Wisconsin Highway 341
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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| State Trunk Highway 341 |
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| Miller Park Way | |||||||||||||
| Length: | 1.0 mi[1] (1.6 km) | ||||||||||||
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| North end: |  I-94, in Milwaukee |
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| South end: |  WIS 59 at National Avenue in West Milwaukee |
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State Trunk Highway 341 (Also STH 341 or WIS 341), better known as Miller Park Way, is the current name of the oldest freeway in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. It connects I-94 to WIS 59 (National Avenue), with a single set of off-ramps to Canal Street and the parking lots of Miller Park. The entire route is unsigned by the Wisconsin Department of Transportation, leaving many people to not know its designation. It was formerly routed to U.S. Highway 41, but in 1999, U.S. 41 was routed along U.S. Highway 45 and I-94 coming from the north, due to a portion of U.S. 41-signed Layton Boulevard south of the freeway not being upgraded to U.S. Highway standards in a widening project [1]. It is one of two unsigned routes, along with Highway 119, in the greater Milwaukee area.
[edit] History
WIS 341 was commissioned in 1999 with the reopening of the Stadium Freeway between I-94 and National Avenue. Due to the construction of Miller Park, the old Freeway had to be moved to the east by a few hundred yards.
The Stadium Freeway, originally known as the South 44th Street Expressway (for the street it would replace), was opened for traffic in 1953, just as the new Milwaukee County Stadium was opening to host the Milwaukee Braves of the National League of baseball. Original plans were to have the freeway extend south from National Avenue to the Airport Freeway in Greenfield (what is now Interstate 894 and Interstate 43). The interchange at I-894 was built, but since the Stadium Freeway was never completed to connect to it, the ramps instead lead to a park and ride lot at the corner of Loomis and Cold Spring Roads.
Because of lawsuits and protest, the southern extension was never built, though most of the right-of-way for the freeway was cleared down to Lincoln Avenue in West Milwaukee. This section of South 43rd Street was renamed Miller Park Way in 2001, after the new park had opened.
