Stettin roads were built like this in the old days. In a
few years, Stettin will be at Wisconsin's crossroads . . .
the junction of Highways 51 and 29.
ejtettin at
'OT.isconsin Crossroads
Within three years after its Centennial the Town
of Stettin will be the crossroads for Wisconsin's
principal midstate highways.
Highway 51, sometimes referred to as "Wiscon-
sin's Main Street", and Highway 29, the principal
east-west cross-state artery in this section of Badger-
land, will meet in the Town of Stettin.
It will mark a far cry from the amazingly poor
transportation facilities which existed in this same
township when it was first established as a unit of
government within the confines of Marathon
County 100 years ago. At that time, there was
hardly a trail leading from Wausau into the Town
of Stettin. Two teams of horses or oxen were often
required to pull a single wagon over the bumpy
trail that existed in those days.
Some of the early pioneers were extremely dis-
appointed, in fact, to find that the area was cov-
ered by such heavy forest lands and that trans-
portation was so difficult.
Heavy Traffic Load
When the presently-proposed highway project
is completed in three years, cars by the thousands
will pass over this same soil in each 24-hour period.
In fact, recent studies have shown that Highway
51 traffic for a 24-hour period on a yearly average
was 3,890 vehicles to the south and 3,540 vehicles
to the north. Highway 29 had 4,350 vehicles count-
ed east of Wausau and 6,460 west of the city in
the Town of Stettin. The great majority of these
cars will be traveling through the Town of Stettin
when the big by-pass project is completed.
Present plans, which are fairly definite with

the Wisconsin Highway Commission, provide for
Highways 51 and 29 to approach the Town of
Stettin from the south on 24th Avenue. In about
a 40 acre area one block north of the present High-
way 29 right-of-way, a huge cloverleaf pattern
will be constructed, making it possible for cars on
either of the two main highways to turn onto the
other without ever making a dangerous left turn.
This new highway system, to be built with fed-
eral and state funds, will be four lanes in width
in the Town of Stettin area and speeds in excess
of 40 miles per hour will probably be permitted,
making it possible for Stettin residents to speed
out in any of four directions from their homes with
a minimum of traffic difficulty.
From the Stettin cloverleaf, Highway 51 will
continue due north until it connects with the pres-
ent road northwest of Wausau.
Proposed Traffic Routes
Both Highways 51 and 29 will go south on the
four-lane pavement to an area near the entrance
to Rib Mountain State Park, where another clover-
leaf will separate the two traffic streams. The
Highway 51 traffic will continue south, crossing the
Wisconsin River over a new span to be built just
above the Weston Steam plant of the Wisconsin
Public Service Corp. The new highway will cross
present Highway 51 in the vicinity of Clark's
Bridge near the Steam Plant.
The work in the Town of Stettin will be some of
the first to be done on the long-range project. In
fact, the district office of the Wisconsin Highway
Department at Wisconsin Rapids is busy now pur-
chasing land for the big project. The contracts for
much of the Stettin work are expected to be let in
late summer, 1960, and the work will commence
almost immediately, it is anticipated by Lyle Fuller,
Marathon County highway commissioner. The new
road from Highway NN in the Town of Rib
Mountain, through the Town of Stettin to the pres-
ent Highway 51 right-of-way north of Wausau
is expected to be the first completed, particularly
the intersection structures in this area, which would
include the major cloverleaf in the Town of Stettin.
The new highway set-up means that practically
all traffic -- north, south, east and west -- will pass
through the Town of Stettin, whether the vehicle
is going to or from Wausau or just passing through
in any direction.
The Town of Stettin will be, indeed, "Wiscon-
sin's Crossroads."