The Wisconsin County Highway Association (WCHA) Scholarship Program for civil engineering students consists of $5,000 worth of scholarships awarded to eligible students attending an accredited university.

APPLICANT QUALIFICATION – Civil engineering student attending a university having an accredited civil engineering program.  Applicant must be a resident of the State of Wisconsin and must attend school full time for the entire academic school year.  Applicant must be a junior, senior or graduate student at the time of scholarship award.

To learn more and to apply for the 2016 WCHA Scholarship, please click here.

The WCHA-LDG Conference Coordinating Committee/Price County will be hosting the 2016 Annual Road School in Green Bay, at the Radisson Hotel & Conference Center, 2040 Airport Drive, Green Bay, WI 54313.

We do have room blocks available at the Radisson 1-800-333-3333 or 920-494-7300. The room block is listed under WCHA-LDG (Wisconsin County Highway Association-Leadership Group).

Every member, spouse/guest, or corporate representative attending the conference must complete the below Registration form. Sharing of name badges is not permitted. Registration forms must be returned with payment by August 14, 2016.

Cancellation and 100% refunds (by written request) will be received until August 14, 2016. After this date, cancellations will not be refunded.

To learn more and register for both attendees and vendors, click here.

View the WCHA-LDG Annual Road School draft agenda here.

The Wisconsin DOT says distracted driving caused more than 24,000 crashes in Wisconsin in 2015, averaging 1 crash every 20 minutes.

“I’ll be behind people and see them like swerving around and then I see they’re on their phones, it’s frustrating,” said Judianne Johnson of Chippewa Falls.

The Wisconsin DOT says an average of nearly 2,000 of those crashes happen in work zones per year.

In an attempt to lower those numbers, Wisconsin is going completely hands-free in all work zones.

“The more that drivers can be fully attentive while driving and limit their use of cellphones or other devices that may distract them from the task at hand, the safer everybody will be,” said Diana Maas, the Wisconsin DOT Northwest Region Communications Manager.

The new law will go into effect October 1st.

Drivers caught talking on their phones in a work zone will face a $40 dollar fine on a first offense, and $100 dollars on any violations after.

“A good rule, if you see orange cones, put down the phone,” Maas said.

Hands-free devices, like Bluetooth, will still be legal in work zones.

Emergency phone calls in a work zone, such as dialing 9-1-1, are also an exception.

“I don’t use my cellphone when I’m driving anyway, whoever calls me can leave a message,” said driver Betty Hallquist of Eau Claire.

The DOT’s new reminder for drivers is, ‘orange cones, put down the phone.’

WCHA’s Dan Fedderly spoke on Friday, July 22 in Long Beach, CA at the National Association of Counties (NACo) Annual Conference.

Dan is shown speaking at the NACo Transportation Steering Committee Resolutions Meeting, of which he is a member.

In addition to Fedderly, WCHA President Mark Servi also attended the 2016 NACo Annual Conference.

Douglas County is featured in this video, “Driving Douglas County, which highlights the need to invest in our state’s roads.  This outstanding video shows that roads DO matter to industry, tourists and every single Wisconsin citizen.

To watch the video, “Driving Douglas County,” click here.

The WCHA-LDG Conference Coordinating Committee/Price County will be hosting the 2016 Annual Road School in Green Bay, at the Radisson Hotel & Conference Center, 2040 Airport Drive, Green Bay, WI 54313.

We do have room blocks available at the Radisson 1-800-333-3333 or 920-494-7300. The room block is listed under WCHA-LDG (Wisconsin County Highway Association-Leadership Group).

To learn more, register as either an attendee or vendor click here.

See the 2016 WCHA-LDG Annual Road School agenda here.

County highway commissioners and officials from around Wisconsin gathered June 6-8 at Chula Vista Resort in Wisconsin Dells for the 2016 Summer Road School.  County and state leaders presented on important topics critical to county transportation.

To see photos from the 2016 WCHA Road School, click here.

The full agenda can be found here.

The Wisconsin County Highway Association is excited to unveil their new website, which features the latest in association news, updates, calendar of events and other important resources.

A special thanks goes out to WCHA website committee members who guided the project through the process.  The site was done by WisNet.com, located in Fond du Lac, WI.

Members Only Section
A highlight of the new WCHA website is a password protected, members-only section.  Within this section, you will find important committee information, meeting agendas and minutes, legislative strategies and other important WCHA documents.

How to Login to WCHA Member Site:
•    To login to the site, go to www.wiscohwy.org.
•    You can access the member login section in two ways.  The first is in the upper right menu bar, where it says “Member Site.”  The second is in the lower bottom left corner, where it says “Member Login.”
•    Each spot with take you to the login page, where you will be prompted to enter in your username and password.
Your Username and Password:

Questions about the site or issues logging in? Contact Michelle Gormican Thompson via email or at 608.577.9405.

WCHA delegates listen to WisDOT Secretary Mark Gottlieb at the TDA Fly-in’s opening session in D.C. on April 6. 2016.

WCHA’s officials and county highway representatives were in Washington, D.C. April 6-7 as a part of the Transportation Development Association of Wisconsin’s Annual Fly In.

While in D.C., they met with Wisconsin’s entire Congressional Delegation to discuss key transportation topics.  In addition, they toured Speaker Paul Ryan’s office and heard from industry experts.

To view the entire 2016 TDA Fly-In agenda, click here.

The Wisconsin County Highway Association and the Wisconsin Counties Association (WCA) is commending Senator Jerry Petrowski (R-Marathon) and Representative John Spiros (R-Marshfield) for their dedication in keeping highway work zones safer with the signing of their bills, SB 135 and AB 198. The bills, prompted by three Wisconsin highway work zone fatalities in 2015, ban the use of “handheld communication devices” in areas labeled as work zones.

“This is a common sense piece of legislation that goes a long way toward promoting a safer highway work zone environment,” said WCA Executive Director Mark D. O’Connell. “We appreciate the dedication of Senator Petrowski and Representative Spiros to county highway issues and to the workers that keep Wisconsin moving and our economy thriving.”

WCHA has been working in partnership with WCA to make passage of this bill a priority. Last summer, Shawano, Calumet and Lincoln County each experienced a fatality of a highway department employee.

“Our county highway workers are literally putting their lives on the line every day and this new law will be one more tool to protect them,” said WCHA Executive Director Daniel Fedderly, P.E.; P.L.S. “People need to slow down in work zones and be aware that there are deadly consequences for irresponsible and inattentive driving. We are grateful to Senator Petrowski and Representative Spiros for their commitment to keeping our county workers safer on the job.”

SB 135 and AB 198 were signed into law by Governor Walker on Wednesday, March 30, 2016 in Madison.