Year in Review: WisDOT Celebrates 2025 Accomplishments

The Wisconsin Department of Transportation (WisDOT) is wrapping up a year of progress, improvements and innovations to support multimodal transportation infrastructure and services throughout the state.

Watch the WisDOT 2025 Year in Review video for a recap of Wisconsin’s biggest transportation highlights this year.

“2025 was a year of incredible challenge and opportunity for WisDOT as we implemented a new state budget and continued our work to address safety on the roads and build a 21st century infrastructure,” Secretary Kristina Boardman said. “I’m so proud of all we accomplished this year. We couldn’t do it without the hard work of our team and many transportation partners working together to reach our shared goal of a safe and efficient multimodal transportation system in Wisconsin.”

By the numbers

In 2025, WisDOT took on a significant increase in highway construction work:

• 456 state-let improvement projects
• Improvements to 991 miles of road and 331 bridges
• Upgrades to 9,637 miles and 2,411 bridges since 2019

Infrastructure improvements and investments

Notable construction project milestones of 2025:

• Completed I-43 North-South project in Milwaukee and Ozaukee counties
• Began I-94 East-West project in Milwaukee County
• Continued I-41 project between Appleton and Green Bay
• Completed US Highway 8 project to support Forest County Potawatomi Tribe
• Advanced Blatnik Bridge project between Superior, WI and Duluth, MN, reaching milestone with the Request for Proposal (RFP) phase
• Rebuilt I-90 rest area near Sparta with expanded truck parking and improved safety and accessibility
• Hosted more than 700 public outreach events to engage with communities where projects are ongoing
• Transportation Projects Commission approved new highway studies for stretches of I-94 in Waukesha County and US 53 in Eau Claire and Chippewa counties

WisDOT delivered a number of significant investments in all modes of transportation in 2025:

• Agricultural Roads Improvement Program (ARIP) – issued $100 million in grant awards for upgrades to local roads that support Wisconsin’s farmers and producers; in total, ARIP is supporting 91 improvement projects across 48 counties
• Wisconsin Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Program – announced additional grant awards for federally funded EV charging stations, delivering a total of $36.4 million for 78 projects, with about a dozen sites now operational
• General Transportation Aid (GTA) – delivered more than $540 million in GTA funding for local governments to support projects that improve local roads, bridges and infrastructure

Commitment to safety

WisDOT continued important safety education efforts throughout 2025, including:

• Record seat belt usage – documented a 94% seat belt use rate, the highest percentage on record since WisDOT began surveys 25 years ago
• Buckle Up Phone Down campaign – expanded messaging campaign to schools and debuted a new Public Service Announcement featuring a family impacted by distracted driving
• Governor’s Conference on Highway Safety – marked 50th anniversary of safety partnerships with industry, law enforcement and stakeholders across the state
• Work zone safety – hosted six educational awareness media events during National Work Zone Awareness Week in April

WisDOT continued engineering and enforcement efforts critical to transportation safety:

• Enforcement campaigns – Wisconsin State Patrol worked with transportation partners to enforce unsafe driving on the Beltline in Madison, around commercial trucks, and driving near school buses
• New officers – State Patrol graduated 27 new officers who will maintain safety on Wisconsin highways
• Wrong-way driving – expanded use of wrong-way driving alert systems and added oversized signs and reflective strips at freeway entrance ramps

Transportation events and milestones

The Wisconsin DMV celebrated a number of driver services highlights in 2025:

• REAL ID – achieved one of the highest REAL ID compliance rates in the country, around 70%, to prepare for the federal REAL ID deadline
• Digital phishing scams – educated consumers on how to avoid scams that targeted DMVs across the country
• Application security – added image verification to DMV applications to better protect customers against fraud
• Driver Education Grant Program – Continued to deliver funding to provide driver training for eligible teens, with more than 16,000 grants issued since the program began

WisDOT continued to bolster Tribal transportation partnerships in 2025 with several key events and recognitions:

• Dedicated I-90 in La Crosse area to Ho-Chunk Nation World War II Code Talkers
• Dual language signs – installed in Lac du Flambeau Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa and Ho-Chunk Nation communities

Other notable events and program milestones include:

• NFL Draft – traffic planners and State Patrol ensured a safe NFL Draft at Lambeau Field in Green Bay
• Rustic Roads – celebrated 50th anniversary of Wisconsin’s first Rustic Road, a milestone for the transportation program that encourages tourism on Wisconsin’s rural routes

Watch the Year in Review video and follow WisDOT on social media for a look at more transportation highlights and accomplishments in 2025.

NOTE: This press release was submitted to Urban Milwaukee and was not written by an Urban Milwaukee writer. While it is believed to be reliable, Urban Milwaukee does not guarantee its accuracy or completeness.