Summary of August 2022 UAP Revisions
09-15-01
Clarification was provided in
section 3.0 that the UAP is written in the active-voice imperative mood. This means that since the UAP is written for utilities, it eliminates the need to construct sentences using "shall" statements. For example, "The utility shall restore the right-of-way..." will now be written as, "Restore the right-of-way..." The utility is the actor in these sentences. Requirements to be performed by others will be written in the active voice, which identifies the party responsible for performing the action.
09-15-15
A brief PowerPoint slide show was created in
section 1.0 to provide a visualization for the portions of sewer and water laterals that require a WisDOT permit from the main owner — not the property owner.
Wisconsin DNR's Office of Energy is no longer reviewing WisDOT utility permits for wetland and waterway impacts. As a result, most of the language in
sections 1.3 through 1.5 was deleted and its relevant parts moved to a new policy 09-15-16 to provide environmental guidance for utilities when submitting their permit applications.
Clarification on permit drawings was added in section 2.3 regarding the need for a Public Land Survey System plat map to verify section-town-range information listed in question 6 of the dt1553 permit application form.
09-15-16
This new policy was developed along with a checklist to assist utilities with the environmental coordination process associated with their permit applications. In addition to wetlands and waterways, other topical areas are covered such as threatened and endangered species, archeological sites, burial sites, and Tribal coordination. The checklist will be required with all utility permit application submittals. Question 17 of the dt1553 form has also been updated to match this new requirement.
Even though the revisions take effect on the day of publication and utilities should begin using the checklist right away, WisDOT will not mandate full implementation until September 12, 2022, to give utilities some time to learn and understand the process. Utilities must be aware that requirements for environmental coordination have not changed — the onus is still upon the utilities to perform their due diligence in this matter. The new policy should make the process more efficient and easier for utilities to follow.
09-15-45
A new policy was created in
section 2.2 to address utility construction and maintenance activities that affect WisDOT's living snow fence (LSF), which it plants near the edge of the right-of-way to help control blowing and drifting snow from accumulating on a state highway. In addition,
section 2.3 was created to address temporary snow fence requirements when utilities remove, damage, or destroy LSF during utility construction or maintenance on state highways.
Sections 7.0 – 7.3 were created requiring utilities to provide as-built X-Y-Z coordinate data for all open cut, trenched, and other utility projects in which a facility is exposed to facilitate a survey. Boring logs should be provided if the equipment can produce X-Y-Z data. The purpose for collecting this data is to minimize future utility conflicts with WisDOT improvement or maintenance projects and utility project permits.
Section 7.4, Data Retrieval, is still under development as WisDOT has not determined what method(s) would be the most efficient and less costly.
In
Attachment 2, the excavation backfilling diagrams were revised to include urban cross-sections. In addition, the slurry backfill formula was revised to provide two recipes — one for more flowable, and one for more rigid slurry — so adjustments can be made for on-site conditions.
09-15-50
An update to this policy was needed in conjunction with the update to 09-15-15 and creation of 09-15-16. WisDOT staff and other contacts were also updated.
Work zone requirements and training
See the main State ROW permits
page for information on this topic.