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 ...

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

American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials The American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) is a standards setting body which publishes specifications, test quality control, protocols, and guidelines that are used in highway design and construction through ...

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.

References