MADISON, Wis. -- Have you ever wondered how Wisconsinites got around the state before the Interstate Highway System or Madison's Beltline were built? You can now check out more than 100 years' worth of state highway maps online thanks to the Wisconsin Department of Transportation.
WisDOT said Wednesday it has made an archive of highway maps dating back to the mid-1910s available to the public on its website.
The collection of maps shows a century's worth of growth and expansion of Wisconsin's road infrastructure, including the re-numbering of highways as part of the U.S. Highway system in the 1920s, the initial establishment and later expansion of interstate highways in the state and the construction of numerous bypass routes to carry motorists away from communities' downtowns.
The maps also include contemporary tourism and historical information to teach residents and visitors alike more about the state.
“We are excited to share this online archive as a time capsule of Wisconsin’s state highway maps from the past century,” WisDOT Secretary Craig Thompson said in a news release. “We hope Wisconsinites, visitors and history enthusiasts enjoy this fun opportunity to look back through time and explore the changes to our transportation infrastructure.”
The state's first highway map was printed for the public in 1918; the latest version is set to be published this summer.
