John A. Scocos
Assembly Chief Clerk
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Communications
State of Wisconsin
Joint Legislative Council
Madison
October 25, 2001
Mr. John Scocos
Assembly Chief Clerk
1 East Main Street, Suite 402
Madison, WI 53703
Dear John:
I am pleased to transmit to you the following report to the 2001 Legislature on legislation introduced by the Joint Legislative Council:
RL 2001-07 Legislation on Developmental Disabilities
(2001 Senate Bill 231 and 2001 Assembly Bill 473)
I would appreciate your including this letter in the Journal for the information of the membership. Additional copies of this report are available in the Legislative Council Staff offices, One East Main, Suite 401, or from our web page at
www.legis.state.wi.us/lc/reports_by_topic.htm.
Sincerely,
Terry C. Anderson
Director
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Agency Reports
State of Wisconsin
Legislative Audit Bureau
Madison
October 25, 2001
To the Honorable, the Legislature:
We have completed an evaluation of the Department of Transportation's bridge inspection program, as requested by the Joint Legislative Audit Committee. In fiscal year 2000-01, the Department spent approximately $2.2 million in segregated state funds to inspect state-owned bridges, including an estimated $1.2 million to hire consultants from the private sector.
The Department's written policies for inspecting the 4,858 state-owned bridges are generally consistent with federal regulations and other national guidelines, and state staff meet federal bridge inspection qualifications. The Department does not, however, adequately monitor bridge inspection costs or evaluate the cost-effectiveness of its use of consultants by comparing their costs to the costs of inspections performed by state staff. It also does not use the most recent data on bridge traffic to measure the condition of state bridges. We have included recommendations to address these concerns.
The Department has increased staff time devoted to bridge inspection. However, we found that from January 2000 through August 2001, 15.9 percent of routine bridge inspections and 8.0 percent of inspections of structurally deficient bridges were not completed within the two-year period required by both state and federal law. Therefore, we have also included a recommendation that the Department ensure inspections are completed in a timely manner.
National bridge experts have determined that the Department could not have foreseen the failure of the Hoan Bridge in Milwaukee in December 2000. We found, however, that the Department had not conducted routine inspections of the bridge as frequently as required by law. The Department estimates that the bridge repair work will cost approximately $15.8 million.
We appreciate the courtesy and cooperation extended to us by the Department. The Department's response is Appendix 3.
Respectfully submitted,
Janice Mueller
State Auditor
