Minnesota at Prescott and immediately joins with Wisconsin Highway 35 (WIS35) north. WIS35 turns north northeast at WIS 29 while US10 continues east and passes through Ellsworth at the junctions with WIS 65 and US 63. The highway turns southeast and passes through Ono and Plum City. US10 then enters Pepin County and junctions with WIS 25 and WIS 85 at Durand. US10 briefly enters Buffalo County and passes through Mondovi at the junction with WIS 37. In northern Trempealeau County, the highway crosses WIS 93 at Eleva, passes through Strum, and junctions with US 53 and I-94 in Osseo. The route then enters Jackson County where it joins US 12 and WIS 27. US12 and WIS27 split to the south at the Clark County line while US10 continues east to Neillsville and crosses WIS 73 there. The highway then meanders northeast into Wood County, intersecting with WIS 80. It then becomes an expressway and passes south of Marshfield, meeting WIS 13 south of the city at a diamond interchange. US10 then passes south of Auburndale and enters Portage County near Milladore.

US10 enters Portage County as a freeway, and meets WIS 34 and WIS 13 south west of Junction City. WIS34 splits to the north east of Junction City while US10 turns east and bypasses Stevens Point. The highway then meets I-39/US 51 north of the city and runs concurrently with I-39/US51 for about before exiting to the east of Stevens Point. At this point, US10 becomes a multilane surface road for about , then becomes an expressway and heads southeast, passing through Amherst and crossing into Waupaca County. US10 bypasses the city of Waupaca to the south, junctions with WIS 22 and WIS 54, and meets WIS 49 south. US10 and WIS49 turn eastward to Weyauwega then head south to Fremont where WIS49 turns south and US10 becomes a freeway at the junction with WIS 110. US10 collects US 45 south in northwest Winnebago County for a southeast trek before US45 splits to the south and US10 turns east to rendezvous with WIS 441 at the junction with I-41/US 41 in Neenah. US10 turns south off the WIS441 freeway south of Appleton and turns east into Calumet County.

As a multilane urban arterial, US10 collects WIS 114 for before the latter splits southward before US10 junctions with WIS 55. The highway then crosses WIS 32 and WIS 57 at Forest Junction and turns southeast to pass through Brillion and into Manitowoc County. The highway passes through Reedsville and Whitelaw before turning south onto I-43 for and turning east off the Interstate to head along WIS 42 into the north side of Manitowoc. US10 then turns south into downtown where it continues into Michigan via the car ferry to Ludington. Badger only operates on a seasonal basis from May to October.

History

Before 1926, what is now US10 was State Trunk Highway18. But WIS18 initially (in 1917) ran only from Humbird, near where US10 and US 12 (then WIS 12) cross, east to Manitowoc. State Trunk Highway34 ran from Prescott to WIS 37 in Mondovi. The route between Mondovi and Humbird was not numbered until the early 1920s, when WIS18 was extended west from Humbird past Mondovi to Prescott, eliminating WIS34.

When US10 was designated in 1926, it ran along US12 from Minnesota east to Humbird, splitting there to run to Manitowoc. The part of former WIS18 west of Humbird became WIS34, as the number18 conflicted with US 18. In 1934, WIS34 disappeared again, as US10 was separated from the US12 concurrency to run along it.

At its spring 2015 meeting, the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials committee extended US10 to include the route of SS Badger between Ludington and Manitowoc.

Major intersections

Business route

Business U.S. Highway10 (Bus. US10) is a business route of US10 that follows its former alignment through Neillsville.

See also

• U.S. Route 110, a short and short-lived spur from Fremont to Oshkosh

References

External links