For many years SEWRPC has worked with the Wisconsin Department of Transportation (WisDOT) and the seven counties in the region in converting the highway element of the regional transportation plan, which contains recommendations relative to function in terms of location and the number of lanes of each facility, to jurisdictional highway plans. Jurisdictional highway plans contain specific recommendations as to which level of government—state, county, or local—should logically be responsible for each of the various facilities comprising the total arterial system.
More specifically, SEWRPC-sponsored county jurisdictional highway plans are intended to achieve the following objectives:
1. Promote implementation of the adopted regional transportation plan.
2. Provide a sound basis for the efficient management of the total arterial street and highway system, thereby avoiding conflicts and duplication in the administration, financing, design, construction, maintenance, and operation of the individual facilities of which the system is composed.
3. Provide for the efficient planning and design of the total arterial system by grouping into subsystems those facilities which, by virtue of the type and extent of intended service, should have similar design, construction, operation, and maintenance standards.
4. Provide a basis for a sound, long-range fiscal policy and for the systematic programming of arterial improvements, thereby assuring the most effective use of the total public resources invested in the provision of highway transportation.
5. Provide for the equitable distribution of arterial highway system development costs and revenues among the levels and agencies of government concerned.
Jurisdictional highway plans were completed for Milwaukee County in 1970, Walworth County in 1973, Ozaukee County in 1974, and Kenosha, Racine, Washington, and Waukesha Counties in 1975. These county jurisdictional plans are amended and updated from time-to-time to deal with changes to the functional recommendations contained in the regional transportation plan and other issues.
SEWRPC is presently engaged in a round of jurisdictional highway plan updating following adoption of the 2035 regional transportation plan. In 2009 the most recent update of the Washington County was formally adopted by SEWRPC and may be found here. Work is now underway in Walworth County and information on this planning effort may be accessed here. Similar efforts will be undertaken in the remaining counties in the region as time and resources permit.