U.S. Route 141 - History

History

In 1918 when Wisconsin initially numbered its highway system, the route of what initially became US 141 followed two separate state highways; from downtown Milwaukee to Manitowoc, the highway was designated WIS 17, and from Manitowoc north to Green Bay, it was WIS 16. The highway from Abrams north to the state line at Niagara was called WIS 57, and Michigan named a connector from the state line to Iron Mountain, M-57 in 1919. The segment through Florence County was WIS 69, and from the Crystal Falls area north to Covington, the M-69 moniker was used.

As originally proposed in 1925, several US Highways in Wisconsin and Michigan's Upper Peninsula were to be designated. The routings though for two highways were different in Michigan in the 1925 than on the final 1926 map. US 102 was to have replaced M-15 from US 2 at Rapid River, continue via Marquette into Baraga County, where it would have ended at US 41 near Covington. At the same time, US 41 was to have followed US 2 from Powers to Crystal Falls and continued north to Covington. However, when the final plan was approved and implemented in November 1926, US 41 took the eastern routing through Rapid River and Marquette, and US 102 was routed between Crystal Falls and Covington. US 141 in both plans was only routed between Milwaukee and Green Bay, replacing WIS 17 and WIS 16.

Only two years later in 1928, the US 102 designation was decommissioned when US 141 was extended northerly from Abrams over WIS 57 and M-57 to Iron Mountain. There it followed US 2 to Crystal Falls and north to Covington over the route formerly occupied by US 102.

The next major changes were made at the end of the 1930s in Michigan. A realignment in the Iron Mountain area shifted US 2/US 141 to a new bridge over the Menominee River between 1932 and 1934. Later, a new routing from the state line north to Crystal Falls was opened in 1940; the previous routing was returned to local control. The northern end was relocated near Covington in late 1948 or early 1949 when US 41 was realigned in the area. This terminus location was shifted again when US 141/M-28 was realigned in the area in late 1955 or early 1956.

At about the same time in Wisconsin, a bypass of Manitowoc was opened in 1956, and another bypass of Port Washington in 1957. In late 1961, the highway was rebuilt in northern Iron and southern Baraga counties between Amasa and Covington as the state smoothed out sharp corners in the routing; a similar project was completed in 1972 south of Amasa to Crystal Falls.

Wisconsin started the process to convert US 141 between Milwaukee and Abrams into a freeway starting in the 1960s. The first segments of freeway were opened in the Milwaukee area starting in 1963. The next year, the freeway was extended north into Ozaukee County. By 1965, the bypass of Sheboygan was opened. Another section, north of Green Bay to Suamico was opened in 1971. In 1972, the divided highway segment between Suamico and Abrams opened, and the state started the construction of additional freeways between Green Bay and Milwaukee. The bypasses of Sheboygan and Cedar Grove were converted to full freeways in 1973. With another segment of freeway opening in 1975, I-43 was designated along US 141 from Milwaukee to Sheboygan. Wisconsin started removing the US 141 markers from the highway on the state map and the roadway starting in 1977 and 1978. The highway was truncated north to the Green Bay area in 1981, resulting in the current routing. In 1986, the states in the Great Lakes region created the LMCT as part of a larger program of tourist routes in the region; US 141 carries the LMCT between the northern I-43 junction in the Green Bay area north to the split with US 41 at Abrams.