Mayor Paul Schreiber says Ypsilanti is transforming from an industrial city dependent upon the automotive industry into a cultural city with a growing number of young professionals.
 

But a lack of state funding for roads and bridges has slowed progress, forcing officials to make tough budget decisions like whether to invest in transportation or police services.
 

Luckily, Schreiber said, voters in Ypsilanti agreed nine years ago to a road bond, which they still are paying at 4 mills.
 

"We have really nice local streets, we have water mains that are fixed, but yet our major streets are an issue," he said. "We just resurfaced a bridge — the Leforge Street Bridge. We had to back off on that and only do a deck replacement because we couldn't afford to do the full replacement that was required. So we're going to have to revisit that in 10 years."
 

Mass transit is another issue for Ypsilanti."Our bus transportation is funded out of our general fund, and I don't have to tell you that municipalities all around the state are having to cut police and fire," Schreiber said. "That's the same fund that we use to fund transportation. So what's happening is municipalities like Ypsilanti have had to choose between funding public safety and funding transportation."
 

Schreiber testified today before the state's House Transportation Committee, chaired by Rep. Pam Byrnes, D-Lyndon Township.
 

The committee held a special meeting at Washtenaw Community College to hear public testimony about the local impact of the state's five-year transportation plan. The legislators said they want local input with jobs and construction projects at stake as state transportation dollars plummet.

Gov. Jennifer Granholm’s 2011 transportation budget proposes cutting Michigan’s road and bridge program by 62 percent because of declining gas tax revenues and the state's inability to match federal dollars.

Michigan faces a $2.4 billion reduction in state and federal funding for projects between 2011 and 2014. MDOT has been forced to cancel 257 road and bridge projects, which in turn is estimated to cost the state 5,000 to 7,000 jobs. At least 38 counties in Michigan have been forced to return more than 100 miles of paved roads back to gravel because of dwindling budgets.
 

Byrnes said today's meeting in Washtenaw County was the third hearing her committee has held — the first two being in Traverse City and Kalamazoo.
 

"We believe that this is an extremely important issue to bring to the attention of the voters and the members of our community because they must be made aware of the crisis we have here in road funding and in transportation funding," she said. "And without that funding source, we will have projects to be cut."

Byrnes said the cuts hurt Michigan's economic viability.
 

"Our transportation infrastructure is critical to attracting businesses and I've often said, 'What business wants to stay or locate here in the state of Michigan where the roads are crumbling and the bridges are closed?'" she said. "We must step up to the plate to make sure that that funding source is there. By not having sufficient state funding, we are jeopardizing receiving federal funding."
 

Byrnes said the figure of $84 million gets thrown around a lot, but that's only what the state needs to come up with to plug a hole in funding for state roads through the Michigan Department of Transportation.

"That doesn't affect local projects as well, so that is just a part of the deficit that we need to be addressing," she said. "And there's also been talk of taking money from the 21st Century Jobs Fund to plug that hole, which I don't think is an appropriate use of those funds as well, because that takes money away from developing businesses here and attracting businesses here in Michigan."
 

The first testimony of the day came from Mark Chaput, region engineer for MDOT's University Region, which includes Washtenaw and nine other counties. Also there to testify was Tony Kratofil, region engineer for MDOT's Metro Region, which includes four counties surrounding Detroit.
 

"The impacts that we feel here in the University Region and the Metro Region are really a very significant portion of the overall impacts," Chaput said, adding that 55 percent of the state's highways and bridges are found in the two regions.
 

Chaput and Kratofil told the story of shrinking financial resources and growing infrastructure needs, which they said has translated into state highways in disrepair, bridges closed, and highway on-ramps crumbling.

Chaput said $175.6 million worth of projects are being delayed in MDOT's University Region over the next five years. That includes $33.4 million in bridge projects and $142.2 million in road projects.
 

He presented a chart that showed the following:

"Each of those bridges that gets delayed, each of those roads that get delayed," Chaput said, "not only does it prevent those facilities from being improved — brought up to standard and brought up to today's safety needs — it also leaves them in the condition they are to continue to deteriorate and subject us to additional maintenance costs."
 

Because of an inability to provide matching dollars for federal aid, MDOT officials said annual highway capital and maintenance program revenues are going to drop from $1.44 billion to $639 million in the next year, down to $587 million by 2012, and then leveling out in the coming years.
 

"Our capital construction program for the foreseeable future is significantly reduced," Chaput said. "Our overall needs are probably about three times what we traditionally invested, which is about $1.5 billion a year. Now dropping that in half, we're about six times short of what the unmet needs are statewide."

Chaput acknowledged the state has resorted to putting up plywood underneath crumbling bridges to keep concrete chunks from falling.
 

Roy Townsend, county highway engineer for the Washtenaw County Road Commission, also testified.

He said local roads in Washtenaw County actually are in better condition than primary roads because of investments being made by local municipalities. He cited statistics showing 67 percent of local roads in the county are rated "fair," 26 percent "poor" and 7 percent "good."

Townsend said 58 percent of the county's federal aid roads are in poor condition, which he called "pretty appalling."
 

There are 111 bridges in Washtenaw County, 41 percent of which are rated functionally obsolete or structurally deficient, Townsend said. Across the state, MDOT is responsible for 4,403 bridges, 23 percent of which are rated functionally obsolete or structurally deficient. Cities and counties in Michigan take care of another 6,437 bridges, 28 percent of which are rated functionally obsolete or structurally deficient.

"I mean, it's terrible," Townsend said. "Closed bridges affect the economy."
 

Townsend placed the blame on lack of funding for MDOT's Local Bridge program. He showed a comparison between actual dollars spent in 1992 and projections for 2012. In 1992, $38 million was channeled through the program, which replaced 152 bridges. In 2012, $40 million is proposed, which would replace just 25 bridges and rehab another 16.
 

Townsend said Washtenaw County should be replacing or rehabbing two bridges per year, but in the last three years it only has been able to get funding for one. At the current rate of funding, he said, the county's bridges — with an average life span of 50 to 70 years — are going to have to last 300 years, which is going to mean more closed bridges soon.
 

"This issue affects every resident and business in Michigan. It's critical that we do something," he said.

Saline Mayor Gretchen Driskell, who serves on the Washtenaw Area Transportation Study Policy Committee, called for action on an increase to the state's gas tax, which has not happened since 1997.

"The longer we wait to fix roads, the more expensive the fix becomes," she said. "I just don't understand the inability to do a minor increase in gas tax. The price of gas can change more in one week than the proposed increase."