Interstates: Interstate X (I-X) | US Highways: U.S. Highway X (US X) | |
State: (State Trunk) Highway X (STH-X or WIS X) County: (County Trunk) Highway X (CTH-X) | ||
County trunk highways (also called County Highway, CTH, CR, or County Road) are highways maintained at the county level or below in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. Every county maintains its own county trunk highway system.
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Description
Wisconsin uses letters as route designations for its county roads. Routes may be labeled with a single letter (CTH-H), double letter (CTH-LL or CTH-AB) or triple letter (CTH-BBB). Roads are usually named sequentially, although the letter designation may stand for the initials of a road, a geographical feature, a political division (such as CTH KR along the Kenosha/Racine county line), or in honor of a person.
Route designations may be repeated within a single county, depending on the size and population of the county. Designations may continue over a county line. Usually the letter designation remains the same when the route is a former Wisconsin state highway that has been decommissioned and turned over to county control. There is no east/west or north/south pattern restrictions on which letters can be used for a road, and they can be looped around counties and metropolitan areas.
History
County trunk highways first came into being in 1921. The first county highways were independent of the state's trunk highway system and lacked state legislative approval. By 1924, every county in Wisconsin had set up its own county highway system, with the state authorizing county highways in 1925.