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Eau Claire Metropolitan Area Eau Claire, WI MSA
Metropolitan Statistical Area
Downtown Eau Claire
Map of Eau Claire–Menomonie, WI CSA   Eau Claire, WI MSA   Menomonie, WI µSA   City of Eau Claire
Country	United States
State	Wisconsin
Principal cities	Eau Claire Chippewa Falls Menomonie
Time zone	UTC−6 (CST)
• Summer (DST)	UTC−5 (CDT)

The Eau Claire metropolitan area refers loosely to the urbanized area along the Chippewa and Eau Claire Rivers, in west-central Wisconsin, with its primary center at Eau Claire and secondary centers at Chippewa Falls and Altoona.

At a ribbon-cutting for the opening of the final stretch of the newly 4-laned section of WIS 29 between Green Bay and Elk Mound, in 2005, Gov. Jim Doyle referred to the region, including Menomonie to the west, as "Wisconsin's Golden Triangle."

Extent

Because the United States Census Bureau uses only counties to define census statistical areas outside New England, the official Eau Claire Metropolitan Statistical Area (which includes Chippewa Falls) encompasses all of Eau Claire and Chippewa Counties. These counties, combined with Dunn County to the west, coextensive with the Menomonie micropolitan area, comprise the Eau Claire-Menomonie Combined Statistical Area, with a 2015 population of 210,133. These three counties, especially the cities of Chippewa Falls, Eau Claire and Menomonie comprise the economic and cultural core of west-central Wisconsin's Chippewa Valley region.

For practical purposes, the Eau Claire–Chippewa Falls metropolitan area extends only as far as those municipalities directly adjacent to the incorporated cities and villages in the core area, with the notable exception of the Eau Claire County town of Pleasant Valley, which is included because so much of its population is suburban rather than rural. (The Town of Pleasant Valley was one of Wisconsin's fastest-growing political divisions in the 1990s, posting a population increase of over 28%.) The Chippewa County town of Anson is also included due to its proximity to Chippewa Falls. This is the definition used by the Chippewa-Eau Claire Metropolitan Planning Organization. According to the 2015 census estimates, this core area had a 2015 population of 129,665. This population comprises 78.3% of the Eau Claire-Chippewa County area, and 61.7% of the Eau Claire-Chippewa-Dunn County area.

Transportation

Airports

The Eau Claire–Chippewa Falls metropolitan area is served by the Chippewa Valley Regional Airport. As well as by the Menomonie Municipal Airport and several smaller private airports.

Regular shuttle service is also available to Minneapolis–Saint Paul International Airport, the closest international airport, approximately 85 miles distant.

Waterways

Although the Chippewa River once served as an important transit route for the area, river transit is no longer feasible from the Mississippi River. Hydroelectric dams within the metropolitan area, one in Eau Claire and two in Chippewa Falls, further limit its ability to be used as a transit route. The rather shallow Eau Claire River is dammed at Altoona (as well as 20 miles further upstream at Lake Eau Claire). The rivers, as well as the reservoirs formed by the dams, are used today principally for recreation.

Highways

Many of the primary roadways serving western Wisconsin run through the metropolitan area. Among these are:

Interstate 94

U.S. Route 12

U.S. Route 53

Highway 29

Highway 37

Highway 85

Highway 93

Highway 124

Highway 178

Highway 312

Railways

Freight rail traffic to and from the Eau Claire–Chippewa Falls metropolitan area is via lines formerly run by the inheritors of both the SOO and Chicago & North Western Railways. The rail network in the metropolitan area was much more extensive until the late 1980s and early 1990s, when many lines were first abandoned and then slowly converted to a network of biking and recreation trails , including the Chippewa River Trail, which follows much of the old route of the Milwaukee Road railbed, from downtown Eau Claire to Durand.

Mass transit

The only local mass transit serving the metropolitan area is the Eau Claire Transit bus system, which has service only within the cities of Eau Claire and Altoona.

Flixbus, Greyhound, Megabus and Wisconsin Coach Lines have multiple bus stops throughout the Eau Claire MSA including the Eau Claire Transit Center (Downtown Eau Claire) and Chippewa Falls Holiday Gas Station (2750 120th St.) The ticketing depot is near the junction of I-94, US-12 and Wis. 312 in a McDonald's (6251 Truax Ln.) About a dozen other regional tourism and transportation buslines serve the greater Chippewa Valley region.

Amtrak service is only available by travelling to the Twin Cities, La Crosse or Tomah, although in the past several years there has been discussion of making a new Amtrak line that would serve the area directly.

Included municipalities

Notes

1. "Official site of Governor Tony Evers".
2. "EAU Claire, Wisconsin - City Information, Fast Facts, Schools, Colleges, and More".
3. "WDNR - Find a State Trail". Archived from the original on April 28, 2006. Retrieved April 28, 2006.

External links

• Chippewa-Eau Claire MPO webpage

v t e Eau Claire–Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin
Core cities	Eau Claire° Chippewa Falls°
Surrounding communities	(over 5,000) Altoona° Lafayette* Lake Hallie  Washington * (under 5,000) Anson * Brunswick * Eagle Point * Hallie * Jim Falls Lake Wissota Pleasant Valley * Seymour * Seymour  Tilden * Union* Wheaton *
Counties	Eau Claire Chippewa
* town village ° city CDP

v t e State of Wisconsin
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Regions	Apostle Islands Central Plain Chippewa Valley Door Peninsula Driftless Area Eastern Ridges and Lowlands Fox River Valley Great River Road Lake Superior Lowland Northern Highland Western Upland
Major metropolitan areas (pop. over 500,000)	Chicago metropolitan area Madison metropolitan area Milwaukee metropolitan area Twin Cities metropolitan area
Largest cities (pop. over 50,000)	Appleton Eau Claire Green Bay Janesville Kenosha La Crosse Madison Milwaukee Oshkosh Racine Waukesha West Allis
Smaller cities (pop. 15,000 to 50,000)	Beaver Dam Beloit Brookfield Cudahy De Pere Fitchburg Fond du Lac Franklin Greenfield Hartford Hudson Kaukauna Manitowoc Marshfield Menasha Menomonie Mequon Middleton Muskego Neenah New Berlin Oak Creek Oconomowoc Onalaska River Falls Sheboygan South Milwaukee Stevens Point Sun Prairie Superior Watertown Wausau Wauwatosa West Bend Wisconsin Rapids
Largest villages (pop. over 15,000)	Ashwaubenon Bellevue Caledonia Fox Crossing Germantown Howard Menomonee Falls Mount Pleasant Pleasant Prairie
Counties	Adams Ashland Barron Bayfield Brown Buffalo Burnett Calumet Chippewa Clark Columbia Crawford Dane Dodge Door Douglas Dunn Eau Claire Florence Fond du Lac Forest Grant Green Green Lake Iowa Iron Jackson Jefferson Juneau Kenosha Kewaunee La Crosse Lafayette Langlade Lincoln Manitowoc Marathon Marinette Marquette Menominee Milwaukee Monroe Oconto Oneida Outagamie Ozaukee Pepin Pierce Polk Portage Price Racine Richland Rock Rusk Sauk Sawyer Shawano Sheboygan St. Croix Taylor Trempealeau Vernon Vilas Walworth Washburn Washington Waukesha Waupaca Waushara Winnebago Wood
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v t e Great Lakes megalopolis as defined by the RPA
Includes all metropolitan areas that have a population of 150,000 or greater according to the most recent national census.
Great Lakes region cities	Brantford Buffalo–Niagara Falls Buffalo Niagara Falls Chicago city Cleveland city Detroit city Duluth–Superior Duluth Superior Erie city Grand Rapids city Guelph Green Bay city Hamilton Holland Kalamazoo city Kenosha Lansing city London Milwaukee city Muskegon Niagara Region St. Catharines Niagara Falls Welland Niles Oshawa Rochester, New York city South Bend city Thunder Bay Toledo city Toronto city Traverse City city Waterloo Region Kitchener Cambridge Waterloo Windsor
Surrounding cities	Akron city Altoona Ann Arbor Barrie Bloomington, Indiana city Bloomington–Normal Bloomington, Illinois Normal Canton city Champaign city Cincinnati city Columbus city Dayton city Eau Claire city Elkhart Evansville city Fargo city Flint Fort Wayne city Fox Cities Appleton Oshkosh Indianapolis city Jackson Janesville–Beloit Kankakee city Kingston La Crosse–Onalaska La Crosse Onalaska Lafayette city Madison city Mahoning Valley Youngstown Minneapolis–Saint Paul Minneapolis Saint Paul Greater Montreal Laval Longueuil Montreal National Capital Region Ottawa Gatineau Pittsburgh city Peoria city Peterborough Rockford city Rochester, Minnesota city Saguenay St. Cloud city Saginaw city Sioux Falls city Springfield city Sudbury urban neighbourhoods Syracuse city Terre Haute city Trois-Rivières Utica–Rome Utica Rome Quad Cities Bettendorf Davenport East Moline Moline Rock Island Greater Quebec city
Cities of states south of region	Elizabethtown city Kansas City city Louisville city St. Louis city Topeka city Wheeling city
Other metro-regions	Quebec City–Windsor Corridor Golden Horseshoe Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area Detroit–Windsor Greater Pittsburgh Metro East
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44°55′N 91°25′W / 44.917°N 91.417°W / 44.917; -91.417

• Eau Claire–Chippewa Falls metropolitan area
• Eau Claire, Wisconsin