West end: MN 70 in Grantsburg West end MN 70 in Grantsburg | Length 396.7 km | |
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East end: US 2 / US 141 / WIS 101 in Florence Counties Burnett County, Wisconsin | ||
State Trunk Highway 70 (often called Highway 70, STH 70 or WIS 70) is a state highway in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. It runs east–west in northern Wisconsin from a shared terminus with WIS 101 at US 2 and US 141 near Florence to a connection with Minnesota State Highway 70 at the St. Croix River 5 miles (8.0 km) west of Grantsburg in Burnett County. It serves the communities of Grantsburg, Siren, Spooner, and the resort areas of Minocqua, Woodruff and Eagle River along its route. WIS 70 is the third most northern route to almost completely cross Wisconsin (after US 2 and WIS 77), stretching from Minnesota to within 4 miles (6.4 km) of the Michigan border.
Contents
Map of WI-70, Wisconsin, USA
History
STH-70 began in 1917 as a 10-mile route along its present alignment from Grantsburg easterly to STH-35 (present-day Old 35) at Mud Hen Lake, west of Siren. By 1921, the STH-70 designation had made its way all the way east to STH-32 (now US-45/STH-32) in Eagle River, although the portion from Draper to Woodruff was not yet up to state trunk highway standards and thus was not signed as such on that stretch. That gap was filled by 1924. In 1929, the Grantsburg bridge was completed and STH-70 was extended westerly from Grantsburg to the new toll bridge over the St Croix River at the Minnesota state line. In 1933, Minnesota designated a similarly-numbered highway west away from the bridge into their state. 1933 also saw the extension of STH-70 from Eagle River northeasterly via Phelps to end at the Michigan state line 26 miles northeast of Eagle River. In 1947, STH-70 was removed from the Eagle River-through-Phelps alignment and onto a more easterly routing to STH-55 south of Alvin; the former STH-70 via Phelps was redesignated STH-17. In 1949, STH-70 was extended farther to the east via its present corridor through Tipler to Florence. The Tipler-to-Florence stretch had just been brought into the state highway system as STH-193 two years earlier. According to a local road map, sometime before 1968 WI 70 ran up Sawyer County Trunk EE and Price County Trunk E into Park Falls. It then ran south concurrently with Wisconsin Highway 13 to Fifield, where it turned east somewhat along its current alignment.