In the U.S. state of Wisconsin, U.S. Route 2 (normally called U.S. Highway 2, Highway 2 or US 2) runs east-west across the northwestern part of the state and re-enters the state in the northeast part. It runs from the Richard I. Bong Memorial Bridge over the St. Louis River at Superior, where it enters Minnesota, east to Michigan state line near Hurley. Further east, US 2 re-enters Wisconsin from Michigan in Florence County and briefly traverses that county before re-entering Michigan. US 2 is a Wisconsin Corridors 2020 Connecting route east of its concurrency with US 53. The portion concurrent with US 53 is a Wisconsin Corridors 2020 Backbone route

Route description

Western Segment

U.S. Highway 2 enters the state from Minnesota at Superior, merging onto Belknap Street and passing through downtown from the Bong Bridge and meeting WIS 35. The highway then meets US 53 and the two exit Superior along East 2nd Street to the southeast concurrently. WIS 13 branches off from its terminus on the highway near Parkland to take its course around the Lake Superior shoreline. US 53 branches south at South Range at an unusual interchange at which westbound US 2 traffic must cross over the freeway to the eastbound lanes to access US 53 south. The highway then passes through Wentworth, Poplar, and Maple as it heads east to the Douglas/Bayfield County line at Brule. Just west of Brule, US 2 crosses the Brule River State Forest.

In Bayfield County, US 2 passes through Iron River then proceeds east-southeasterly through the Chequamegon National Forest and to Ino where it turns east and meets US 63's northern terminus at about six miles east of Ino. US 2 turns northeastward and meets WIS 13, which joins it eastbound as they follow the Lake Superior shoreline closely to the Ashland County line and the City of Ashland. WIS 13 turns south in downtown Ashland while US 2 follows the lakeshore northeastward and turns east at the city limit and proceeds to Odanah and turns southeastward to the Iron County line. the highway junctions with WIS 169 two miles east of the county line then turns eastward to Saxon where it crosses WIS 122. US2 then continues east, then southeast toward Hurley where it meets US 51 at its northern terminus and immediately enters Michigan.

Eastern Segment

US 2 re-enters Wisconsin from Iron County, Michigan concurrently with US 141 and turns southeastward to Florence and junctions with WIS 70 and WIS 101 at their shared terminus. After a short trek through Florence via Central Avenue, Furnace Street and Florence Avenue, the highway turns south and passes by Commonwealth then turns east and passes through the community of Spread Eagle. The highway returns into Michigan three miles east of Spread Eagle.

Major cities
Superior Ashland Hurley Florence

History

In 1918, The western segment of US 2 was WIS 10 with the exception of the short segment between US 51 and the Michigan state line, which was not a part of the state highway system until Michigan started their trunkline system a year later.. The entire eastern segment was designated as WIS 69 in 1918. One business route existed for US 2 until 2002. Business Highway 2 began at the US 51 terminus and headed southeast to WIS 77 in downtown Hurley where it turned east into Michigan. Although Michigan still has the route signed, Wisconsin removed its signs. The street in Hurley that runs from WIS 77 to the border is still a state trunkline despite not having a numbered designation.

Major Intersections

Western Segment

Eastern Segment

References