page_title: Wisconsin Highway 131
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Wisconsin Highway 131 / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Aerial view of the never-completed lake and dam to prevent flooding on the Kickapoo River at La Farge, Wisconsin, USA. Construction on the dam was halted in 1975 after heavy opposition from environmental activists. The partially completed spillway and intake tower can be seen at center.
context_page_description: State Trunk Highway 131 is a 78.9-mile state highway in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. The highway is located in Wisconsin's Driftless Area, and it passes through Crawford, Vernon, Richland, and Monroe counties. It runs from WIS 60 near Wauzeka north to US Highway 12 and WIS 16 in Tomah. WIS 131 is maintained by the Wisconsin Department of Transportation.
  WIS 131 was designated in 1923 on a road between Ferryville and Gays Mills. It was realigned and several times in the next fifteen years, and it ultimately connected Wauzeka and Tomah in 1948. The highway was rerouted in northern Vernon County in the 1970s in expectation of a new dam on the Kickapoo River; however, when the dam project stalled in 1975, part of the rerouting between Rockton and Ontario was put on hold as well. WisDOT consequently performed very little maintenance on this section of WIS 131 for two decades after the dam project stopped, and it fell into disrepair. The state ultimately rebuilt the highway in the early 2000s, and the refurbished highway opened in 2003.
context_section_description: WIS 131 was first designated between 1924 and 1927 on a route from WIS 35 near Ferryville to WIS 11 in Gays Mills. When WIS 11 was assigned to a different route before 1927, WIS 131 took on its route from Gays Mills north to WIS 27 in Soldiers Grove. WIS 131 was extended further northward to La Farge in 1939 after a county highway was transferred to state control. In 1947, WisDOT switched the designations of WIS 131 and WIS 171 south and west of Gays Mills; WIS 131 was designated between Gays Mills and Wauzeka, and its original route between Ferryville and Gays Mills became WIS 171. WIS 131 was extended farther north to its current terminus in Tomah in 1948.
  In the 1970s, the state government planned to dam the Kickapoo River between La Farge and Ontario. As WIS 131 crossed the river eleven times between these towns, the state had to relocate the highway as well. The first section of WIS 131 to be moved, between Ontario and Rockton, was realigned away from the river onto a route built to the east between 1978 and 1981. The original section of the highway was abandoned so the dam could flood the area. This section was later turned into a recreational trail in the Kickapoo Valley Reserve. The portion of WIS 131 between Rockton and Ontario was supposed to be moved east as well; the new highway would run north past Rockton to a realigned WIS 33, which it would follow into Ontario. The state built the first half-mile of this new route, but construction stopped on the new highway after the dam project was suspended after a cost-benefit analysis. The dam project ultimately failed, and the community did not resolve several land ownership issues until 2000. This pushed back any plans to resolve the relocation of WIS 131, and the road between Rockton and Ontario consequently received little to no maintenance during the intervening period. The state first planned to complete the proposed relocation of the highway, but residents and environmentalists opposed this plan, and it eventually fell through. The state then planned a $20 million project to rebuild the existing stretch of WIS 131 instead; plans for this project were finalized in January 2000. Environmentalists tried to stop this plan as well, and the Kickapoo Valley Stewardship Alliance sued WisDOT, claiming it had violated the Water Resources Development Act of 1996 and the Transportation Act of 1966. The U.S. District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin struck down the lawsuit, and construction continued on the road. The improved section of WIS 131 was completed and dedicated in August 2003.
caption: The incomplete Kickapoo River Dam in 1975, when construction stopped
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