Wisconsin Highway 80


State Trunk Highway 80 is a state highway in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. It runs north-south in southwest and west central Wisconsin from just south of Marshfield, near the geographic center of the state to the Illinois border near Hazel Green.

Route description

Highway 80 begins at a roundabout with U.S. Highway 10 just south of Marshfield, running south through the farmlands of Wood County before combining with Wisconsin Highway 73 and heading east for 2.5 miles to Pittsville, where it turns south through town and comes within a few hundred yards of the geographic center of the state. South from Pittsville, the terrain is flat as Highway 80 passes along the Necedah National Wildlife Refuge, through the center of Necedah, and into New Lisbon just past the junction with I-90/94. South of New Lisbon, it enters the Driftless Area with many rolling hills and curves. Highway 80 meets up with Highway 82 heading into Elroy, southern trailhead of the Elroy-Sparta Trail, and then to Union Center where Highway 33 also joins for the ride into Hillsboro. At Hillsboro, Highways 33 and 82 head west and Highway 80 continues south into Richland County, through Hub City and into Richland Center, birthplace of Frank Lloyd Wright and also GTE.
Highway 80 crosses the Wisconsin River into Muscoda, which bills itself as the "Morel mushroom capital of Wisconsin." Highway 133 joins 80 for the ride east five miles before 80 heads south again to Highland and Cobb, where the land continues to be hilly but becomes less forested and more rolling farmland. At Cobb, Highway 80 follows U.S. Highway 18 west for five miles before heading south along the Iowa-Grant County Line past Livingston and into Platteville, where it meets Highway 81 in town and U.S. Highway 151 south of town at the freeway bypass. South of Platteville, Highway 80 occasionally aligns itself along the Grant-Lafayette County Line as it heads through Cuba City and Hazel Green, where Highway 11 joins for a few miles. South of Hazel Green, Highway 80 ends at the Illinois state line, where it meets Illinois Highway 84 one half mile west of the state's "Point of Beginning," the location from which most public land surveys in Wisconsin originated.