The Michigan Legislature recently drove another stake into the heart of Michigan road interests by passing legislation that will divert money from vehicle registration fees – which are constitutionally dedicated for transportation – to pay for state parks. For years legislators have turned deaf ears to calls for an increase in vehicle registration fees to pay for road investments. While the state somehow finds the money to pay for its PureMichigan tourism campaign, it fails to make certain roads receive the same priority attention. The result: Pure Pothole Hell.
Improving our parks is an admirable goal. But keeping our roads and bridges in safe and reliable condition is a necessity. What good is a string of spectacular parks if motorists are unwilling to travel to them because of crumbling roads that are riddled with teeth–jarring potholes?
For inexplicable reasons, state lawmakers continue in their refusal to find and develop revenue sources to maintain Michigan roads and bridges. That failure continues to hamstring economic development efforts in Michigan and is responsible for turning a once-proud network of roads into a national joke.
In its recently released annual Highways Report Card, Overdrive Magazine ranked Michigan roads second worst in the nation. The popular tourism blog Trips with a Twist noted that Michigan is reverting back to the Stone Age with 38 counties pulverizing more than 100 miles of paved roads back to gravel due to lack of adequate funding.
The state transportation budget proposed by the governor would leave Michigan with $2.4 billion less for transportation projects between 2011 and 2014. Michigan already sends more of its dollars to D.C. then we get back from the federal government. This budget plan would further exacerbate that imbalance, leaving another $500 million of federal transportation aid on the table because Michigan legislators can’t figure out a way to raise sufficient matching funds.
Lawmakers must gather the political fortitude to identify new revenue sources to stop the tragic demise of road conditions in Michigan.