U.S. Route 10 or U.S. Highway 10 (US 10) is an east–west United States Numbered Highway located in the Midwest and Great Lakes regions of the U.S. Despite the "0" as the last digit in the number, US 10 is no longer a cross-country highway, and it never was a full coast-to-coast route. US 10 was one of the original long-haul highways, running from Detroit, Michigan, to Seattle, Washington, but then lost much of its length when new Interstate Highways were built on top of its right-of-way.
In the state of North Dakota, US 10 runs for about eight miles (13 km), from I-94/US 52 at exit 343 to the Red River of the North. It is one of the primary east–west streets in West Fargo and Fargo and is called Main Avenue for its entire length in North Dakota. At the Red River, US 10 crosses over a bridge to Moorhead, Minnesota.
US 10 enters Wisconsin at Prescott and travels southeastward passing Durand, Neillsville, Marshfield, Stevens Point, and Appleton before reaching its eastern terminus near the Lake Michigan shore in Manitowoc. Ferry service between the western and eastern portions of US 10 is provided between May and October by the ferry SS Badger.[7] US 10 is now a four-lane divided highway from State Trunk Highway 80 (WIS 80) two miles (3.2 km) south of Marshfield to I-39. This allows travelers to bypass Hewitt, Auburndale, Blenker, Milladore, Junction City, and downtown Stevens Point. This completes the plan to upgrade US 10 to a freeway or expressway status from Marshfield to Menasha. US 10 is an expressway between Stevens Point and Waupaca. It has been upgraded to a freeway in the Waupaca area and is also a freeway between Fremont and Appleton.
Originally, US 10 also passed through Montana (including a segment of what is now Montana Highway 2 [MT 2]), the Idaho Panhandle, and Washington, terminating in Seattle. The completion of I-90 and I-94 replaced US 10 along this route, although some sections of the old US 10 road still exist in such cities as Bismarck, Missoula, Spokane, and between Cle Elum and Ellensburg as State Route 10 (SR 10). The last section of I-90 to be completed was between Coeur d'Alene and Wallace in the early 1990s. Much of this route was conumbered as both I-90 and US 10 until the final completion of I-90 through Idaho. Some decommissioned sections of US 10 are designated I-90 Business (I-90 Bus.) or I-94 Bus. routes. At least two US 10 Alternate (US 10 Alt.) routes were used, including one from Spokane to Missoula from 1941 to 1967 via Sandpoint, Idaho (represented today by US 2, State Highway 200, MT 200 and US 93), and the Pintler Scenic Route through Philipsburg, and Anaconda, renamed MT 1 when Montana's US 10 was decommissioned in 1986.[citation needed] US 10 split between Garrison and Three Forks into US 10N and US 10S from 1936 until 1960.[10] US 10N through Helena and dropping into Three Forks, while the Southern section of the split followed US 10's traditional routing through Deer Lodge and Butte, Montana, to get across the Rocky Mountains.[11] Previous to the split, US 10N was designated as another US 10 Alt.[12]
At the eastern end, US 10 originally went south from Midland to Saginaw, Michigan, on what is now highway M-47. It then joined up with US 23 in Saginaw and continued south until it split from US 23 near Flint. It then continued southeast as the Dixie Highway to Pontiac, where it followed Woodward Avenue, now designated M-1. From there, US 10 continued on an almost straight line to Downtown Detroit, where it intersected US 16, US 25, and US 12. It then took a two-block jog and then ended at the Detroit–Windsor tunnel to Canada.[8]
In the 1970s, US 10 was rerouted off Woodward Avenue in Metro Detroit and onto the John C. Lodge Freeway (formerly Business Spur 696, now M-10) and Telegraph Road. US 10 was truncated to Bay City, Michigan, in 1986 at which point the Lodge Freeway was changed to M-10.
In 1925, US 10 was originally proposed to run from Detroit through Chicago, and northwesterly into Wisconsin on what later became US 12.
US 10 has had alternate routes designated in the past, but none are active as of 2017. A multistate alternate route between Washington and Montana was largely replaced in 1947 by the western extension of US 2 and later decommissioned entirely in 1967.[14][15]
^ abLake Michigan Carferry. "SS Badger History". Lake Michigan Carferry. Archived from the original on September 6, 2015. Retrieved September 28, 2014.
^Bessert, Christopher J. (March 13, 2016). "US 10". Michigan Highways. Retrieved July 16, 2016.[self-published source]
^Montana State Highway Commission; H.M. Gousha (1936). Map of the Montana State Highway System(PDF) (Map). Scale not given. Chicago: H.M. Gousha. Retrieved May 29, 2022.
^Montana State Highway Commission; Rand McNally & Company (1930). Map of the Montana State Highway System(PDF) (Map). c. 1:1,393,920. Chicago: Rand McNally & Company. Retrieved May 29, 2022.
^Montana State Highway Commission; H.M. Gousha (1935). Map of Montana(PDF) (Map). Scale not given. Chicago: H.M. Gousha. Retrieved May 29, 2022.
^Rand McNally (2014). The Road Atlas (Walmart ed.). Chicago: Rand McNally. pp. 51, 54–55, 77, 114–115. ISBN978-0-528-00771-2.
^Idaho Department of Highways; Rand McNally & Co. (1967). Official Highway Map of Idaho (Map). c. 1:1,425,600. Boise: Idaho Department of Highways. Retrieved September 6, 2020 – via Flickr.
