U.S. Highway 10 (US 10) in
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 ...
runs east–west across the central part of the state. It runs from the
Prescott Drawbridge
The Prescott Drawbridge, also called the Point Douglas Drawbridge, is a steel girder bridge with a double-leaf bascule drawbridge section. The roadbed of the drawbridge span is a steel grate. The bridge carries U.S. 10 across the St. Croix Ri ...
over the
St. Croix River at
Prescott east to the dock in
Manitowoc where crosses
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 ...
to
Ludington, Michigan
Ludington ( ) is the largest city and county seat of Mason County in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 8,076.
Ludington is a harbor town located on Lake Michigan at the mouth of the Pere Marquette Rive ...
. The highway is also designated as the Vietnam War Veterans Memorial Highway for its entire length.
Route description
US 10 enters the state and
Pierce County from Minnesota at Prescott and immediately joins with
Wisconsin Highway 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) north. WIS 35 turns north northeast at
WIS 29 while US 10 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.
US 10 then enters
Pepin County and junctions with
WIS 25 and
WIS 85 at
Durand.
US 10 briefly enters
Buffalo County and passes through
Mondovi at the junction with
WIS 37.
In northern
Trempealeau County
Trempealeau County (, ) is a county in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. As of the 2020 census, the population was 30,760. Its county seat is Whitehall. Many people of Hispanic, Polish, Norwegian and German descent live in this area.
History
Patche ...
, the highway crosses
WIS 93 at
Eleva, passes through
Strum
In music, strumming is a way of playing a stringed instrument such as a guitar, ukulele, or mandolin. A strum or stroke is a sweeping action where a finger or plectrum brushes over several strings to generate sound. On most stringed instrument ...
, and junctions with
US 53 and
I-94 in
Osseo.
The route then enters
Jackson County where it joins
US 12 and
WIS 27.
US 12 and WIS 27 split to the south at the
Clark County line while US 10 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. US 10 then passes south of
Auburndale and enters Portage County near
Milladore.
US 10 enters Portage County as a freeway, and meets
WIS 34 and
WIS 13 south west of
Junction City. WIS 34 splits to the north east of Junction City while US 10 turns east and bypasses
Stevens Point
Stevens Point is the county seat of Portage County, Wisconsin, United States. The city was incorporated in 1858.
Its 2020 population of 25,666 makes it the largest city in the county. Stevens Point forms the core of the United States Census Bur ...
. The highway then meets
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- ...
/
US 51 north of the city and runs concurrently with I-39/US 51 for about before exiting to the east of Stevens Point. At this point, US 10 becomes a multilane surface road for about , then becomes an expressway and heads southeast, passing through Amherst and crossing into
Waupaca County.
US 10 bypasses the city of
Waupaca to the south, junctions with
WIS 22 and
WIS 54, and meets
WIS 49 south. US 10 and WIS 49 turn eastward to
Weyauwega then head south to
Fremont where WIS 49 turns south and US 10 becomes a
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 ...
at the junction with
WIS 110.
US 10 collects
US 45 south in northwest
Winnebago County for a southeast trek before US 45 splits to the south and US 10 turns east to rendezvous with
WIS 441 at the junction with
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 C ...
/
US 41 in
Neenah
Neenah () is a city in Winnebago County, Wisconsin, Winnebago County, Wisconsin, in the East North Central States, north central United States. It is situated on the banks of Lake Winnebago, Little Lake Butte des Morts, and the Fox River (Wiscon ...
. US 10 turns south off the WIS 441 freeway south of
Appleton and turns east into
Calumet County
Calumet County is a County (United States), county located in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 52,442. The county seat is Chilton, Wisconsin, Chilton. The county was created in 18 ...
.
As a multilane urban arterial, US 10 collects
WIS 114 for before the latter splits southward before US 10 junctions with
WIS 55. The highway then crosses
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 bor ...
and
WIS 57 at
Forest Junction and turns southeast to pass through
Brillion and into
Manitowoc County
Manitowoc County is a county in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. As of the 2020 census, the population was 81,359. Its county seat is Manitowoc. The county was created in 1836 prior to Wisconsin's statehood and organized in 1848. Manitowoc County ...
.
The highway passes through
Reedsville and
Whitelaw before turning south onto
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 ...
for and turning east off the Interstate to head along
WIS 42 into the north side of
Manitowoc. US 10 then turns south into downtown where it continues into
Michigan
Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...
via the car ferry to
Ludington.
''Badger'' only operates on a seasonal basis from May to October.
History
Prior to 1926, what is now US 10 was State Trunk Highway 18. However, WIS 18 initially (in 1917) only ran from
Humbird, near where US 10 and
US 12 (then
WIS 12) cross, east to Manitowoc. State Trunk Highway 34 ran from
Prescott to
WIS 37 in
Mondovi. The route between Mondovi and Humbird was not numbered until the early 1920s, when WIS 18 was extended west from Humbird past Mondovi to Prescott, eliminating WIS 34.
When US 10 was designated in late 1926, it ran along US 12 from Minnesota east to Humbird, splitting there to run to Manitowoc. The piece of former WIS 18 west of Humbird became WIS 34, as the number 18 conflicted with
US 18. In 1934, WIS 34 disappeared again, as US 10 was separated from the US 12
concurrency to run along it.
At their spring meeting in 2015, the
committee extended US 10 to include the route of SS ''Badger'' between Ludington and Manitowoc.
Major intersections
Business route
Business U.S. Highway 10 (Bus. US 10) is a
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 US 10 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
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:U.S. Route 10 In Wisconsin
Wisconsin
10
Transportation in Pierce County, Wisconsin
Transportation in Pepin County, Wisconsin
Transportation in Buffalo County, Wisconsin
Transportation in Trempealeau County, Wisconsin
Transportation in Jackson County, Wisconsin
Transportation in Clark County, Wisconsin
Transportation in Wood County, Wisconsin
Transportation in Portage County, Wisconsin
Transportation in Waupaca County, Wisconsin
Transportation in Winnebago County, Wisconsin
Transportation in Calumet County, Wisconsin
Transportation in Manitowoc County, Wisconsin