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Wisconsin

The Rural Context For Transportation Consultations

Wisconsin is the 26th largest state in the U.S. in land area, 18th largest in population, and 24th most densely populated. However, approximately 52 percent of Wisconsin's population and jobs, and 98 percent of the land, is non-urban. About 88 percent of Wisconsin's roads are rural. Federally owned lands amount to just over 8 percent of the state's land area.

Wisconsin is a slowly growing state, as measured by population, with a slowly growing rate of employment. The portion of the state's jobs that are in the uniquely agriculture and mining sectors is moderate to small (8.2 and 0.2 percent, respectively). Most jobs in Wisconsin's rural areas are in sectors also common in urban areas: construction, transportation & utilities (11.4 percent); manufacturing (25.9 percent); business & trade (24.8 percent); and services & government (27.7 percent).

Demographically, Wisconsin's non-urban population is predominately white (98 percent). Compared to the other states, the proportion of Wisconsin's non-urban adult population who did not graduate from high school is the 22nd lowest, and the proportion who did graduate from college is the 23rd lowest. The 9 percent of Wisconsin's non-urban people who are poor is lower than in most other states. About 43 percent of the state's non-urban population is in non-working age groups (29 percent 18 years or younger, and 14 percent 65 years or older).

Governmentally, Wisconsin is complex. The state has 72 counties, an average number compared to many other states. Wisconsin also has 583 municipalities and 1,266 towns or townships, for a total of 1,849 sub-county divisions. This is the 6th highest number of sub-county governments among the states. Wisconsin also has 11 federally recognized Indian tribes.

Wisconsin is one of six states that do not have any special-purpose districts with transportation responsibilities. Wisconsin also has 40 other public transit providers serving rural areas and an additional 53 organizations that provide specialized transit services to elderly and disabled populations in those same areas.

Wisconsin has 9 regional councils that cover approximately 85 percent of the state, and 10 MPOs. These regional units help to coordinate the other local governments and play a direct role in rural transportation programs as described below.

Of Wisconsin's 110,371 miles of roads, approximately 11 percent are state-controlled, while less than one percent are federal. Of the total miles of non-federal rural roads, 11 percent are state, 21 percent are county, 63 percent are township, and 5 percent are municipal and other.

Processes For Consultation And Cooperation With Local Officials In Non-Metropolitan Areas

Transportation planning is conducted by the Wisconsin Department of Transportation (WisDOT) central and eight district offices in conjunction with the state's nine Regional Planning Commissions (RPCs) and local governments. Five RPCs also serve as MPOs. RPCs and MPOs serving areas with populations of 200,000 or less are advisory only. WisDOT prepares a long-range multi-modal plan, individual mode system plans, and a 6-year Highway Improvement Program, the 6-year Airport Program, and a 3-year STIP.

WisDOT provides technical and financial assistance to RPCs; this cooperative effort is designed to assist in RPC efforts to provide planning assistance on regional issues as well as providing assistance to local governments. WisDOT's partnerships with local officials also represent a long-established consultative process in both planning and programming. Recognizing the link between community and transportation development, enhancing local development goals has been one of the main focal points of the WisDOT local planning and investment partnerships. The partnerships involve several different stakeholder groups, such as local planning commissions, local officials, real estate developers, and lending institutions. This ongoing consultation is supplemented by multiple plan-specific processes. Additionally, local officials with responsibility for transportation may influence decisions through contact with their state legislators.

In 1994, WisDOT developed a 25-year long-range plan, Translinks21, which provided a broad framework for developing statewide system-level (modal) plans. Modal plans have been, or are being, developed for bicycle, pedestrian, highway, air, passenger and freight rail, local roads, and transit. The public involvement process used in these planning efforts includes eight main components.

Advisory groups provide a broad range of feedback to help guide the planning process. These groups consist of diverse stakeholders, including local officials responsible for transportation (such as Wisconsin's Town's Association), Tribal governments, and environmental and business interests.
WisDOT staff regularly attend stakeholder meetings, with groups such as chambers of commerce, RPCs, and Tribal governments, to provide information and to obtain feedback.
WisDOT staff hold informational meetings in the eight WisDOT transportation districts to discuss transportation alternatives and obtain input to help clarify plan goals and key issues for the modal plans.
Draft Plans are submitted to the advisory group, stakeholders, and, upon request, the public. Informational meetings, in every WisDOT transportation district, are held to obtain feedback and comments.
Final Plans are again made available for public comment. Final public hearings are held after the 30-day comment period.
Legislative briefings are conducted to inform the state legislators of current planning efforts and obtain their feedback into the process.
Listening sessions are conducted early in the process, within each transportation district, as part of the scoping process.
Focus groups are conducted at various stages of the plan development process to ensure feedback is received from groups that are traditionally under-represented at public meetings.

In Wisconsin all projects on local roads are selected based on local decisions. WisDOT administers the programs, and provides technical assistance to identify needs within communities. Project selection decisions by local communities are discussed at board meetings, council meetings, and budget hearings, all of which are open to the public and attended regularly by WisDOT staff. Thus, project requests are local decisions. Project selection, accomplished at the state level, is based on a statewide entitlement calculation which ensures that those localities which have not had projects recently (and have built up the highest entitlements) will be funded first.

Local projects for some transportation programs, such as the Statewide Multi-modal Program, are selected for funding at the state level after review and ranking of local applications. It is up to the locality to decide what projects to apply for; selection is made by a variety of state processes. Program selection for the Congestion Mitigation Air Quality program is done in part by the non-attainment area MPOs and in part at the state level.

Similarly, local communities and Tribal governments can apply for funding under several transit programs. Again, WisDOT staff provide technical assistance to develop transit services, analyze potential costs and identify funding sources. But selection of projects to apply for is a local decision. For these transit programs, public involvement is conducted at the community level.

WisDOT also prepares a 6-year state Highway Improvement Program, a schedule of proposed projects for the State Trunk Highway System. Project selection is based on a comprehensive process of identifying, ranking and applying funding to meet the needs of the system. Again, public involvement takes many forms. To identify local community needs and priorities, WisDOT staff attend local town meetings and hold formal meetings with local officials responsible for transportation, primarily county highway commissioners. The major focus of these meetings is to present the draft 6-year program and elicit feedback. Staff also make themselves available to all stakeholders throughout the year to discuss issues and priorities. WisDOT staff also hold public meetings to obtain input on the draft program.

The STIP is updated annually and generally includes local and state projects funded in part with federal dollars that are scheduled over a three year period. Selection of state and local highway and transit projects to be included in the STIP is based primarily on planning and prioritization by WisDOT, MPOs, RPCs, and local governments. Projects are included from the 6-year Highway Improvement Program, local highway and bridge improvement programs, transit programs, and other programs, such as the Congestion Mitigation Air Quality Program. Federal land management agencies also provide lists of projects that are included in the STIP. Selection of state projects for the plan results from requests from local officials and through needs identified and evaluated through the process for developing the 6-year program, and the long-range plans. In contrast, for local projects, local governments propose projects based on their transportation priorities which then are included in the STIP depending on funding availability. WisDOT staff assist local units of government developing requests for funding for local highway and transit projects.

The STIP development process includes additional public involvement opportunities. These include: a 30-day written comment period on the plan and ongoing, local government hearings on transit and highway projects. Hearings on the overall STIP are held if requested.

Rural transportation is supported by federal, state, and local funds. State and federal funds are distributed to localities by competitive grants or by a statewide entitlement calculation. Transit programs are distributed primarily by formula. For the 6-year Highway Improvement Program, WisDOT establishes program guidelines that set the dollar level and number of state highway miles to be improved in each of its eight districts. The state also provides economic assistance grants aimed at creating more economic development in rural areas through the Transportation Economic Assistance grant program.

Wisconsin uses these practices:

State Processes to Compile Transportation Needs: To identify local community needs, WisDOT staff attend local town meetings, contact county highway commissioners, and hold public meetings.
State Hearings: Local government hearings on transit and highway projects in the STIP; hearings on the overall STIP, if requested; opportunity to submit written comments on the long-range plan and the STIP.
State Processes for Interactive Exchanges of Views with Local Officials: WisDOT staff holds focus groups, listening sessions, and informational meetings during each stage in developing each long-range plan. WisDOT staff meet with local officials responsible for transportation decisions, transit operators, and members of the public when developing the 6-Year Highway Improvement Program.
Roles of RPOs: RPCs assist local governments in transportation planning and decision-making.
State Policy-Making and Advisory Bodies: Advisory committees are established for development of each long-range plan. In a separate effort, the Local Roads and Streets Council, an advisory board comprised of local elected officials, RPCs and WisDOT staff was established to look at issues relevant to state and local policies.
Allocation of Transportation Funds and Responsibilities: Local governments set priorities for use of allotted funds for local projects.
Other Practices: WisDOT staff has ongoing relationship with stakeholders through local investment partnerships; WisDOT participates as a member of the Transportation Projects Commission; WisDOT staff regularly attend meetings of local agencies, including RPCs and chambers of commerce; WisDOT also holds annual spring and fall meetings with the County Highway Commissioners to discuss specific issues and concerns for each county. Additionally, local officials have direct access to their legislators. Also, the state budget process determines funding for urban and rural needs, funding splits between highway and transit, as well as the split between formula grant funding and competitive grants.

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