State Trunk Highway 11 (often called Highway 11, STH-11 or WIS 11) is a

state highway A state highway, state road, or state route (and the equivalent provincial highway, provincial road, or provincial route) is usually a road that is either ''numbered'' or ''maintained'' by a sub-national state or province. A road numbered by a ...

running east–west across southern

Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...

. The highway connects

Dubuque, Iowa Dubuque (, ) is the county seat of Dubuque County, Iowa, United States, located along the Mississippi River. At the time of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, the population of Dubuque was 59,667. The city lies at the junction of Iowa, Il ...

with the cities of Janesville,

Racine Jean-Baptiste Racine ( , ) (; 22 December 163921 April 1699) was a French dramatist, one of the three great playwrights of 17th-century France, along with Molière and Corneille as well as an important literary figure in the Western traditio ...

and Elkhorn. Most of the route is two-lane road with the exception of an expressway bypass of Monroe, a multilane bypass of Janesville, a section where it is concurrent with

I-39 Interstate 39 (I-39) is a highway in the Midwestern United States. I-39 runs from Normal, Illinois, at I-55 to State Trunk Highway 29 (WIS 29) in the town of Rib Mountain, Wisconsin, which is approximately south of Wausau. I- ...

and

I-90 Interstate 90 (I-90) is an east–west transcontinental freeway and the longest Interstate Highway in the United States at . It begins in Seattle, Washington, and travels through the Pacific Northwest, Mountain West, Great Plains, Midwest, and ...

, a combined

freeway A controlled-access highway is a type of highway that has been designed for high-speed vehicular traffic, with all traffic flow—ingress and egress—regulated. Common English terms are freeway, motorway and expressway. Other similar terms ...

divided highway A dual carriageway ( BE) or divided highway ( AE) is a class of highway with carriageways for traffic travelling in opposite directions separated by a central reservation (BrE) or median (AmE). Roads with two or more carriageways which are ...

bypass of

Burlington Burlington may refer to: Places Canada Geography * Burlington, Newfoundland and Labrador * Burlington, Nova Scotia * Burlington, Ontario, the most populous city with the name "Burlington" * Burlington, Prince Edward Island * Burlington Bay, no ...

to the south, where it is partially concurrent with WI 36 and WI 83, and urban multilane highway in the greater Racine area.

Route description

WIS 11 begins in

Grant County Grant County may refer to: Places ;Australia * County of Grant, Victoria ;United States *Grant County, Arkansas *Grant County, Indiana *Grant County, Kansas *Grant County, Kentucky *Grant County, Minnesota *Grant County, Nebraska *Grant Co ...

at the freeway carrying

US 61 U.S. Route 61 or U.S. Highway 61 (U.S. 61) is a major United States highway that extends between New Orleans, Louisiana and the city of Wyoming, Minnesota. The highway generally follows the course of the Mississippi River and is designated ...

and

US 151 U.S. Highway 151 (US 151) is a United States Numbered Highway that runs through the states of Iowa and Wisconsin. The southern terminus for US 151 is at a junction with Interstate 80 (I-80) in Iowa County, Iowa, and its northern terminu ...

and concurrent with

WIS 35 State Trunk Highway 35 (STH-35, WIS 35) is a Wisconsin state highway running north–south across western Wisconsin. It is 412.15 miles in length, and is the longest state highway in Wisconsin. Portions of WIS 35 are part of the ...

. WIS 35 turns south to

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...

a half of a mile into the route as WIS 11 meanders to the east to Hazel Green where it picks up WIS 80 north for before turning east again into Lafayette County while WIS 80 continues north along the county line. The highway passes through Benton and Shullsburg before reaching the

WIS 23 State Trunk Highway 23 (often called Highway 23, STH-23 or WIS 23) is a state highway (US), state highway in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. The route is signed as a north–south route from Shullsburg, Wisconsin, Shullsburg to Wisconsin Dells, Wisco ...

southern terminus five miles (8 km) east of Shullsburg. WIS 11 then junctions with WIS 78 in Gratiot and passes through South Wayne two miles (3 km) west of the Green County line. WIS 11 east from WIS 75

Browntown is the first community that WIS 11 passes through in Green County. WIS 11 then becomes a freeway and circles around Monroe to the north, picking up concurrency with WIS 81 east and Crossing WIS 69 and the terminus of

WIS 59 State Trunk Highway 59 (often called Highway 59, STH-59 or WIS 59) is a state highway that runs east–west in the southeastern part of the U.S. state of Wisconsin from Milwaukee to Monroe. Route description The highway starts at WIS 11 i ...

while on the freeway segment. WIS 81 turns southeast toward Beloit two miles (3 km) south of Brodhead while WIS 11 passes through the city and turns east into Rock County. The highway crosses

WIS 213 State Trunk Highway 213 (often called Highway 213, STH-213 or WIS 213) is a state highway in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. It runs north–south in south central Wisconsin from Beloit to Evansville. History WIS 213 was design ...

in Orfordville and passes through Footville before beginning its southern bypass of Janesville. The bypass crosses

US 51 U.S. Route 51 or U.S. Highway 51 (US 51) is a major south-north United States highway that extends from the western suburbs of New Orleans, Louisiana, to within of the Wisconsin–Michigan state line. As most of the United States Numbered Highw ...

and then joins I-39 and I-90 for back up north where it turns east toward

US 14 U.S. Route 14 (abbreviated U.S. 14 or US 14), an east–west route, is one of the original United States highways of 1926. It currently has a length of 1,398 miles (2,250 km), but it had a peak length of 1,429 miles (2,300 km). For ...

and joins it concurrently - the two routes continuing east to Walworth County. Two miles into Walworth County, US 14 turns south to Darien while WIS 11 heads east into Delavan where it meets

WIS 50 State Trunk Highway 50 (often called Highway 50, STH-50 or WIS 50) is a state highway in Walworth and Kenosha counties in Wisconsin, United States, that runs from Wisconsin Highway 11 (WIS 11) in Delavan east to Wisconsin Highway 32 (WIS& ...

. the highway heads northeast to Elkhorn where it junctions with

WIS 67 State Trunk Highway 67 (often called Highway 67, STH-67 or WIS 67) is a Wisconsin state highway running from the Wisconsin–Illinois state line east of Beloit, Wisconsin, Beloit north to U.S. Route 151, U.S. Highway 151 (US 151) east o ...

and the freeways of

US 12 U.S. Route 12 (US 12) is an east–west United States highway, running from Aberdeen, Washington, to Detroit, Michigan, for almost . The highway has mostly been superseded by Interstate 90 (I-90) and I-94, but unlike most U.S. routes tha ...

which it does not have direct access to, and

I-43 Interstate 43 (I-43) is a Interstate Highway located entirely within the US state of Wisconsin, connecting I-39/ I-90 in Beloit with Milwaukee and I-41, U.S. Highway 41 (US 41) and US 141 in Green Bay. State Trunk Highwa ...

. WIS 11 then heads east through Spring Prairie and into

Racine County Racine County (, sometimes also ) is a county in southeastern Wisconsin. As of the 2020 census, its population was 197,727, making it Wisconsin's fifth-most populous county. Its county seat is Racine. The county was founded in 1836, then a par ...

. A bypass of Burlington was completed in 2010 and WIS 11 now travels around the south side of Burlington and bypassing the downtown area. In Burlington, the highway crosses or meets

WIS 36 State Trunk Highway 36 (often called Highway 36, STH-36 or WIS 36) is a state highway in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. It runs in a diagonal southwest–northeast direction across southeastern Wisconsin from Springfield which is north of Lake ...

WIS 83 State Trunk Highway 83 (often called Highway 83, STH-83 or WIS 83) is a state highway in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. It runs north–south in southeast Wisconsin from Hartford to the Illinois border in the village of Salem Lakes. Most of th ...

and WIS 142. WIS 11 passes through Union Grove and crosses

US 45 U.S. Route 45 (US 45) is a major north-south United States highway and a border-to-border route, from Lake Superior to the Gulf of Mexico. A sign at the highway's northern terminus notes the total distance as . US 45 is notable for incorporatin ...

then passes over I-94,

I-41 Interstate 41 (I-41) is a north–south Interstate Highway connecting the interchange of I-94 and U.S. Route 41 (US 41), located south of the Wisconsin–Illinois border at the end of the Tri-State Tollway in metropolitan Ch ...

, and

US 41 U.S. Route 41, also U.S. Highway 41 (US 41), is a major north–south United States Numbered Highway that runs from Miami, Florida, to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Until 1949, the part in southern Florida, from Naples to Miami, ...

and into the greater Racine area - crossing

WIS 31 State Trunk Highway 31 (often called Highway 31, STH-31 or WIS 31) is a state highway in Kenosha and Racine counties in the US state of Wisconsin that runs north–south as a suburban route passing Racine and Kenosha. With the exception of ...

in Sturtevant and ending at

WIS 32 State Trunk Highway 32 (often called Highway 32, STH-32 or WIS 32) is a state highway in the U.S. state of Wisconsin that runs north–south in eastern Wisconsin. It runs from the Illinois border (at Illinois Route 137) north to the Michigan bord ...

in downtown Racine - just a half mile from the shores of

Lake Michigan Lake Michigan is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is the second-largest of the Great Lakes by volume () and the third-largest by surface area (), after Lake Superior and Lake Huron. To the east, its basin is conjoined with that o ...

History

The current Highway 11 is the second route to be known by that name. The first Highway 11 ran from

Prairie du Sac Prairie du Sac is a village in Sauk County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 4,420 at the 2020 census. The village is surrounded by the Town of Prairie du Sac, the Wisconsin River, and the village of Sauk City; together, Prairie du Sa ...

to Gotham, then to

LaCrosse Lacrosse is a team sport played with a lacrosse stick and a lacrosse ball. It is the oldest organized sport in North America, with its origins with the indigenous people of North America as early as the 12th century. The game was extensively ...

, and then to

Superior Superior may refer to: *Superior (hierarchy), something which is higher in a hierarchical structure of any kind Places *Superior (proposed U.S. state), an unsuccessful proposal for the Upper Peninsula of Michigan to form a separate state *Lake ...

. The route that WIS 11 currently follows was previously designated WIS 20 from the Iowa state line to Burlington. The remaining route was not a part of the state highway system at the time. WIS 11 previously ran through downtown Janesville. A southern bypass was constructed and opened to traffic on November 11, 2002. The former route was turned back to the city and county but not given any county route designations. The bypass consisted of a two-lane road between the western end and CTH-D, and four-lane roadway between CTH-D and the interstates. The section of WIS 11 between I-39/I-90 and US 51 was previously numbered as WIS 351.

Major intersections

Business route

Business State Trunk Highway 11 (Bus. WIS 11) in Monroe is

business route A business route (or business loop, business spur, or city route) in the United States is a short special route connected to a ''parent'' numbered highway at its beginning, then routed through the central business district of a nearby city or ...

of WIS 11. It follows the former alignment of WIS 11 through the city of Monroe.

References

External links

*{{commons category-inline, Wisconsin Highway 11

011 The following is a list of different international call prefixes that need to be dialled when placing an international telephone call from different countries. Countries by international prefix Countries using optional carrier selection cod ...