Biking in Fond du Lac County, Wisconsin — traffic stress map and safe routes

4,086miles of roads & paths scored

43%low-stress (LTS 1–2), comfortable for most people

212police-reported bike & pedestrian crashes (2021–2025) · 100 bike, 112 pedestrian · 7 fatal, 40 serious injury

398separate low-stress areas carved by busy roads

The stress picture

Map of Fond du Lac County, Wisconsin with every road colored by bicycle traffic stress, and a Wisconsin locator showing where the county is

LTS 1
7%

LTS 2
36%

LTS 3
39%

LTS 4
18%

LTS 5
1%

LTS 1 is calm enough for most children; LTS 2 suits most adults; LTS 3 takes a confident rider; LTS 4–5 are high-stress roads most people won't bike.

What the low-stress % means: the share of bikeable road, path & alley miles (mileage-weighted, residential streets included; pedestrian sidewalks excluded) that score low-stress — not how well those miles connect into a usable network. Busy arterials can still cut low-stress streets into disconnected pockets (the “separate low-stress areas” stat above). Planning agencies usually report progress toward a designated bike network — a smaller, different measure — so their figures aren't directly comparable. For low-stress connectivity to everyday destinations, see PeopleForBikes City Ratings.
About the crash counts: these are motor-vehicle traffic crashes that injured or killed someone biking or walking, as reported to police (the WisDOT crash database) — not a cyclist falling on their own, and not incidents that were never reported. Pedestrian crashes are included because people on foot and on bikes face the same crossings.
Honest limits: LTS scores come from mapped data that can be incomplete or out of date, and a low crash count does not mean a road is safe (few people bike a road precisely because it feels dangerous). Read the full methodology (PDF).

Local planning worth knowing in Fond du Lac County

Bike Safe Wisconsin is a statewide screening model: one consistent method applied to every public road in all 72 counties, refreshed from statewide data. Local and regional agencies plan at a finer grain — with field review, local traffic counts, adopted project lists, and public input that no statewide model can replicate — and where that work exists, it deserves recognition and the first look:

City of Fond du Lac Bicycle & Pedestrian Plan (2013, updated 2018) — ECWRPC — the city's adopted bike/ped plan; ECWRPC staffs the Fond du Lac MPO
WisDOT — Wisconsin Bicycle Transportation Plan — the state's long-range bicycle plan (being updated into the Active Transportation Plan 2050)
WisDOT — county bicycle maps — printable suitability-rated bicycling map for every Wisconsin county (2020 update)
WisDOT — Safe Routes to School program — the state program supporting safer walking and biking to school
Wisconsin Bikeways Report (2022) — a statewide interconnected-bikeway blueprint from the WI DNR, WisDOT, and the Wisconsin Bike Fed

The two are complements: this site offers a consistent statewide baseline, a free route planner, and a second, independent lens; adopted local plans carry the detailed, community-endorsed recommendations. Know a local plan or study that belongs here? Tell us and we'll add it.

Plan a low-stress ride in Fond du Lac County

Pick two places — home to school, house to park — and compare the safest, balanced, and most direct options, with hill avoidance and clear warnings where you must cross a busy road. Even if the best way home crosses a county line, the planner follows it. Free, no account needed. Trips you log become the evidence your community can use to make streets safer.

Plan a route in Fond du Lac County