Why Wisconsin's county highways are lettered, not numbered (2019)
wpr.org
wpr.org
Wisconsin, nothing makes any sense. Sure, sure, Wisconsin is maybe a little hillier, but the roads curve and splice together in crazy ways in the flat valleys, too, and the roads adhere to no particular direction, and of course County B in one county bears no relation to County B in the adjacent county. And there are so many routes where I live in southwest Wisconsin where you might as well say, “you can’t get there from here,” given how indirect and circuitous the best route is in relation to how the crow flies. If you like driving for hours at 35mph while watching out for deer, Wisconsin’s county highway system is for you.
I hadn't thought much about the circuitous-ness, but it's true. My assumption all along has been that the roads have to work around the labyrinth of rivers and streams. In fact my biggest annoyance as a cyclist is finding routes where I don't reach a dead end and have to back-track. And now it's not just rivers but major highways.
Still, it's easier for a cyclist because our hours don't cover as many miles.
Wisconsin is no different in that. Most of Jackson, Levis, BRF, and that whole area is gravel except for major highways and in town. Pretty poorly maintained gravel at that.
The roads do seem disorganized and wandering, but much of that is because the roads are built wherever they won’t flood since we’re nothing but marshes, wetland, lakes, rivers and ponds
ref: https://bikeiowa.com/Feature/1543/iowa-gravel-what-makes-it-..., https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/policyinformation/statistics/2008/h..., https://topslab.wisc.edu/research/tsmo/topms/data/
I acknowledge this may not be a 'bad' attribute, it could be Iowa just has so many unpaved extra roads it skews it. But when I think Iowa, I think driving on rough roads.
Most roads in Wisconsin are paved, but the paving quality varies depending on whether a state, county, or “town” (it’s a trick!) road. Property taxes in Wisconsin are also reputedly higher.
And I’m still searching for County Road PP. once I find it I’ll drive to it and the kids will laugh at Siri.
43.99805° N, 90.36020° W
I believe that is what you’re looking for.
I like the system. It helps reduce confusion in terms of what the "main" (state/interstate) vs the local.
That's the how and when, but that doesn't actually explain why they had to use letters, does it? Even before computers and internet it seems like it would have been possible to devise a system across 72 counties to assign county roads a number that doesn't conflict with roads under other systems' jurisdiction.
(There are exceptions, though, as Lake and San Bernardino county routes are also just numbered, like state routes.)