From First Americans to Euroamericans
— Archaeology and History of the WIS
Why Was This Project Undertaken?
WIS 57 is the primary route into and out of the Door Peninsula's popular resort country and by the early 1990s had become inadequate to safely carry current traffic loads.
A Wisconsin Department of Transportation (Wis
DOT) study of the
WIS 57 highway corridor found an increasing rate of highway-related crashes. After
evaluating this study, Wis
DOT developed a plan to realign, widen, and improve the southern portion of the highway. The
WIS 57
plan was designed to promote public safety as well as enhance regional economic development in accord with Wis
DOT's Corridors 2020 report. Prior to selecting a final design, Wis
DOT undertook a variety of environmental, cultural, and archaeological studies to assess the effect that road construction would have on the cultural and natural landscape of the Door Peninsula.
Consultation among Wis
DOT, the Federal Highway Administration
(FHWA) and a variety of project stakeholders resulted in the selection of a route for the new highway designed to minimize impacts on the natural and cultural environment. In order to safeguard archaeological and historic resources affected by the project, Wis
DOT entered into a Memorandum of Agreement with
FHWA, the Wisconsin State Historic Preservation Officer and other stakeholders including:
Forest County Potawatomi Community of Wisconsin
Ho-Chunk Nation
Iowa Tribe of Oklahoma
Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin
Peninsula Belgian-American Club
The archaeological investigations carried out in association with this agreement provided an unparalleled opportunity to investigate the rich, but
often fragile, archaeological and historical record of northeastern Wisconsin.
The
WIS 57 Reconstruction Project began about one mile north of the
WIS 54/57 interchange in Brown County and continued north for 27.5 miles to the WIS 42 intersection about eight miles north of Brussels.
The realigned route generally parallels the old two-lane road but has been widened and redesigned as a limited access, four-lane highway.
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