current length. The Wisconsin Turnpike Commission was established in 1953, which was tasked with the creation of larger, toll roads. The commission proposed various projects, including one from the Illinois border, extending through Madison, and terminating in La Crosse. Various other projects were proposed, but no action was taken initially. Eventually, it was decided that having toll roads in Wisconsin would not be practical. The introduction of the Interstate Highway System in the mid-1950s led the Wisconsin Highway Commission to begin developing other controlled-access freeways to complement the federal system. The focal point of this construction was in Milwaukee, where of freeways were planned, although the system's growth became a major point of contention and only half of the planned routes were built. In 1967, the Wisconsin Department of Transportation was established, by merging various smaller entities. Future In 1999, WisDOT began developing State Highway Plan 2020, which lays an outline for the further development and maintenance of the state highway system into the near future. The plan classifies the state's highways into five categories based on their importance to the successful functioning of the network as a whole: Corridors 2020 backbone routes, consisting of the state's largest and most crucial routes: I-39, I-41, I-43, I-90, I-94, US 10, US 41, US 51, US 53, US 151, and WIS 29. ''Corridors 2020'' connector routes, consisting of routes that primarily serve to connect cities and areas to the backbones listed above: US 2, US 8, US 12, US 14, US 61, US 63, WIS 13, WIS 21, and WIS 26. Other principal arterials, routes that connect areas within a specific region, or serve as major routes within cities. Minor arterials, which connect small towns and rural areas to larger routes and to each other. Collectors and local function roads, the smallest and least-trafficked routes in the system. References External links Wisconsin Highways Website