Township Roads in Wisconsin

While the county “alphabet highways” can be considered back roads, there’s a set of even more remote roads in Wisconsin. In some states, the county is the lowest form of government. In Wisconsin, the townships form a sub-county governmental body. These townships maintain their own set of roads, which take you to some of the remotest areas of that township. These roads can be paved or unpaved and many of them are even designated as ATV routes.



The roads are typically wide enough for two lanes, but there aren’t any lines painted in the road.



The paved roads often intersect the unpaved roads.



When going down these roads, you’ll often see farms.



One popular activity in Rural Wisconsin is to go deer shining. You basically drive around at night on these sorts of roads with a spotlight and shine into fields to see if there’s any deer there. Some townships have banned this.



These paved or unpaved roads sometimes seem to go on forever. In many ways, this is great! I used to ride my bike down these roads as a kid. They’re really low traffic so I never really had to worry much.






Another thing you don’t have to worry much about is commercial traffic. The roads often have weight limits on them.



If you really want an adventure and go off the beaten path, township roads are a great place to go. You’ll definitely have to take it a bit slower as many are unpaved and there’s a lot more deer on them (hence the reason people like to go deer shining). They’re also a peaceful place to ride your bike or even take your ATV out for a spin.