83.025 County trunk highways.

(1)

(a) The systems of county trunk highways heretofore selected by county boards and approved by the department are hereby validated. Changes may be made in the county trunk system by the county board as provided in this section. The county board in making the changes may order the county highway committee to lay out new highways and acquire the interests necessary by the procedures under s. 83.08. A county board may not make additions to a county trunk system from a city or village street or town road without the consent of the department and of the governing body of the city, village or town in which the proposed addition is located. A county board may not make deletions from a county trunk system without the approval of the department, and, except as provided in this paragraph and par. (d), without the approval of the governing body of the city, village or town in which the proposed deletion is located or, in the case of a proposed deletion affecting more than one city, village or town, without the approval of a majority of the governing bodies of such cities, villages or towns.

(b) The county board, or the county highway committee, shall, by conference with the boards or highway committees of adjoining counties, or otherwise, cause their respective county trunk systems to join so as to make continuous lines of travel between the counties. Any highway which is a part of the county trunk system shall, by virtue thereof, be a portion of the system of county aid highways.

(c) Any city or village street or portion thereof selected as a portion of the county trunk system prior to May 1, 1939, shall be a portion of the county trunk system. All streets or highways in any city or village over which is routed a county trunk highway or forming connections through the city or village between portions of the county trunk highway system shall be a part of the county trunk system unless the governing body of the city or village, by resolution, removes the street or highway from the system, but the removal shall apply only to that portion of any street or highway which is situated wholly within the city or village.

(d) In counties having a population of 750,000 or more the county board may remove from the county trunk highway system any part thereof which lies within an incorporated village or city, but the removal shall not be effected until one year after annexation proceeding affecting the area in question has become final.

(e) Whenever a county has completed a functional and jurisdictional classification of highways and the classification plan has been approved by the county board, the local governing bodies and the department, those roads and streets allocated to the county's jurisdiction will be known as county trunk highways. Additions and deletions from the county trunks under this paragraph in the various municipalities may be made as provided in pars. (a) and (d).

(2) The county trunk system shall be marked and maintained by the county. No county shall be responsible for the construction and maintenance of a city or village street on the county trunk highway system to a greater width than are those portions of such system outside the village or city and connecting with such street. When a portion of a county trunk highway extending from one county to another has less mileage than is practical for a patrol section, such portion shall be patrolled by the county in which the major portion of the highway lies, and each county shall bear its proportionate share of the expense of maintenance, payable monthly. The marking and signing of the county trunk highway systems shall be uniform throughout the state, as prescribed by the department.

(3) The county highway committee, subject to the approval of the county board, may enter into agreements with the department as provided in s. 86.25 (2).

History: 1973 c. 160; 1977 c. 29 s. 1654 (8) (d); 1985 a. 223; 1993 a. 246; 2017 a. 207 s. 5.

Sub. (1), as amended by ch. 160, laws of 1973, does not require counties to develop a functional and jurisdictional classification of highways. Nor is a properly approved classification plan a prerequisite to a county board's exercise of its authority pursuant to sub. (1) to incorporate town roads into the county trunk highway system without prior approval of town boards. 63 Atty. Gen. 125.