The state of Wisconsin has made a giant leap in expanding design-build with the passage of its biennial budget bill, Assembly Bill 56, and signed by Governor Tony Evers. Governor Evers’ partial veto of some portions of the transportation budget bill was also good news for design-build by rejecting proposed limits on the number of design-build projects and granting full authority to the Wisconsin Department of Transportation. The Daily Reporter provided this coverage of the bill:

“Evers also largely retained a series of provisions allowing the design-build delivery method on road projects, although he vetoed limits that would have constrained WisDOT’s use of the system to just a few projects. Wisconsin is one of the few states that only allows the design-bid-build system on road projects. Proponents of design-build argue it could keep costs lower by allowing contractors to catch design flaws early on in construction projects.”

Before passage of this legislation, Wisconsin was one of only three states which prohibited the use of design-build. Now, only Iowa and North Dakota prohibit the use of design-build on public projects.

“Thanks to the hard work of many design-build pros throughout Wisconsin and DBIA’s Great Lakes Region, communities throughout the state will now benefit from the innovation, cost and schedule savings design-build has been delivering in all types of projects throughout our nation. The fiscal challenges facing states like Wisconsin mean DOTs must find ways to collaborate and innovate to keep up with our growing infrastructure needs. Now, thanks to this new legislative authority, design-build can help deliver more cost and schedule efficient transportation projects in Wisconsin.” …Lisa Washington, DBIA Executive Director/CEO

The ability to utilize design-build on transportation projects is the biggest success for design-build in the state of Wisconsin and will shape the future of how transportation projects are built throughout the state for generations to come.

Here’s the first glimpse of the newly updated design-build authorization maps. Look at all that green!