Wis. Stat. » CHAPTER 82 — TOWN HIGHWAYS
Wisconsin Statutes

Wis. Stat. § 82.01 (2026)

Definitions

✓ current as of July 2026
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82.0182.01 Definitions. In this chapter, the following words and phrases have the designated meanings unless specifically noted:
82.01(1)(1) “Department” means the department of transportation.
82.01(2)(2) “Freeholder” means a person who owns a fee simple or life estate interest in land, a person who is a land contract vendee, or a person who has an interest in land arising under ch. 766.
82.01(3)(3) “Highway order” means an order laying out, altering, or discontinuing a highway or a part of a highway, that contains a legal description of what the order intends to accomplish and a scale map of the land affected by the order.
82.01(4)(4) “Laid out” means any formal act or process by which a municipality determines the location of a highway.
82.01(5)(5) “Legal description” means a complete description of land without internal references to any other document, and shall be described in one of the following ways:
82.01(5)(a)(a) By metes and bounds commencing at a monument at the section or quarter section corner or at the end of a boundary line of a recorded private claim or federal reservation in which the annexed land is located and in one of the following ways:
82.01(5)(a)1.1. By government lot.
82.01(5)(a)2.2. By recorded private claim.
82.01(5)(a)3.3. By quarter section, section, township, and range.
82.01(5)(b)(b) If the land is located in a recorded and filed subdivision or in an area that is subject to a certified survey map, by reference as described in s. 236.28 or 236.34 (3).
82.01(5)(c)(c) If the land is depicted in a transportation project plat filed or recorded under s. 84.095, by reference as described in s. 84.095 (7) (a).
82.01(6)(6) “Municipality” means a city, village, or town.
82.01(7)(7) “Opened” means the completion of work on a highway that places the highway in a condition ready for public use.
82.01(8)(8) “Recorded highway” means a highway for which the order laying out or altering the highway, or a certified copy of the order, has been recorded in the office of the register of deeds in the county in which the highway is situated or, for highways that were laid out or altered before January 1, 2005, in the office of the clerk of the town or the county in which the highway is situated.
82.01(9)(9) “Town line highway” means a highway that runs on or across the boundary line between a town and another town, a village, or a city.
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82.01(10)(10) “Unrecorded highway” means a highway that is not a recorded highway.
82.01(11)(11) “Worked” means action of the town in regularly maintaining a highway for public use, including hauling gravel, grading, clearing or plowing, and any other maintenance by or on behalf of the town on the road.
82.01 HistoryHistory: 2003 a. 214 s. 20, 154.
82.01 NoteNOTE: 2003 Wis. Act 214, which affected this section, contains extensive explanatory notes.
Notes of Decisions
Cited in 9 cases (3 in the last 5 years), 1981–2026 · leading case: Margaret Pulera v. Town of Richmond, 2017 WI 61 (Wis. 2017).
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Margaret Pulera v. Town of Richmond, 2017 WI 61 (Wis. 2017). · cites it 24× “16 Wis. Stat. § 82.01 (3). In addition, to give effect to a highway order, the town board is required to take several delineated steps.”
Affeldt v. Green Lake Cnty., 2011 WI 56 (Wis. 2011). · cites it 8× “Under the current statutes, Wis. Stat. § 82.01 (8) (2007-08), the definition of "recorded highway" — which relates to highways laid out before January 1, 2005 — provides that the order must be re *138 corded in the office of the clerk of the town or the county in which the…”
Dawson v. Town of Jackson, 2011 WI 77 (Wis. 2011). · cites it 2× “" See Wis. Stat. § 82.01 (9). These circumstances require "SPECIAL PROCEDURES" which are spelled out in Subchapter III of ch.”
City of Prescott v. Holmgren, 2006 WI App 172 (Wis. Ct. App. 2006). · cites it 2× “The term "unrecorded highway" is defined in Wis. Stat. § 82.01 (10) as "a highway that is not a recorded highway.”
Casey v. Palmer Johnson Inc., 506 F. Supp. 1361 (E.D. Wis. 1981). “Conway, supra, § 82.01. It also does not apply in Wisconsin to matters which might have been raised in the first action as a counterclaim, since counterclaims are permissive and not compulsory under Wisconsin procedure, § 802.”
Joseph Taggart v. Town of Little Wolf (Wis. Ct. App. 2020). · cites it 2× “01(7) defines “opened” to mean “the completion of work on a highway that places the highway in a condition ready for public use”; § 82.01(11) defines “worked” to mean “action of the town in regularly maintaining a highway for public use, including hauling gravel, grading,…”
Town of Green Grove v. Town of Colby (Wis. Ct. App. 2024). · cites it 2× “within its borders, that part of such order fixing their liabilities shall be deemed vacated, and a majority of the supervisors of each such town shall, before the time for making the next tax roll, meet together with a majority of the supervisors of such new town or, with the…”
John P. Werler v. Douglas Berends (Wis. Ct. App. 2024). · cites it 2× “§ 82.01(11). The parties do not dispute that the Town maintained Old Tabor Lake Road until sometime in the early 1990s.”
Anna Heise Revocable Trust v. Vill. of Pewaukee (Wis. Ct. App. 2026). “§ 82.01(11). ¶13 It is undisputed that the Village constructed Oakton Court and the Oakton connector and maintained it for more than ten years.”
— Wis. Stat. § 82.01(10) — 1 case
Affeldt v. Green Lake Cnty., 2011 WI 56 (Wis. 2011). “Under the current statutes, Wis. Stat. § 82.01 (8) (2007-08), the definition of "recorded highway" — which relates to highways laid out before January 1, 2005 — provides that the order must be re *138 corded in the office of the clerk of the town or the county in which the…”
— Wis. Stat. § 82.01(11) — 4 cases
Affeldt v. Green Lake Cnty., 2011 WI 56 (Wis. 2011). “Under the current statutes, Wis. Stat. § 82.01 (8) (2007-08), the definition of "recorded highway" — which relates to highways laid out before January 1, 2005 — provides that the order must be re *138 corded in the office of the clerk of the town or the county in which the…”
Joseph Taggart v. Town of Little Wolf (Wis. Ct. App. 2020). “01(7) defines “opened” to mean “the completion of work on a highway that places the highway in a condition ready for public use”; § 82.01(11) defines “worked” to mean “action of the town in regularly maintaining a highway for public use, including hauling gravel, grading,…”
John P. Werler v. Douglas Berends (Wis. Ct. App. 2024). “§ 82.01(11). The parties do not dispute that the Town maintained Old Tabor Lake Road until sometime in the early 1990s.”
Anna Heise Revocable Trust v. Vill. of Pewaukee (Wis. Ct. App. 2026). “§ 82.01(11). ¶13 It is undisputed that the Village constructed Oakton Court and the Oakton connector and maintained it for more than ten years.”
— Wis. Stat. § 82.01(3) — 2 cases
Town of Green Grove v. Town of Colby (Wis. Ct. App. 2024). “within its borders, that part of such order fixing their liabilities shall be deemed vacated, and a majority of the supervisors of each such town shall, before the time for making the next tax roll, meet together with a majority of the supervisors of such new town or, with the…”
John P. Werler v. Douglas Berends (Wis. Ct. App. 2024). “§ 82.01(11). The parties do not dispute that the Town maintained Old Tabor Lake Road until sometime in the early 1990s.”
— Wis. Stat. § 82.01(4) — 1 case
Affeldt v. Green Lake Cnty., 2011 WI 56 (Wis. 2011). “Under the current statutes, Wis. Stat. § 82.01 (8) (2007-08), the definition of "recorded highway" — which relates to highways laid out before January 1, 2005 — provides that the order must be re *138 corded in the office of the clerk of the town or the county in which the…”
— Wis. Stat. § 82.01(7) — 1 case
Joseph Taggart v. Town of Little Wolf (Wis. Ct. App. 2020). “01(7) defines “opened” to mean “the completion of work on a highway that places the highway in a condition ready for public use”; § 82.01(11) defines “worked” to mean “action of the town in regularly maintaining a highway for public use, including hauling gravel, grading,…”
— Wis. Stat. § 82.01(8) — 1 case
Affeldt v. Green Lake Cnty., 2011 WI 56 (Wis. 2011). “Under the current statutes, Wis. Stat. § 82.01 (8) (2007-08), the definition of "recorded highway" — which relates to highways laid out before January 1, 2005 — provides that the order must be re *138 corded in the office of the clerk of the town or the county in which the…”
— Wis. Stat. § 82.01(9) — 1 case
Town of Green Grove v. Town of Colby (Wis. Ct. App. 2024). “within its borders, that part of such order fixing their liabilities shall be deemed vacated, and a majority of the supervisors of each such town shall, before the time for making the next tax roll, meet together with a majority of the supervisors of such new town or, with the…”
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