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State inspection initiative prompts Walworth County to inventory and plan repairs for small bridges and culverts
Summary
Committee members discussed a statewide effort to inventory and inspect structures under conventional bridge thresholds, noted local examples of costly repairs and said the county will program more culvert work into its strategic plan.
Walworth County Public Works Committee members on April 21 discussed a statewide initiative to expand inspections to smaller structures and said the county has inventoried many culverts and will likely see more repair needs over the next decade.
Joe, a county staff member, told the committee the state started a program to identify and assign ID numbers to structures previously not treated as bridges. He said that historically Wisconsin inspected structures with spans of 20 feet or more, but the recent inventory now includes many structures with shorter spans that nonetheless require attention.
Joe said one recent County Trunk Highway ES repair cost about $375,000 to replace a roughly 14-foot structure. He estimated some structures could cost as much as $600,000 to repair and noted the county identified several locations on County Trunk Highway B (between Genoa City and Walworth near Linton Road) that will need attention in the next decade.
Rich, a county staff member, told the committee the county had used a $2,000,000 allocation from the 411 fund to begin addressing large culverts, but he cautioned the need will likely exceed available funding. Joe said the state plans to inspect the newly inventoried structures this summer and will provide condition reports; the county and townships submitted inventory data to the state last year.
Committee members discussed how the expanded inspections could generate more repair needs and said the county will program additional culvert and small-structure projects into its strategic plan and discuss prioritization and funding at upcoming municipal engagement meetings.
No additional funding commitments were made at the meeting; the committee approved a related resolution closing a specific culvert project (Resolution No. 05-25) and transferring remaining funds to the road and bridge construction committed fund balance.
