TRANSPORTATION
Introduction The Town of Spring Brook's road network is
currently adequate for the needs of its citizens and businesses. The Town has approximately 91.5 miles of roadway
consisting of about 78.5 miles that are paved with blacktop and about
13 miles that are gravel or dirt. These
roadways should be upgraded and maintained as needed to provide adequate
transportation for the citizens. New
roads will be added to the Town's system as land is developed. The location and placement of new roads must
be approved by the Town Board and new roads must be constructed by developers
to Town of Spring Brook standards if they wish them to be adopted by
the Town. Selected Survey Results
Several questions in the first Landowner Survey dealt
with transportation. The questions
and their results are:
There were two questions in the second landowner survey
that dealt with transportation: 1. As we noted in the last newsletter, the cost for maintaining
roads in our township is the largest item in the town budget. Greater
than 60% of the money spent by the town goes towards roads. The town
receives state aid for road maintenance, but this aid has only covered
55% of the cost the past few years. The largest single cost is for repaving
roads which runs approximately $60,000 per mile. Would you be willing
to see some of our more rural roads revert back to gravel as a cost
savings measure? Yes/No Yes – 101
(46%) No – 106 (48%) No Response – 13 (6%) 2. Our town does not currently have an ordinance covering the
construction of new roads in the township. When land is developed and
new roads and streets are constructed by the developer, there are currently
few requirements as to how these roads and streets should be built.
The township is typically expected to take over ownership/maintenance
of these roads, and if they aren’t built to acceptable standards, the
maintenance costs could be excessive. Would you support development
and adoption of an ordinance that would establish standards for construction
of new roads in our township? Yes/no Yes – 190
(86%) No – 20 (9%) No Response – 10 (5%) Highways A very
short portion, less than ˝ mile, of Interstate
94 runs through the far northeast corner of the Township. Access to Interstate 94 can be made by following
Road Classifications Principle arterials serve intra-urban
trips and/or carry high traffic volumes (interstates and freeways).
There is a small section of Interstate 94 running through the
town however, there is no access to the Interstate
in the town. Minor arterials serve cities,
large communities and other large traffic generators. There are none in the Town. Major collectors provide
services to moderate sized communities linking them to nearby population
centers and higher function routes.
State Highway 12/29 runs adjacent to the town, connecting it
with the City of Minor collectors collect traffic from local roads and provide links to all smaller communities,
locally important traffic generators, and higher function roads.
Minor collectors in the township are county roads C, E, EE, H
and J. These roads connect either
to other county roads, state roads or local roads to serve all destinations
within the town and allow access to higher function roads beyond the
town boundaries. Local roads are all roads
not classified as arterial or collector. Road Pavement According to state law, the Township inspects all roads
eligible for state aid on a bi-annual basis and assigns a pavement condition
rating. The system used is PASER (Pavement Surface Evaluation and Rating ). The PASER
Rating System is used to evaluate each road segment, based on a scale
1-10. Each
PASER rating is associated with a road condition, a type of road treatment
and an average cost per mile to implement the required road treatment.
The following table identifies each PASER rating and other associated
categories.
The PASER study was analyzed and the ratings were then
transferred to the Transportation Map in Appendix
E. The map is a resource which could be used by town officials to
assess future transportation needs. Future transportation needs is an
important issue since road maintenance is a significant portion of the
town’s annual budget. The rising cost of labor and materials coupled
with the state’s desire to cut road aid could lead to a situation where
the level of road maintenance may become an issue. Future maintenance
plans should not only account for existing roads and maintenance but
these plans should also consider the affect new roads will have on the
annual budget. As new residential
developments come on line there will most likely be pressure to take
ownership and maintenance responsibilities of additional roads. Currently
the town has not adopted a town road standard nor is there a process
in place to insure that when the town takes ownership of a road that
it has been constructed to any standard. To address these concerns a
goal to develop an enforceable road construction ordinance was adopted.
See the Implementation section of the plan for Goals and detailed Objectives.
Local Five Year Improvement Plan The town does not have a formal five year plan. Instead on an annual basis the board inspects
the condition of town roads to determine if maintenance is required. County Five Year Improvement Plan
State Five Year Improvement Plan The states five year plans have no impact since there
are no state highways within the town. Existing Transportation
Facilities Air Transportation Two light aircraft airports are nearby, Menomonie and
Boyceville.
The Rail Transportation Two rail lines, Wisconsin Central Limited (WCL) and
the Canadian National Railway Company (CN), cross Dunn county. Bicycle/Walking Trails Bike and pedestrian facilities should be encouraged
when any roadways in the Town are upgraded. The Red Cedar State Trail begins at
the Menomonie Depot off SH 29, runs near the Red Cedar River for 14
1/2 miles, and connects to the Chippewa River State Trail. The trail accommodates walking, bicycling,
and cross country skiing. The
Chippewa River State Trail is a scenic multi-use trail that follows
the Local
snowmobile clubs have reached agreements with individual land owners
to use local trails. There are
no state or county trails in the Town of Spring Brook. Special Transit Facilities Disabled Elderly Transportation (DET) is a private non-profit
organization. DET's specialized service is available to elderly and disabled
individuals throughout Freight Transportation Freight movement in the region is dominated
by trucking. Given national trends
in the air cargo industry and rail industry, it is expected trucking
will remain the dominant mode of freight transportation well into the
future. The closest trucking companies are located in
Water Transportation
There are no water transportation facilities in the
town or within Existing Transportation
Plans Translinks 21 Translinks 21 is a Department of Transportation program that provides
policy level guidance for the preparation of individual plans for highways,
airports, railroads, bikeways, and transit. Of particular importance are the $175 million
Country Roads Program "to maintain less-traveled state highways
and provide habitat and landscape improvements to enhance the scenic,
historic, and other attractions surrounding the highway" and the
Local Road Improvement Program "to help local communities pay for
needed improvements on local routes." The State Highway Plan 2020 sets forth investment needs
and priorities for the state's trunk highways. Backbone and collector routes have been identified.
The Midwest Regional Rail System is a plan to improve
the rail network in the The State Recreational Trails Network Plan The State Trails Network Plan (DNR) encourages communities
to develop additional trails linking to the statewide trail system.
Planners could work with the DNR and the DOT's Bicycle Transportation
Plan to establish such trails. The |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||