Wisconsin Highway 312 - History

History

The North Crossing highway, serving as an alternative to I-94 bypassing downtown Eau Claire, was opened to traffic in 1994. The name "North Crossing" developed during the planning stages of the project that culminated in the creation of the highway—the highway was designed to divert traffic crossing the Chippewa River that, prior to its creation, had to pass either through downtown Eau Claire, via the Madison St. bridge, or just west of Chippewa Falls on U.S. 53. The distance between these two bridges is approximately 8 miles (13 km). The "North Crossing" name specifically referred to a more northerly river crossing than any other point in Eau Claire. When it came time to decide upon a name for the highway, the term "North Crossing" had already become well-established in the vocabulary of the area, and so it was decided that that was the most natural name for the new roadway. WisDOT extended Highway 124 from Chippewa Falls using an overlap with North Hastings Way (then U.S. 53) to the North Crossing highway and then west along the highway to I-94.

In June 2005, the northern half of the Eau Claire Bypass (current U.S. 53 freeway) was completed and signed as Bypass U.S. 53. The North Crossing highway was extended about a mile east of North Hastings Way to meet the new freeway. This extension was also designated as part of Bypass U.S. 53. Highway 312 was first established by legislation in 2005 as a new route number for the stretch of then Highway 124 running from Interstate 94 to U.S. Highway 53. This resulted in the shortening of Highway 124 to a length and routing nearly identical to that it had in 1992 before it was extended to cover the then-new "North Crossing" in Eau Claire. While the legislation establishing Highway 312 was intended to only take effect once the new U.S. 53 bypass of Eau Claire was completed, local authorities "jumped the gun", posting new "WIS 312" signs as early as November 2005. The southern half of the bypass opened in August 2006 and the U.S. 53 designation was relocated from North Hastings Way to the new freeway. This resulted in the retiring of the Bypass U.S. 53 designation. North Hastings Way was also turned back to local control.