$149 million allocated to complete work on local roads statewide over next five years

For the Tomahawk Leader

WISCONSIN – Governor Tony Evers and the Wisconsin Department of Transportation (WisDOT), on Thursday, June 2, announced approximately $149 million in state funding for 342 local improvement projects to be completed across Wisconsin over the next five years.

A release from Evers’ office said the funding comes from six components of the state-funded Local Roads Improvement Program (LRIP), administered by WisDOT:

• Town Road Improvement Discretionary (TRID)—81 funded projects, total funding: $25,421,269.65.
• Town Road Improvement Supplemental (TRIS)—73 funded projects, total funding: $39,054,185.66.
• Municipal Street Improvement Discretionary (MSID)—40 funded projects, total funding: $13,940,962.50.
• Municipal Street Improvement Supplemental (MSIS)—22 funded projects, total funding: $25,317,299.61.
• County Highway Improvement Discretionary (CHID)—52 funded projects, total funding: $19,827,160.77.
• County Highway Improvement Supplemental (CHIS)—74 funded projects, total funding: $25,558,921.43.

“These LRIP programs are state funded under the 2021-23 biennial budget and are in addition to federal funding made available through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL),” the release stated. “Local system projects approved to use BIL funding will be announced separately.”

The release said county and municipal projects with $250,000.00 or more in total eligible costs could apply for up to 50% state funding under the Discretionary component (LRIP-D) and up to 90% under the Supplemental component (LRIP-S). For town projects, eligible costs needed to exceed $100,000.00.

Among the 52 CHID projects to receive funding is Highway D in Lincoln County, which runs east from U.S. Highway 51 in Tomahawk to State Highway 17 in the Town of Harrison. Of the $477,664.00 in eligible costs for the project, $217,308.13 (45%) will be covered by the State, according to data from Evers’ office.

“All LRIP-D and LRIP-S municipal (MSID and MSIS) and town (TRID and TRIS) projects are selected based upon recommendations by the statewide discretionary improvement committees, who are nominated by the Wisconsin Towns Association and the League of Wisconsin Municipalities,” the release said.

The county (CHID and CHIS) projects are determined by the Wisconsin County Highway Association district committees.

 “So far, we have improved more than 1,700 miles of roads and nearly 1,300 bridges throughout our state, and today we’re making another major investment in the improvement of our local roads,” Evers stated. “Towns, villages, cities and counties across Wisconsin worked closely with WisDOT to plan these projects, and we are confident they will make a real difference for Wisconsinites in communities across the state.”