Wisconsin Highway 15

State Trunk Highway 15 (STH-15, commonly known as Highway 15 or WIS 15) is a 14.8-mile (23.8 km) state highway in Outagamie County in the US state of Wisconsin that runs east–west and provides a shortcut to Appleton from U.S. Highway 45 (US 45) for travelers inbound from points north and west. Most of WIS 15 was once part of US 45, which was redirected south of New London to bypass Appleton and provide direct access to Oshkosh and points south.

Route description

WIS 15 begins at the junction of US 45 and County Trunk Highway T (CTH-T) in the Town of Hortonia (just southeast of New London) as a four-lane divided expressway and heads southeast to Hortonville where the route runs around the northern edge of the village. Access to the center of Hortenville is provided with roundabouts at either end of the village. The route then continues southeast into Greenville. The highway intersects WIS 76 in Greenville then continues southeast for one mile (1.6 km) before turning east at the junction with CTH-CB. WIS 15 then junctions with Interstate 41 (I-41) where it ends and Northland Avenue and CTH-OO begin in the Town of Grand Chute, just northwest of Appleton. WIS 15 provides access to Neuroscience Group Field at Fox Cities Stadium.

History

This is the third iteration of the route number. The first iteration followed present day US 41 from the Illinois border to Marinette via Milwaukee, Fond du Lac, Appleton and Green Bay. The second is the more well-known alignment following the present day I-43 from the Hale Interchange in Milwaukee to I-90 in Beloit as the Rock Freeway.