A dozen roads in Kewaunee County were flagged during an inventory and inspection as part of the WisDOT "local small structures" program. The program identified small structures, bridges and culverts, ranging from six to 20 feet long, before inspections were completed. Small structures that failed inspection will need to be replaced. PC: Fox 11 Online
KEWAUNEE COUNTY, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) — A new initiative to inspect small structures in Wisconsin has uncovered dozens of safety concerns, leading to open-ended road closures and weight restrictions.
Amanda Haen lives on 10th Road near Longfellow Road in Kewaunee County. The intersection is littered with temporary signage, warning drivers of changes ahead on both roads.
According to Haen, “All of sudden, there were just signs up that the road was closed, that there was weight limit on it. No information as to how long it’s going to last, what the plan is. Don’t even really know what’s wrong with the bridge.”
The lane restrictions and closures started to pop up this summer as part of the Wisconsin Department of Transportation’s small structures program. Launched earlier this year, the program is an inventory and inspection of all small structures, bridges and culverts statewide — ranging in size from six to 20 feet long.
“There are about 17,500 of them out there that we’ve identified. We’re in the process of getting them all inspected and we’re a little over half way of getting them inspected,” said Josh Dietsche, WisDOT Bureau of Structures director.
In Kewaunee County, about 100 structures were identified and inspected. Two failed inspections led to full road closures, including one on Longfellow Road and County HWY JJ. One on 10th Road led to a single-lane closure, while nine other roads now have weight limit restrictions.
“It means that we need to do replacements or repairs to those structures to make them safe for everybody. I mean, that’s the goal of the program, is to get safer roads and safer structures out there for everybody,” said Marty Treml, Kewaunee County’s highway commissioner.
Those repairs, in the cases of the full closures in Kewaunee County, are expected to be lengthy and expensive. With rivers or bodies of water passing through structures, special DNR permitting and engineering will need to be completed in order to replace the damaged structures.
The price tag for these repairs and replacements are in the hundreds of thousand of dollars — money many small communities can’t afford.
With the inventory and inspection of these structures paid for in the last state budget, up to $30 million of funding was set aside in the newest state budget to pay for repairs. Whether small communities like the town of Pierce, where Longfellow and 10th Road are located, will receive those funds, is still up in the air.
“We’re anticipating the $30 million will cover the worst of the worst, but will it go the full way to be able to cover everything? Kind of to be determined yet,” added Dietsche.
The roads will remain closed for now, with local officials saying it could take at least a year to get them repaired.
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