Wisconsin Highway 29 - History

History

Prior to 1926, Highway 29 was numbered Highway 116 from Minnesota to Chippewa Falls, Highway 16 from Chippewa Falls to Bellevue, and Highway 146 from Bellevue to Kewaunee. Highway 16 continued southeast from Bellevue along what became U.S. Highway 141 in 1926 to Manitowoc. What had been Highway 29 before 1926 became U.S. Highway 16 across the state.

Highway 29 has long been known as "Bloody 29" because of the prevalence of grisly fatal traffic crashes along significant portions of the highway. In 1988, a study was commissioned to examine upgrading the highway to a 4-lane divided highway. The changes would be made along 203 miles (327 km) of road from I-94, 2 miles (3.2 km) west of Elk Mound, to US 41 in Howard (suburban Green Bay). The final segment of the highway, connecting the east side of Chippewa Falls with the segment running north of Eau Claire, was opened to traffic on August 16, 2005. Of the total length, about 65 miles (105 km) of the highway meets Interstate standards. Most of the expansion was able to be completed with only minor additions to the already-existing easements, and as a result, the expanded roadway almost exactly matches the highway's original course. While traffic crashes have declined significantly, numerous memorials to those who lost their lives on the road still dot the route.

Highway 29 is the only Wisconsin state highway in WisDOT's Corridors 2020 Backbone Routes system.

The portion of WIS 29 between Chippewa Falls and Abbotsford roughly follows what used to be the Yellowstone Trail.

In 2007, the improvements to Highway 29 won a Wonders of Wisconsin Engineering Award from the American Council of Engineering Companies, Wisconsin Chapter. Four firms (Ayres Associates, Strand Associates, CH2M Hlll and Earth Tech) were honored for their work on the project in the chapter's 50th anniversary award program.