February 6, 2025

By Lane Kimble

MADISON, Wis. — A big reason the agriculture industry can pump more than $115 billion into Wisconsin’s economy every year is because farmers and food producers can get their products to market.

Rural roads that serve those producers will get some TLC in the coming years, Gov. Tony Evers and WisDOT announced this week.

The state shared its second round of Agricultural Roads Improvement Program (ARIP) awards Wednesday.  The $100 million will help pay for 55 projects in 36 counties.  The projects are spread evenly across the state’s five regions, save for the Southeast Region which has many more urban highways.

More than 200 counties and municipalities applied for this round of funding, which covers up to 90% of costs to rehab and rebuild roads, highways, and bridges that directly serve farms, food producers, and forest products.

“The number of applications received clearly demonstrates the need for this program,” said WisDOT Secretary Kristina Boardman. “WisDOT is proud to support these improvements so our agricultural industries can safely and efficiently get products from point A to point B.”

Lawmakers created the $150 million ARIP program as a spinoff of the Local Road Improvement program through their budget work in 2023.  Gov. Evers signed the one-time program into law that summer.

WTBA has pushed WisDOT to create a public, online database to monitor ARIP awards, track letting announcements, and tabulate how much product and materials are being used.

WisDOT leadership told WTBA’s Board of Directors late last year it hopes to have that system running by spring 2025.

The first round of ARIP funding, worth around $50 million, was announced in July.