Apr 10, 2009

By Joe Swanson
General Contractor, Organic Farmer
Webster Township, Vernon County, WI.

Joe Swanson is the primary collaborator and contact for VSN. He is a member of the board, as well as serving for the Town of Webster. He will be responsible for recruiting other volunteers to assist with observations and data gathering, and serve as liaison to town land use planning committees.

A proposal to the Kickapoo Valley Restoration Fund from Valley Stewardship Network, Viroqua WI and the Transportation Management and Planning Program, University of Wisconsin-Madison

Justification and Outcome

The Kickapoo River Valley is characterized by a complex mixture of steeps slopes, broad and winding ridges and valleys, and meandering rivers and associated wetland complexes. The transportation systems serving this area are substantially influenced by these conditions. Many of the roads and rails were laid out in the 19th century, and only modestly improved to accommodate motor vehicles in the ensuing decades. Twenty-first century land uses such as large-scale agricultural production and various kinds of production facilities place unsustainable loads on pavement and roadbeds, resulting in deteriorating infrastructure and/or substantial tax burden on local communities.

The future of transportation infrastructure in the Kickapoo Valley, as well as economic development that depends on roads, requires careful evaluation of conditions, loads, and potential use levels. This analysis should be incorporated in the “transportation elements” of comprehensive land use plans currently under development. The plans should be designed to mitigate damage to sensitive infrastructure, designate appropriate routes for heavy vehicles, and coordinate facility siting and other land use changes with transportation infrastructure capacity.

The proposed work will provide the transportation evaluation – develop an inventory of current road conditions and current land use activities having significant impact on the transportation system. Then, it will provide these data in a form and format that can be integrated with on-going mapping and planning activities, along with recommendations on key concepts and components for the “transportation element” in the comprehensive land use plans as required by state law. The focus will be in Vernon County, where six towns surrounding the Kickapoo River valley (Webster, Whitestown, Stark, Union, Forest, Clinton) and the Village of LaFarge are mid-stream in comprehensive land use planning, and the County has just begun its own planning process. To the extent feasible, applicable portions of Monroe, Richland and Crawford counties will be incorporated as well, and concepts and methods will be documented so that these counties can replicate the study.

The primary beneficiaries of the study will be residents and communities of the area. By coordinating development and road construction/maintenance, businesses will have a more robust transportation system, local and state road funds will be directed to stretches most in need of funding, and heavy traffic can be routed away from environmentally sensitive areas.

Proposed Work

This project will be conducted as a collaboration between the Valley Stewardship Network (VSN) and the Transportation Management & Policy Program at the University of Wisconsin-Madison (TMP). In broad terms, VSN collaborators will provide the “ground truth” – observations of conditions and activities influencing transportation infrastructure, while the graduate students in a TMP seminar will acquire data, analyze conditions, and make recommendations for system operations and improvements.

VSN is a citizens’ organization headquartered near the Kickapoo. Its “encourages, promotes and helps create opportunities for pro-active stewardship efforts in the Kickapoo River Watershed through education and awareness efforts and by promoting community pride, positive land use, compatible development and communication and coordination among groups in the watershed” (kickapoovsn.org). TMP is a graduate certificate administered by the Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies, and is closely associated with the Midwest Regional University Transportation Center in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. It “offers a broad perspective on the environmental, economic, political, and societal impacts of the demand for, and development and management of, transportation infrastructure” (nelson.wisc.edu/grad/tmp/).

The Transportation Management and Policy (TMP) Program was created at UW-Madison in 2002 to satisfy the demand for transportation professionals who understand multiple dimensions of mobility management and planning, enabling them to make choices leading to more environmentally and socially sustainable transportation systems now and in the future. The TMP integrates studies of environmentally sensitive transportation planning and development with studies of the economic, political, and social dimensions of transportation development.

The integrative capstone course in the TMP Program is CEE 772 Practicum in Transportation Management and Policy. The course aims to provide students with interdisciplinary team experiences in the analysis of transportation policies and transportation management decision-making. The class meets once a week for 3 hours and is instructed by Professors Jessica Guo and Teresa Adams. Students in the course form multidisciplinary consulting teams to work on real transportation-related problems solicited from local communities and public agencies.

A group of the TMP Program students and instructors (hereafter referred to as the TMP team) will be part of the research team for this proposed study by undertaking Tasks 1-3 of the proposed work plan as their course project during the Fall semester, 2008. Task 4 will be completed during the spring semester, 2009.

The specific tasks that the TMP team will undertake are outlined below:

1. Inventory of transportation infrastructure

An up-to-date inventory of the layout and condition of the transportation system in the Valley is needed to understand the statues quo of the infrastructure supply. Since different components of the system are separately managed by multiple state and local agencies, this task will entail acquiring and integrating existing data from multiple sources, including WISLR, Vernon County databases, and local agencies.

2. Inventory of business practices and needs

This task focuses on understanding the current use of and future demand for transportation infrastructure in the region. It includes collecting data about the nature and locations of significant business establishments and facilities, their logistic decisions (fleet, route, etc.) regarding transporting materials and products, and any economic, environmental, and societal considerations that let to their decisions. Obtaining such information is not a straight forward task and the TMP team will consider and employ multiple approaches (for example, paper-based survey, face-to-face interviews, and phone interviews) to reach key stakeholders.

3. Date Integration and Mapping Analysis

Data collected from the previous two tasks will be assembled and integrated. A set of maps depicting the supply and demand characteristics of the road system will be generated to help shed some lights on to questions such as: How have the road conditions been impacted by existing business practices? Given the constraints that businesses have to operate under, what feasible changes in logistic operations could help improve the sustainability of the region’s transportation system? What locations are suitable for future business?

4. Recommendations for Transportation Element in Comprehensive Land Use Plans

A template consisting of maps, plan language, recommendations, and justifications will be prepared, consistent with the requirements of the state’s comprehensive land use planning requirement. These will be developed with enough specificity that they can be adapted to and incorporated in local and county plans.

The students and instructors will work closely with the Kickapoo Valley community representatives and the PI on the proposed tasks and provide regular progress updates. VSN participants will have primary responsibility for Task 5. This collaboration between the TMP team, local partners, and other consultants on the project will not only benefit the kickapoo Valley community but also provides a valuable educational opportunity for UW students.

5. Local Reconnaissance, Networking, and Observations.

Assist the TMP team in identifying data sources and establishing contacts with local public agencies and private business entities. Observe and/or verify road and land use conditions.

The students will deliver all the data collected to Vernon County Land Information Office and local jurisdictions. They will also provide an oral presentation and a written report that describe the data collaboration process, findings, and recommendations.

Proposed Budget

TMP Team

Travel: $1,000
data collection & coordination with VSN
10 round trips @ $100, Madison to Vernon County

Supplies:
printing paper survey, reports, maps, fax, etc. – $1,000 $3,000
data storage, computer media, etc. – $500
Laptop computer for field data gathering, presentations, etc. – $1,500
Labor: $6,000
TMP graduate student or staff support for project management,
report writing, seminar coordination, trip logistics, etc.
400 hours @$15/hour (includes fringe)

VSN

Travel:
local travel for ground-truthing and data gathering – 500 miles@.40 $400
2 round trips @ $100, Viroqua to Madison

Supplies: $1,600
printing, correspondence, fax, etc. – $200
GIS and transportation modeling software – $200
laptop computer for local analyses and field data gathering – $1,200

TOTAL $12,000

*Key Personnel *

TMP Team – In addition to graduate students, the TMP team will include Engineering professors Jessica Guo and Teresa Adams and Agricultural and Life Science professor Steve Ventura (all three are also affiliated with the Nelson Institute).

Professor Guo will be the project leader and seminar coordinator. She will be the primary point of contact with VSN. Professor Adams is the TMP Program coordinator and ensure the timely and complete development of the project. Professor Ventura has four on-going Nuzum funded projects related to comprehensive land use planning in the six towns and village adjacent to the Kickapoo. He will provide connections to other local officials who need to be involved in the project and assist with the development of recommendations for incorporation in the plans.