^Looking north from the southern end in downtown LaCrosse, May 2022.

In Wisconsin, US Route 53 runs north-south from La Crosse to Eau Claire to Superior. It's an important thoroughfare to those in the western part of the state, explaining why Wisconsin's DOT upgraded it to an expressway from Eau Claire north to Superior. The southern beginning of US Route 53 is in downtown La Crosse at US Route 14 and US Route 61, which are fresh off of crossing the Mississippi River together. US Route 53 gets started toward the north through downtown La Crosse, where it occupies a pair of one-way streets. US Route 53 leaves downtown La Crosse by converging onto one two-way roadway and joining Interstate 90 eastward for a very short distance. Soon, US Route 53 is turning toward the north on its own four-lane expressway. The expressway serves as a high-speed bypass of Onalaska and Holmen. On the north side of Holmen, US Route 53 scales itself back to a rural two-lane highway, bound for the hills of the Driftless Region (which, upon further inspection, probably make a four-lane expressway more expensive and difficult to build). US Route 53 winds its way northward through Galesville, Blair, and Whitehall, to Osseo, where it intersects US Route 10 and where it begins to parallel Interstate 94. It follows the Interstate 94 corridor from Osseo to Eau Claire, where Interstate 94 turns toward the west. US Route 53 has no interest in doing that, so it instead turns toward the north and becomes a freeway moving through the east side of Eau Claire. The US Route 53 freeway continues past Chippewa Falls, Bloomer, Cameron, and Rice Lake. It becomes more of an expressway after this, since the highway will have some at-grade intersections, though many are now RCUTs. At Spooner, US Route 53 has an interchange with Wisconsin Highway 70, and soon after, US Route 63 joins from the southwest for a short while. US Route 53 passes Wisconsin Highway 77 in Minong, and then it passes by Solon Springs as a fast four-lane bypass. Near Amnicon Falls State Park, US Route 2 comes from the east and converges with US Route 53. The two routes head northwestward together into Superior. On the east side of Superior, US Route 53 continues northwest along the shore of Lake Superior, but US Route 2 splits to head due west through downtown Superior. In the North End of Superior, US Route 53 jumps onto Interstate 535, which is a huge bridge across the harbor bringing automobile traffic into Duluth, Minnesota. US Route 53 leaves Wisconsin in this way.

My photo of a route marker for US Route 53 in Wisconsin comes from an interchange on the north side of Holmen. In Onalaska and Holmen, Wisconsin Highway 35 serves as a business alignment though the two towns. US Route 53 is the freeway alternative. This sign is shown to Wisconsin Highway 35 travelers leaving Holmen toward the north. Wisconsin Highway 35 curves toward the west to cross under the freeway carrying US Route 53, and they threw in an interchange connecting the two routes. People on Wisconsin Highway 35 know how to navigate the interchange, thanks to this signage, which was photographed during a trip up through western Wisconsin in July 2025.
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