Local Structures 6 – 20 feet

Program Description

The Wisconsin State 2023-25 Budget includes the following language:

Provide $12,500,000 to the Joint Committee on Finance SEG supplemental biennial appropriation in 2023-24 for assessment of local bridges and culverts that are less than 20 feet in length and create a biennial DOT SEG appropriation that could receive the funds. Direct DOT to develop a program for counties to assess local bridges and culverts that are 20 feet or under in length, but greater than six feet in length.

Based on this budget item, the Wisconsin legislature created State Statute 85.64. The statute reads:

Assessment of local bridges and culverts. The department shall administer a program for counties to inventory and assess the condition of local bridges and culverts that are 20 feet or less in length but greater than 6 feet in length.

WisDOT has collaborated with local owners associations to develop details to administer the program identified above. Local partners include:

• Wisconsin Towns Association (WTA)
• League of Wisconsin of Municipalities (LWM)
• Wisconsin County Highway Association (WCHA)
• Wisconsin Counties Association (WCA)

Program Information

• View an overview of program details.
• WisDOT presented the details of this program at a local owners’ webinar on January 17, 2024 and at the WCHA Winter Road School on January 22, 2024.
• View a copy of the presentation.
• View a recording of the local owners’ webinar.

Eligibility

• A certified mileage report and CVT map are sent to each municipality annually in August. This information indicates what roads are owned by each municipality and thus eligible for General Transportation Aids (GTA). This same information can be found in the Wisconsin Information System for Local Road, or WISLR. Roads listed in WISLR are locally-owned and structures on these roads of the appropriate size are eligible for the Local Structures 6 – 20 ft program.

Inventory Phase

• WisDOT Bureau of Structures held a webinar to discuss process and procedure for collecting inventory information.
• A recording of the webinar can be found here.
• A link to the presentation can be found here.

• Local municipalities must decide by April 15^th, 2024 how they intend to resource the inventory effort. View the inventory collection indication form.

• Inventory information can be collected on paper in the field, but must be input into an Excel spreadsheet for submittal to the County Highway Commissioner and uploaded to the Highway Structures Information System (HSIS).
• Inventory field collection form – single bridge
• Inventory field collection form – multiple bridges
• Excel spreadsheet inventory submittal form
• Instructions for excel spreadsheet inventory submittal form

• WisDOT has identified POTENTIAL locations for these small structures. The locations identified most likely over-estimate the number of structures that meet the parameters of this program; very possibly a large over-estimate. This is true because:
• The locations identified may be on a railroad, bicycle path, pedestrian trail, etc.
• The locations may include structures that are 6 feet or less or 20 feet or greater – not eligible for this program.

• Below is a link to a GIS map of POTENTIAL locations for small structures 6 – 20 ft. As noted above, not every location on the map is a structure eligible for this program, and every structure location may not be identified on this map. Actual eligibility can only be determined by a field survey.
• Local Structures 6 – 20 ft: GIS Map of Potential Structure Locations
• Directions for using GIS Mapping Tool
• Directions for downloading information from the GIS Mapping Tool

• The number of POTENTIAL locations for these small structures can also be found in the tables below.
• Local Structures 6 – 20 ft: Number of Potential Structure Locations (by County)
• Local Structures 6 – 20 ft: Number of Potential Structure Locations (by Municipality)
• Inventory data upload process:
• Video directions for uploading inventory from Excel spreadsheet.
• Additional guidance for measuring structures with skew
• Structure Length: Measurement at the center of the roadway –the distance a vehicle would travel if crossing the structure.
• For structures on skew (the angle with respect to the roadway), place a tape measure along the center of the roadway at the estimated inside edges of the structure (green line);
• OR, measure the width of the structure between the inside of exterior outermost walls parallel to the roadway centerline (purple line).
• Check measurement against the width across the end of the structure (blue line). The distance of the green line should be greater than the blue line.

Inspection Phase

• WisDOT Bureau of Structures held a webinar to discuss process and procedure for collecting inspection information.
• A recording of the webinar can be found here.
• A link to the presentation can be found here.

• Inspection information can be collected on paper in the field, but must be input directly by the bridge inspector into the Highway Structures Information System (HSIS).

• Inspection field form

Agreement and Invoicing

• Email Explaining Agreement and Invoicing
• Sample County Agreement Language
• Example Invoice Structure List
• Blank Invoice List

Contact David Bohnsack or Joshua Dietsche for questions about this page.