(Source: MIRS.news, Published 02/28/2023) The Michigan County Roads Association (CRA) told the Senate Transportation and Infrastructure Committee it needs an additional $1.8 billion a year to get local roads and bridges back into good condition.
County Road Association CEO Denise Donohue told the committee the county road commissions don’t have the annual $3.6 billion in funding to maintain 75% of the nation’s fourth-largest local road system.
“Last year, county road agencies repaired less than half of the road miles that we need to be fixing in order to keep up with existing infrastructure,” Donohue said. “We simply cannot catch up with the funds presently available.”
She told the committee the 79 counties had reported repairing 6,047 miles of county roads in 2022, which was a 349-mile increase over 2021. However, it was far less than the 13,500-road-mile objective set by the association.
“While there are modest additional federal funds coming into the state, less than a third of our county road network is eligible to use them. More Michigan Transportation Funds in this budget cycle are the answer,” Donohue said.
The local roads eligible for federal aid that are in good or fair condition sat at 52% in 2021, which was up from 45% in 2019. Roads not eligible sat at 46% in 2021, up from 36% in 2019.
The association said it has set a goal of getting 90% good to fair condition roads eligible for federal aid by 2031. It wants 60% good to fair nonfederal aid-eligible roads by the same year.
“We’re not talking about adding lanes or roundabouts when we talk about improvements,” said Ed Noyola, the association’s chief deputy and legislative director. “We’re simply trying to preserve and maintain the county transportation network already established in Michigan.”
Donohue said it costs between $415,000 to $6.8 million per mile to completely reconstruct a road, $107,000 to $300,000 per mile to preserve what exists, and $35,000 to $125,000 per mile to add three to five inches of gravel on a dirt road.
“Depending on where you are and what is involved,” she said.
She said the county road agencies plan the projects five to 10 years in the future, and need to know the funding will be there if they need it.
Donohue said electric vehicles could endanger that funding if nothing is done to replace the gas tax with something.
