Frequently Asked Questions

The Wisconsin Department of Transportation (DOT) has the 511 webpage. This webpage contains great information on road conditions and traffic that is useful in making travel plans. Also on the website are up-to-date traffic cameras that show roadway conditions.

Driver licensing is administered by the Wisconsin Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV). Please contact them at 800-924-3470.

The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources contracts with an independent contractor for the removal of deer carcasses on the State and Federal Highway systems. When Highway Department staff spot a deer carcass on these highways, the independent contractor is notified. The carcasses are removed and transported by the contractor to an approved disposal site.

For all County Highways, the Chippewa County Highway Department does not remove deer carcasses unless they are a hazard to the traveling public.

In accordance with Section 86.04 of the Wisconsin Statutes, it is the landowner's or occupant's obligation to repair or replace damaged mailboxes.

Mailbox Guidelines (PDF)

Please visit the Wisconsin Department of Transportation (WisDOT) for more information.

The Highway Department contracts with many municipalities in Chippewa County. However, the Highway Department, by law, is not allowed to perform hired work for the public.

The Highway Department sells a variety of supplies to municipalities throughout Chippewa County. Unfortunately, the Highway Department cannot sell supplies to private contractors or the public.

The Chippewa County Sheriff's Department has contact information for on-call Highway Department supervisors at all times. Please call the dispatch center at 715-726-7701 with concerns related to safety on state/county highways, and they will contact Highway Department staff. For concerns that are not urgent, please contact the Chippewa County Highway Department at 715-726-7914 during normal business hours.

It is illegal (State Statute 346.915) to follow a snowplow closer than 200 feet upon entering any highway having a posted speed limit of more than 35 mph if the snowplow is engaged in snow and ice removal. The majority of the crashes involving snowplows and vehicles happen when a snowplow is rear-ended or hit while being passed. Snowplows have plow wings and can extend anywhere from 2 to 10 feet beyond the width of the truck. This wing is often not seen because of blowing snow kicked up by the plow.

It is unlawful to push snow or other materials onto or across roadways. It can cause accidents and/or death and is strictly prohibited under Wisconsin Statutes 86.01 and/or 346.94(5). Anyone who does not comply will be held responsible for all penalties and liabilities.

Mailbox Guidelines (PDF)

Rural mailboxes have been and are allowed on the highway right-of-way as a matter of convenience to the landowners or occupants and not as a matter of right. Encroachments upon the highway right-of-way are governed by Section 86.04 of the Wisconsin State Statutes, which states in part as follows:

86.04: "If any highway right-of-way shall be encroached upon, under or over by any fence, stand, building or any other structure or object......the County Highway Committee (in case of a County Trunk Highway)....may order the occupant or owner of the land through or by which such highway runs, and to which the encroachment shall be appurtenant, to remove the same beyond the limits of such highway within 30 days."

Thus, it is the intention of this policy that if a mailbox is accidentally damaged in the process of removing snow, mowing the right-of-way, graveling the shoulder, or any other act of maintaining the right-of-way, it is the landowner's or occupant's obligation to repair or replace the mailbox.

It is further the intention that the above policy shall also be applicable to tubes or boxes for newspaper delivery, and it is also required that such tubes or boxes be located adjacent to the mailbox, if any.

Should, for some reason, there be no mailbox for a particular residence, then the tube or box shall be located on the same side of the roadway as are the mailboxes which serve other residences along the route.