Vibrations are bringing down the house
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Terry Schmidt surveys the damaged caused by vibration from heavy truck traffic is causing to his rural Brodhead home. Testing has determined that trucks on nearby Highway 11 causes tremors that loosen the mortar and forced the stones from his foundation.
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An inscribed rock sits outside the rural Brodhead home of Terry and Gina Schmidt. The Schmidt's dream house has turned into a nightmare as it is slowly being shaken apart by tremors from heavy truck traffic on nearby Highway 11.
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Stones from the foundation of the north wall of the Schmidt house on Highway 11 east of Brodhead litter the crawlspace floor. Although repaired several times, new stones keep getting shaken loose and fall out of the wall in response to vibrations from traffic on the nearby highway.
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This door and frame on the second floor of the Schmidt house on Highway 11 east of Brodhead shows how much the house has moved in recent years. The home is being shaken by heavy trucks on the highway just yards from their home.
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A tractor-trailer rig speeds by the Schmidt house on Highway 11 east of Brodhead. The Schmidts are suing the State of Wisconsin for damages to the home caused by vibrations from heavy vehicles on the road.
SPRING VALLEY TOWNSHIP — The foundation on Terry and Gina Schmidt’s home is crumbling with each passing truck.
The century-old, Victorian-style home on Highway 11 near the county line suffers mini-earthquakes each time a large truck passes, leaving the condition of the home close to uninhabitable, Terry Schmidt said.
“It’s definitely our dream home that’s been taken away from us,” he said.
The home at 16939 Highway 11 sits 48 feet from Highway 11 and about 3 feet below the grade of the road. It was built when automobiles were just starting production.
The deteriorating foundation could force them to tear down the house, he said.
Schmidt blames an increase in truck traffic that started with the 2002 opening of the Highway 11 bypass around Janesville.
The Schmidts have filed their second lawsuit against the state Department of Transportation, seeking $265,000 in damages to rebuild or to move their house as a result of the increased traffic. Their lawsuit states it would cost up to the value of the home to repair the damage.
A Rock County judge dismissed their first lawsuit last year, and the state denied their new claim in February.
A Rock County Court hearing on the new lawsuit has not been scheduled.
Schmidt said he realizes that people might think he’s just trying to get money out of the state.
When the couple bought the home in 1998, the stone and mortar foundation was impeccable, he said. Then the Highway 11 bypass opened about 14 miles east of the home, and semi traffic got “unbelievably bad out here,” he said.
They started noticing foundation cracks and popping stones. Then a wall collapsed.
Two sets of engineers agreed they had a problem caused by vibrations from the highway. Seismic studies showed their foundation was suffering mini-earthquakes everyday, he said.
The impact, engineers told him, is just below the level of blasting dynamite.
But their homeowner’s insurance wouldn’t cover the damage because it doesn’t cover earthquakes, they were told.
The house now sits on jacks, and the family has spent about $20,000 in repairs to twice rebuild the foundation. More repair is needed or the family will be forced to move into their barn, which has been renovated to include a living area.
“We’ve been making repairs for six years, now, to watch it turn around and happen again,” Schmidt said.
Contractors estimate it would cost $50,000 to pick up and move the house or to put a special foundation under it, he said. But that would leave the problem of the broken house—cracked walls and chimney, snapped trusses and other damage.
The couple contacted the DOT when problems started, and conversations between the parties seemed hopeful, Schmidt said. The state told them asphalt would be added to the highway in front of their home during bridge improvements—part of the bypass project—a half mile west of their home, he said.
But it never showed up.
State engineers conducted more than two weeks of studies on the vibrations at the home, but once the state realized the extent of the problems the vibrations were creating, Schmidt said communication stopped.
When asked about the Schmidts’ situation, a state DOT official said the department could not comment on pending litigation.
While highway improvements could have helped prevent problems, Schmidt said the highway still is unsafe because it can’t handle such a high volume of traffic. The Schmidts report two fatal accidents within a half mile of their home—one in their front yard.
The new bypass has made Highway 11 the main thoroughfare from Milwaukee to Iowa, and it’s a designated oversize route, so wide-load, heavier traffic comes through at night, he said.
The family is hoping the lawsuit can bring the money needed to make their home livable without constant repairs or to build a new house.
“I realize the need for the highway, but we don’t understand why we have to take such a loss to benefit … whosever benefiting from it,” he said.
“They should not have routed so much heavy truck traffic on such a small highway without taking more precautions.”
Jun 2, 2008 at 8:03 p.m.
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Yes, because you can ALWAYS rely on the state to be fair, honest and responsible....Puh-Lease!!
Jun 2, 2008 at 8 p.m.
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I know this is "yesterdays" news, but a few years ago he was after the township for letting them install a cellular tower within his "view". I agree he is out to get what he thinks he deserves. Another GM worker with a GM lawyer if you ask me. We all live by a road with traffic and there are millons of 100 year old homes with limestone foundations, want to look at mine DOT?
Jun 2, 2008 at 8:38 a.m.
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good points PB and chsmkr. I travel Highway 11 pretty often including the bypass and I havent noticed ANY increase in truck traffic. In fact very rarely do I even see a Semi on the bypass. Seems to me more of a case of an old house just starting to fall apart and the owners trying to make us taxpayers pay for it.
Jun 2, 2008 at 7:54 a.m.
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My sympathies to all of you bleeding hearts out there, but PB's comments are right on. The "main truck route" remains in Illinois. If there is a most popular truck route along the southern Wisconsin border, it continues to be the Highway 81 route thru Beloit due to it's direct link to I-43. You'd have to show me an accurate state study that truck traffic or even the level of overall traffic has increased. I sure haven't noticed it on my frequent travels on that highway. Unfortunately this sounds to me like people looking for us state taxpayers to buy them a new house.
Jun 2, 2008 at 7:20 a.m.
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The main "Truck" route from Iowa to Milwaukee is not Highway 11 for trucks. From the Quad Cities one runs through IL, from Dubuque one runs 151 to Madison. As far as the bypass it was developed to eliminate the truck traffic through the residential area of Janesville. The same trucks that used to go through Janesville are the same trucks now using the bypass. I would like to see the study of how much the truck traffic has actually increased since the bypass inception.
Jun 2, 2008 at 6:58 a.m.
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Justice and the individual with regards to the state...yeah...right...state always wins, right or wrong. This really sucks and I sure hope they do get some sort of justice from this since the cause seems so obvious! Best of luck to you!
Jun 2, 2008 at 12:29 a.m.
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Thank you, janesvillean. I wondered if the situation was somewhat stickier than that.
Jun 1, 2008 at 9:08 p.m.
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This is so sad and unfair. We hope these homeowners can get some kind of justice. It's as if people who live here don't matter at all in comparison to business as usual. There is a huge wind farm being proposed for Magnolia Township and also Spring Valley -- 40 story tall turbines which will also bring trouble to so many homeowners. You can read about it at betterplan.squarespace.com. Why should big business ruin the lives of so many?
Jun 1, 2008 at 3:14 p.m.
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Case# 2006CV001466, judge was Daniel Dillon. But there is probably a specific legal reason for the dismissal, and this sort of liability is always difficult to prove, especially since they bought the house when the highway was already there. Unless the traffic now demonstrably exceeds safety standards, instead of simply being "more than before", the state may have no liability.
Jun 1, 2008 at 12:36 p.m.
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What a sad situation. I too hope this family finds justice in the matter.
I wonder though - WHO was the judge in the initial case??
Jun 1, 2008 at 11:28 a.m.
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Or, put another way ........... all these trucks that are doing this damage pay MASSIVE license and permit fees that are supposed to be used to repair and upgrade roads, but are systematically stolen away by politicians for their own political purposes....Had this money not been stolen, this problem would probably not exist...Just a license plate for a semi for one year is over $2600.
Jun 1, 2008 at 11:20 a.m.
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I mean "burglarized"
Jun 1, 2008 at 11:16 a.m.
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You can probably thank Doyle for the highway fund not having the money to do something about this as well as other projects that need to be done, just look at the "new" highway 67 between 140 and Beloit ....Even if the DOT wanted to do something, there is probably no money for it since Doyle burgarized the highway fund for his political cronies.
Jun 1, 2008 at 10:54 a.m.
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Ditto. Unfortunately, 'justice' always seems to find a loophole when it comes to a contest between the individual and the 'state'. To illustrate my point, look up 'justice' in a law dictionary--most will discuss justice in terms of due process, which is the right to notice, and an opportunity to be heard. Now compare that to the definition in most ordinary, non-legal dictionaries. They talk about fairness, a concept ignored in the legal definition. Good luck to this family.
Jun 1, 2008 at 7:22 a.m.
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I hope that this family can find justice!
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