State Trunk Highway 20 (often called Highway 20, STH-20 or WIS 20) 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 ...
in
Walworth and
Racine counties in southeastern
Wisconsin, United States. The route is a short connector that bridges the city of
Whitewater and points west via
U.S. Highway 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 The highway has mostly been superseded by Interstate 90 (I-90) and I-94, but unlike most U.S. routes that ...
(US 12) with
East Troy,
Waterford and
Racine. WIS 20 is a two-lane surface road with various four-lane roads within cities.
Route description
WIS 20 begins at the junction of US 12 and
WIS 67 and proceeds east, going south around a junction with County Trunk Highway J (CTH-J) east of the terminus and bypassing the small community of
Troy Center. WIS 20 connects with
Interstate 43 (I-43) in East Troy, then meanders eastward 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 ...
WIS 20 provides indirect access to
Alpine Valley Music Theater which is south of the village just off
WIS 120 WIS 20 merges with
WIS 83 east on the west side of Waterford and both highways turn southeast into the village. WIS 83 splits to the south at WIS 20's junction with
WIS 36 in
Rochester. From here, WIS 20 turns east again, where it becomes Washington Avenue. WIS 20 connects with
WIS 75 and crosses
US 45 in the town of
Yorkville.
WIS 20 has an interchange with
I-94 and
US 41 in
Ives Grove.
and enters
Mount Pleasant upon crossing the Interstate, following Washington Avenue.
WIS 20 crosses
WIS 31 while in Mount Pleasant, then enters converges with
WIS 32 just southwest of downtown Racine. The two routes follow Washington Avenue northeast and turn east onto the one-way 7th Street. WIS 20 completes a loop to turn around onto westbound one-way 6th Street as WIS 32 turns north onto Main Street in downtown Racine. These intersections form the eastern terminus of WIS 20.
History
The section between Rochester and Racine existed since the dawn of the Wisconsin highway system in 1917.
WIS 20 was routed southwest along WIS 36 to Burlington, then west from there along present day
WIS 11, not including the
Janesville or
Monroe bypasses. The route also passed through
Gratiot,
Delavan, and
Elkhorn.
The western terminus at the time was at the
Illinois border at
East Dubuque
East Dubuque is a city in Jo Daviess County, Illinois, Jo Daviess County, Illinois, United States. The population was 1,505 at the 2020 census, down from 1,704 in 2010. East Dubuque is located alongside the Mississippi River. Across the river is t ...
.
The route was scaled back to end at Rochester in 1934 when
US 14 replaced WIS 11's original alignment. This was also done to avoid a possible conflict with
U.S. Route 20 running parallel in Illinois.
The western segment from La Grange to Rochester was added in 1947.
Major intersections
See also
*
References
External links
{{Attached KML, display=title,inline
WIS 20 Terminus Photosat Wisconsin Highway Ends
020
020 is the national dialling code for London in the United Kingdom. All subscriber numbers within the area code consist of eight digits and it has capacity for approaching 100 million telephone numbers. The code is used at 170 telephone exch ...
Transportation in Walworth County, Wisconsin
Transportation in Racine County, Wisconsin