It is that time of year again. Snow is melting, and the frost is coming out of the ground. Unfortunately, this is a time of year that is very damaging to Wisconsin roadways. The freeze-thaw cycle causes stress on roadway pavements and results in Wisconsin communities having a larger financial burden to maintain roadways than southern states.
What can your community do to lessen the life cycle cost of maintaining roadways?
Every odd year, Wisconsin municipalities are required to submit their PASER road ratings to the Wisconsin Department of Transportation. This is required to qualify for General Transportation Aids. What does your community do with these PASER ratings beyond submitting them to WisDOT?
R/M engineers, GIS, and finance experts can take your PASER ratings several steps further to:
Evaluate current road conditions
Monitor community-specific deterioration curves
Identify best practice preventative, rehabilitative, and reconstruction techniques
Model different funding scenarios to forecast the impact on your overall PASER rating
Map scenarios to show planned project areas
Coordinate Capital Improvement Planning between roadways and utilities
Illustrate funding option impacts on local stakeholders
Communicate to staff and elected officials, optimal road program funding levels
Your community can get ahead of the brutal Wisconsin freeze-thaw cycle and its impact on your roadways by utilizing the proactive approach steps R/M experts implement. This approach is geared towards minimizing the life cycle cost for your roadways and providing the quality of roadways that your community desires.
Watch as the experts from R/M discuss various pavement conditions and share their best practices for rating your roads
upcoming webinar
Attend our webinar on May 16, 2023 to learn how to transform your 2023 PASER ratings into a powerful communication tool to get support for additional funding for your road program. Our experts will share how to evaluate your current pavement conditions, identify the cause of existing inadequacies, and review maintenance methods. We’ll also explore funding solutions and ways to minimize costs and effectively plan your budget.
R/M can help!
Reach out to R/M experts to learn more about what your community can do to lessen the life cycle cost of maintaining roadways!
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
ryan t. amtmann, p.e.
vp, client team leader
Ryan joined the Ruekert & Mielke, Inc. (R/M) team in 2007. He has worked as a Project Manager and Project Engineer on municipal projects, including wastewater collection and conveyance system design, storm water management and facility design, water main design, site development, development review and general municipal consultation and planning.
