Wisconsin Statutes
Wis. Stat. § 349.065 (2026)
Uniform traffic control devices
✓ current as of July 2026
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349.065349.065 Uniform traffic control devices. Local authorities shall place and maintain traffic control devices upon highways under their jurisdiction to regulate, warn, guide or inform traffic. The design, installation and operation or use of new traffic control devices placed and maintained by local authorities after the adoption of the uniform traffic control devices manual under s. 84.02 (4) (e) shall conform to the manual. After January 1, 1977, all traffic control devices placed and maintained by local authorities shall conform to the manual.
349.065 AnnotationThe decision to erect a stop sign, once made, carries with it the responsibility to ensure that the sign is properly installed and maintained to ensure that it remains visible to the motorists whose conduct the sign was intended to control. A local government that erects a stop sign should not be shielded on public policy grounds from liability when a tree obscures the stop sign. Physicians Plus Insurance Corporation v. Midwest Mutual Insurance Co. 2001 WI App 148, 246 Wis. 2d 933, 632 N.W.2d 59, 00-1836.
349.065 AnnotationAffirmed. 2002 WI 80, 254 Wis. 2d 77, 646 N.W.2d 777, 00-1836.
349.065 AnnotationThat the county erected a stop sign at the intersection of town and county highways, within the town right-of-way did not preclude possible liability in the town or the adjacent landowner for an accident resulting from the sign being obscured by a tree. Both units of government and the landowner had a duty to correct the hazardous condition created by the tree. Physicians Plus Insurance Corporation v. Midwest Mutual Insurance Co. 2001 WI App 148, 246 Wis. 2d 933, 632 N.W.2d 59, 00-1836.
349.065 AnnotationAffirmed. 2002 WI 80, 254 Wis. 2d 77, 646 N.W.2d 777, 00-1836.
Notes of Decisions
Cited in 6
cases, 1978–2012 · leading case: Physicians Plus Ins. v. Midwest Mut. Ins., 2002 WI 80 (Wis. 2002).
Physicians Plus Ins. v. Midwest Mut. Ins., 2002 WI 80 (Wis. 2002). “065 (1995-1996) [6] directing *97 local authorities to maintain traffic control devices, and the Department of Transportation's manual [7] requiring municipalities to pay special attention to ensure that "weeds, trees, [and] shrubbery . . . do not obscure the face of any sign.”
Physicians Plus Ins. v. Midwest Mut. Ins., 2001 WI App 148 (Wis. Ct. App. 2001). “§ 349.065. Despite their argument that "[i]f there were no stop sign, there would be no lawsuit," however, we reject the Frankes' claim that the responsibility for maintenance of the stop sign is the beginning and the end of our inquiry.”
Am. Fam. Mut. Ins. v. Outagamie Cnty., 2012 WI App 60 (Wis. Ct. App. 2012). “Under Wis. Stat. § 349.065 , traffic control devices placed and maintained by local authorities must conform to the provisions of the Manual.”
Tatalovich v. City of Superior, 904 F.2d 1135 (7th Cir. 1990). “Tatalovich asserts that Wis.Stat. § 349.065, requiring that Wisconsin municipalities place and maintain signs, barricades and other traffic control devices in conformity with the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices, created a “ministerial” duty for the City to erect a…”
Harmann v. Schulke, 432 N.W.2d 671 (Wis. Ct. App. 1988). “Section 349.065, Stats., provides in part: Local authorities shall place and maintain traffic control devices upon highways under their jurisdiction to regulate, warn, guide or inform traffic.”
Foss v. Town of Kronenwetter, 273 N.W.2d 801 (Wis. Ct. App. 1978). “Local authorities shall place and maintain traffic control devices upon highways under their jurisdiction to regulate, warn, guide or inform traffic.”
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