Maintaining roads isn't really rocket science. Most other states do it fairly well. It simply requires that you not run a lost-cost-low-services state, and that is a political choice. We chose last decade to run our state like Indiana instead of a place like Minnesota. For the last 50 years, the state has routinely ranked in the bottom 10 of states in road investment/maintenance. Prior to the increase for roads in 2015, Michigan ranked last in per capita state investment in roads. Dead last. We get the roads we (don't) pay for; it's really just that simple.
Anyway, here are all of the highway and bridge projects this bonding will fund:
Which is part of the point. Either way if we want better roads we're going to have to pay for it. Why do you or I care what people in the U.P. or Grand Rapids or Detroit or rural counties want to do with their roads? We have the ability to pass our own funding for at least some of our own roads right now, I'm much more willing to pay that extra local property millage than I am to support an expanded gas tax. I'm tired of seeing my money get sent up to a higher level of government to see it tied up in bureaucracy and red tape, or see priorities shift like has happened with mass transit. Why? Why do we all buy into a system where we pay extra taxes to the State or Feds and then beg and compete for funding or have to apply for bonds over and over? Why not just keep the money for local projects local to begin with? The State and Federal levels of government have many responsibilities that can't really be handled at a lower level, I'm content to let them focus their efforts there. Raising taxes is a much easier sell at the local level, maybe shifting more responsibilities to lower levels of government could give the Feds a realistic opportunity to reign in their deficit finally.
A couple of ideas I have had about this are these, perhaps Lansing could start building and maintaining ourselves by creating a street construction department equipped with all the machines necessary to rebuild our roads. Set up one of those pavement grinders/repavers and run it every day. Rebuild the street with permeable pavement that does not create potholes and allows runoff to go into the ground not the sewer. Set up a toll booth on every road leading into Michigan charge a small toll like a dollar for entering Pure Michigan! Offer the toll payer a raffle ticket for Michigan made services and products as a thank you for paying the toll. Add that toll to every airline/train/bus ticket from out of state that arrives here. Perhaps the state could figure out a way to charge electric vehicles a road user's fee collected when the vehicle gets its plates, or via a fee paid at the plug. Nobody rides for free!
I've often wondered why we haven't seen more of those all in one paving milling machines, I have to assume there's a good reason they're not more popular. As far as a use tax on EVs, that sounds like a good idea at first but it'd be hard to do fairly (like by milage) and it could serve to disincentivize EV adoption which would be counter productive. Given the relatively low amount of through traffic in Michigan I'm not sure toll roads are a good answer in many places either, maybe on 94 and a few other places.
I was thinking of a small toll on the roads that cross the borders from OH, IN, WI, and OT, and on plane train and bus tickets not the Interstates within Michigan. Not really a use tax for Michiganders more like an arrival tax for visitors. It cost a dollar to visit Michigan! Maybe we could a pave the roads with pot, $1road tax for each sale! I pretty sure Lansing will be getting a good amount of tax money from pots sales as they are taxed now which could be directed towards infrastructure. We will have a chance to help our Governor solve these issues in November. with progressives in charge, we could finally see these issues taken away from the anti-government conservatives who use this as a political hammer, who think the roads can somehow fix themselves without funding them. They think people who live in cities deserve to drive on crappy roads because we don't look like them or support them. They stand in the way of progress on the roads so as not to give the Governor a "victory" without caring one bit about fixing the roads. "sorry this week has really been one for the history books, very upsetting thus the little rant!"
We definitely need to pay for the roads somehow but I myself am skeptical of handing the state more money as are many others, that's what my whole rant is about. Whether it be a gas tax raise or whatever else I have little faith that the state would spend the money responsibly over the long term and it'd be difficult to hold individual representatives responsible for the inevitable poor spending decisions. I want to pay for local roads locally, I'm willing to vote yes on a property tax millage to fix my neighborhoods roads and sidewalks right now. No need for some savior to come down from above, this is a step that could be taken right now by local politicians and be on the next ballot.
There two individuals that one could point to and hold responsible for bad politically motivated spending decisions, the Speaker of the House and the Senate President. I believe we have lost faith in the State of Michigan because that is exactly what these guys want, prove the government doesn't work in the most obvious ways. I would have no problem with localities raising their own extra money for roads. but in the same vein as charter schools, if it takes money away for the overall public funds for statewide road works and projects by keeping money local that would have gone to the state I think that would be a bad idea. There was a time when most people believed in and even venerated our state departments as providers for the public good and commonwealth.
Don't speed down S.Washington Ave in REOTown today! The limit is 25mph! I have watched the cops stop at least six cars this morning! It is a good idea as I have seen drivers using the center left-turn lane as a passing lane to get by people going 25mph quite a lot lately. So dumb!
I was reading about the Federal FAST grants for the year. Listed in the CATA BRT. See page 13. Does anyone have any more info from the CATA side? I thought that CATA had dropped this due to retirements and other issues.
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Anyway, here are all of the highway and bridge projects this bonding will fund:
https://www.mlive.com/news/2020/01/see-which-roads-in-your-area-gov-whitmers-borrowing-plan-would-fix.html