It ran east–west between the Illinois border southeast of South Wayne and Wiota.

Control over the road was given to Lafayette County in 1999; it is now designated as County Highway D.[2] WIS 176 began north from the Illinois state line.

It then turns west and then north to South Wayne.

Continuing north, it crosses the Pecatonica River and then turns northwest before ending at WIS 78.

[5] Initially, WIS 176 used to be part of CTH-D.[6] During its existence, there was no significant changes to the routing.