These are nice but most of the roads are classified as “town roads”. On the site the description for “Town roads” are as follows.
“The extensive system of local roads could not be individually evaluated or classified as part of this map. Most are likely to have narrow pavements with no paved shoulders and very low volumes of traffic. Traffic volumes are likely to be heavier when traveling these roads into cities. They are likely to be gravel roads in northern third of the State and quite steep with poor sight lines in the Southwestern and Mississippi Valley areas of the state.”
I would make the assumption that the vast majority of the roads, in the souther half of the state, that are shown as “town roads” are paved.
Anyone familiar enough with the southern counties, say from Madison to Beloit, to be able to give a guestimation on wether the roads shown are paved or not. Not looking for a “road by road” analysis, just a “looks like most of the ones I’m familiar with on this made are paved” or “I know that several of the shown roads are not paved”
I live in northern IL, and do quite a bit of riding up through Kenosha and Walworth Counties, and as far west/north as Lake Geneva. Been around a good chunk of Dane Co. as well on the IM WI course. I’d say the maps are pretty accurate, as far as rideability. I’d say they’re erring a bit on the conservative side, as far as recommended routes - for example, some of the ‘red’ roads that they classify as high-volume and not necessarily desireable are actually quite good (for example, Hwy C in Kenosha County - we ride that thing all the time going west). Can’t comment on the ‘gray’ roads - although it looks like they’re in towns, and not of much use for riding. Looks to me like the red, green and blue routes will get you anywhere you wanna go. I can say that the drivers in WI are much more considerate of cyclists than they are in IL, and in general, the road surfaces are better. Beware the rednecks, though… Happy trails.
Thanks to the dairy industry and the need to get milk trucks to farms regardless of weather all year round, the vast majority of the rural roads in WI are paved. Makes for great training grounds as you can mostly assume that what is marked on the map is paved. I am mostly familiar with the Appleton/North Lake Winnebago area, the Dane County (mostly west of Madison) area and the area around Platteville, but I never had any trouble finding good paved routes just wandering about or planning rides off of normal (non-bike specific) county road maps.
in addition, wisconsin’s small claim to fame as a cycling-friendly state is due to nearly ALL small town roads being paved. this is because traditionally milk wagons / trucks needed to get down them. looking at that series of maps in that area, i would assume they are all nicely paved and damn fine to ride.
Two weeks ago I found what I think is one of two unpaved, non-dead-end roads in Dane County. Hmmm. Maybe it was in Green County. So the answer to your question, as the others have said, is yes, they’re paved.
On the state map, the white/gray roads are roads for which traffic counts are not available. They are almost all better for riding than even the green roads. The green/yellow/red roads usually have centerlines painted on them, while the white/gray roads do not. Know what I mean?
I wish I could give you more details on the Madison/Beloit area, although I agree with the consensus that most of the roads in that area are paved. However, I would not make that statement about Wisconsin in general. I grew up in the southwest corner (Grant county) and the majority of the “town roads” in that area are not paved. I think the closer you get to Madison/Milwaukee, the more paved roads you will find since tax dollars tend to flow that way (and population). As a side note, milk trucks have no problem with gravel roads, which can be better than pavement in snow anyway…you should see some of the things that pass for “roads” back into the farms from the public roads. I’ve seen farmers plow snow from public roads for the milk trucks when they need to. Also, if you put some wider tires on your bike you should be able to ride a gravel road if needed, usually they have smooth tracks where the cars run, I grew up riding them all the time on 27x1.25 tires. There are a lot of rails-to-trails routes that are gravel/dirt. They are really great riding unless you are looking for steep hills.
“Do you mean be sure to bring enough provisions and spare tires or else?..(Sound of dueling banjo’s playing in background)”
Atrie? This-here road don’t go anywhere near Atrie, boy. You done made a wrong turn!
Ha ha, I’d be careful about using my middle digit to signal any 80’s Trans-camaro that blarred it’s horn as it went by. There are a few people living out there without much for prospects and looking for easy entertainment. Most of them are my cousins.