MADISON – Gov. Tony Evers and the Wisconsin Department of Transportation announced grant recipients for the remaining $100 million from the Agricultural Road Improvement Program (ARIP). The awarding of these grants expends the remainder of the $150 million made available for the program in the last budget, the proceeds of which will upgrade local roads that carry over 15 million tons of agricultural goods each year from farming and forestry operations that have a $12 billion annual impact on Wisconsin’s economy.
“These grants will have a substantial impact on Wisconsin’s farm economy, and we couldn’t be more grateful to Sens. Marklein, Tomczyk and Ballweg and Reps. Tranel and VanderMeer spearheading this effort and to the members of the Wisconsin legislature and Gov. Evers for getting this done,” said Wisconsin Farm Bureau Federation President Brad Olson. “These grants are a great start to remedying this long-standing problem.”
Wisconsin DOT received 299 applications for more than $500 million worth of projects, more than three times the amount of available funding. The awards will go to projects throughout the state to improve the efficiency of transporting agricultural goods, saving money for farmers and consumers.
“The half-billion dollars in applications the DOT received for this brand-new program proves what those of us in the farm community have known for decades,” said Olson. “Our rural roads are in desperate need of attention if we want our farm economy to survive and thrive, and we need this program to continue.”
The program was created by a bill authored by Sens. Marklein (R-Spring Green), Tomczyk (R-Mosinee) and Ballweg (R-Markesan) and Reps. Tranel (R-Cuba City) and VanderMeer (R-Tomah), that received unanimous bipartisan support in the legislature and was signed by Gov. Evers. It was funded in the 2023-25 State Biennial Budget.
A complete list of grant recipients can be found here.
