Wis. Admin. Code Trans § Trans 233.01
Dividing or developing lands, or both, affects highways by generating traffic, increasing parking requirements, reducing sight distances, increasing the need for driveways and other highway access points and, in general, impairing highway safety and impeding traffic movements. The ability of state trunk highways and connecting highways to serve as an efficient part of an integrated intermodal transportation system meeting interstate, statewide, regional and local needs is jeopardized by failure to consider and accommodate long-range transportation plans and needs during land division processes. This chapter specifies the department's minimum standards for the division of land that abuts a state trunk highway or connecting highway, in order to provide for the safety of entrance upon and departure from those highways, to preserve the public interest and investment in those highways, to help maintain speed limits, and to provide for the development and implementation of an intermodal transportation system to serve the mobility needs of people and freight and foster economic growth and development, while minimizing transportation-related fuel consumption, air pollution, and adverse effects on the environment and on land owners and users. Preserving the public investment in an integrated transportation system also assures that no person, on the grounds of race, color, or national origin, is excluded from participation in, denied the benefits of, or subjected to discrimination under any transportation program or activity. The authority to impose minimum standards for subdivisions is s. 236.13(1) (e), Stats. The authority to impose minimum standards for land divisions under ss. 236.34, 236.45 and 703.11, Stats., is s. 86.07(2), Stats. The authority to impose minimum standards for land divisions to consider and accommodate long-range transportation plans and needs is ss. 1.11(1), 1.12(2), 1.13(3), 20.395(9) (qx), 66.1001(2) (c), 84.01(2), (15), and (17), 84.015, 84.03(1), 85.02, 85.025, 85.05, 85.16(1), 86.31(6), 88.87(3), and 114.31(1), Stats.
Wis. Admin. Code Department of Transportation § Trans 233.01
The Department is authorized and required by ss. 84.01(15), 84.015, 84.03(1) and 20.395(9) (qx), to plan, select, lay out, add to, decrease, revise, construct, reconstruct, improve and maintain highways and related projects, as required by federal law, Title 23, USC and all acts of Congress amendatory or supplementary thereto, and the federal regulations issued under the federal code; and to expend funds in accordance with the requirements of acts of Congress making such funds available. Among these federal laws that the Department is authorized and required to follow are 23 USC 109 establishing highway design standards; 23 USC 134, requiring development and compliance with long-range (minimum of 20 years) metropolitan area transportation plans; and 23 USC 135, requiring development and compliance with long-range (minimum of 20 years) statewide transportation plans. Similarly, the Department is authorized and required by the state statutes cited and other federal law to assure that it does not unintentionally exclude or deny persons equal benefits or participation in transportation programs or activities on the basis of race, color, national origin and other factors, and to give appropriate consideration to the effects of transportation facilities on the environment and communities. A "state trunk highway" is a highway that is part of the State Trunk Highway System. It includes State numbered routes, federal numbered highways, the Great River Road and the Interstate System. A listing of state trunk highways with geographic end points is available in the Department's "Official State Trunk Highway System and the Connecting Highways" booklet that is published annually as of December 31. The County Maps published by the Wisconsin Department of Transportation also show the breakdown county by county. As of January 1, 1997, there were 11,813 miles of state trunk highways and 520 center-line miles of connecting highways. Of at least 116 municipalities in which there are connecting highways, 112 are cities and 4 or more are villages.
A "connecting highway" is not a state trunk highway. It is a marked route of the State Trunk Highway System over the streets and highways in municipalities which the Department has designated as connecting highways. Municipalities are responsible for their maintenance and traffic control. The Department is generally responsible for construction and reconstruction of the through lanes of connecting highways, but costs for parking lanes and related municipal facilities and other desired local improvements are local responsibilities. The Department reimburses municipalities for the maintenance of connecting highways in accordance with a lane mile formula. See ss. 84.02(11), 84.03(10), 86.32(1) and (4), and 340.01(60), Stats. A listing of connecting highways with geographic end points is also available in the Department's "Official State Trunk Highway System and the Connecting Highways" booklet that is published annually as of December 31.
A "business route" is an alternate highway route marked to guide motorists to the central or business portion of a city, village or town. The word "BUSINESS" appears at the top of the highway numbering marker. A business route branches off from the regular numbered route, passes through the business portion of a city and rejoins the regularly numbered route beyond that area. With very rare exceptions, business routes are not state trunk highways or connecting highways. The authorizing statute is s. 84.02(6), Stats. This rule does not apply to business routes.