WisDOT expands program to deliver small projects with less oversight

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The Wisconsin Department of Transportation is adding projects to a pilot program meant to lessen the administrative burden entailed by local projects by simplifying the delivery of so-called low-risk road and bridge works.

WisDOT’s Local Program Low Risk pilot was begun last year with 16 small road and bridge projects that can now be completed without state officials having to follow some procedures that the department previously required on all jobs no matter their size. The program, for instance, prevents WisDOT from reviewing or requiring some steps on small projects — such as reporting on pavement condition or soils — in the hope of reducing expenditures of time and money.

WisDOT officials developed the program alongside the Wisconsin County Highway Association, which has been pushing for streamlined rules to expedite local jobs for years, said Dan Fedderly, executive director of the group. After rolling out the program last year for bridge projects that receive state and local funding, WisDOT is now seeking to use it on jobs that receive federal money.

Ultimately, if the $5 million pilot program leads to cost savings and quicker delivery times, Fedderly said, it could help whittle away Wisconsin’s backlog of local road projects.

“If you have a little 24-foot flat slab in northern Wisconsin, we shouldn’t be applying the same level of oversight, administration and resources as you would a bridge in (Milwaukee’s) Zoo Interchange, for example,” Fedderly said.

In one example of the program’s benefits, WisDOT was able to bundle four small Barron County bridge projects into a single job and sign a single bid for the design of the four bridges. The work was ultimately completed in eight months’ time, far sooner than would have been possible if the projects had been bid out separately under the former rules, Fedderly said. Even better, the bid result came in 17% under WisDOT’s engineering estimates.

To take advantage of the program, a project has to meet various criteria devised by state officials. It can’t be part of the national highway system, for instance, and must show minimal or no affects on utilities, nearby right-of-way or the environment.

WisDOT used the program on 16 bridge projects in 10 Wisconsin counties last year and plans to do so this year on 30 urban and rural road and bridge projects in 20 counties.

“Communities across the state are taking advantage of this innovative, cost-effective program that makes many local improvements faster and easier,” WisDOT Secretary-designee Craig Thompson said in a statement.

Fedderly said the county highway association has been pushing WisDOT to develop a similar program for years. He said finding administrative support for a slimmed-down delivery process has not necessarily been easy. Getting the program set up has required buy-in from federal officials, the contracting community and other stakeholders.

He said he hopes the program proves to be a useful way of breaking the state’s longstanding logjam of road and bridge projects. In a sign of how great the need is, local highway officials filed about 1,600 applications in March for a $75 million WisDOT grant program that ultimately paid for only 154 local road projects around the state.

“Not only is (the pilot program) one way to help improve the process, but I believe it’s going to be unfortunately essential,” Fedderly said. “I don’t see us being able to rely on the federal government. At some point, we will need to look at the long-term — how do we sustain an investment on a long-term basis?” Follow @natebeck9