State Trunk Highway 157 (often called Highway 157, STH-157 or WIS157) is a short state highway in the US state of Wisconsin. It runs east on Main Street from WIS35 (Second Avenue) in downtown Onalaska to the US Highway 53 (US53) freeway. There it turns south, running concurrently with US53 to the Interstate 90 (I-90) interchange. US53 leaves WIS157 to head west on I-90, but WIS157 continues southeast to WIS16 at the Valley View Mall.
Route description
Western terminus in Onalaska
WIS157 starts to travel north from WIS16. Almost immediately, it meets I-90/US53 at an interchange. At this point, not only does the roadway become an expressway, US53 briefly runs concurrently with WIS157. At the next interchange north, WIS157 leaves the expressway to travel due west to downtown Onalaska. Then, in downtown Onalaska, WIS157 ends at WIS35.
History
Initially, in 1923, WIS157 briefly appeared to serve Briggsville via present-day County Trunk Highway AA (CTH-AA). It traveled from WIS29 (part of it is now WIS107) south of Briggsville to WIS23 in Briggsville. In 1924, WIS23 superseded the routing because WIS23/WIS29 concurrency was moved southward on present-day WIS127. In 1926, WIS157 was re-established to travel along part of the former alignment of WIS64. This new routing traveled mostly along CTH-M from WIS32 in Frostville to US141 in between Coleman and Lena. In 1934, the routing was removed again in favor of transferring this route to local control (there were no county trunk highway replacement until later).
In 1938, WIS157 was re-established to travel along its present-day route and present-day CTH-OS. It remained that way until around 1969 when the easternmost portion of WIS157 moved southward to serve I-90 while still serving US16 (replaced by WIS16). Around 1990, part of WIS157 north of I-90 was widened to an expressway in order to accommodate the newly built US53 expressway around Onalaska.
↑Wisconsin Highway Commission (1934). Official Highway Map of Wisconsin(PDF) (Map). 1:887,040. Madison: Wisconsin Highway Commission. Retrieved February 5, 2023– via Wikimedia Commons.
↑State Highway Commission of Wisconsin (January 1935). Official Highway Map of Wisconsin(PDF) (Map). 1:887,040. Madison: State Highway Commission of Wisconsin. Retrieved February 5, 2023– via Wikimedia Commons.
↑State Highway Commission of Wisconsin (January 1, 1938). Official Highway Map of Wisconsin(PDF) (Map). 1:823,680. Madison: State Highway Commission of Wisconsin. Retrieved February 5, 2023– via Wikimedia Commons.
↑State Highway Commission of Wisconsin (1939). Official Highway Service Map of Wisconsin(PDF) (Map). 1:538,560. Madison: State Highway Commission of Wisconsin. Retrieved February 5, 2023– via Wikimedia Commons.
↑State Highway Commission of Wisconsin (1967). Wisconsin Highway Map (Map). 1:823,680. Madison: State Highway Commission of Wisconsin. Retrieved February 5, 2023– via American Geographical Society Library Digital Map Collection.
↑State Highway Commission of Wisconsin (1969). Wisconsin Highway Map (Map). Scale not given. Madison: State Highway Commission of Wisconsin. Retrieved February 5, 2023– via American Geographical Society Library Digital Map Collection.
↑Wisconsin Department of Transportation Division of Highways (1989). Wisconsin Highway Map(PDF) (Map) (1989–1990ed.). 1:823,680. Madison: Wisconsin Department of Transportation. Retrieved February 5, 2023.
↑Wisconsin Department of Transportation Division of Highways (1991). Wisconsin Highway Map(PDF) (Map) (1991–1992ed.). 1:823,680. Madison: Wisconsin Department of Transportation. OCLC25418391, 781234246, 27016238. Retrieved February 5, 2023.