Driving around Southwest Michigan, it should be obvious that many of our roads are a mess. An article in MLive last month (“Which Michigan County Has the Most Poor Roads”) highlighted the poor condition of roads in our state. For decades, the State of Michigan, Counties, and local municipalities and villages have struggled to maintain roads and bridges. Off the top of my head, I can think of several roads that make me feel like I am driving on a washboard: much of M-62 between Eau Claire and Dowagiac, portions of Red Arrow Highway not far from Bridgman, and sections of I-94 east of Benton Harbor.
The MLive article referred to a report ranking our roads statewide by a little known entity, the Transportation Asset Management Council. In that report, more than half of all roads in Berrien, Cass, and Van Buren Counties were rated as “poor”. Now it needs to be clarified, the report lumped together and rated highways maintained by the state, county roads maintained by county road commissions, and local roads maintained by municipalities and villages.
As I type this, I realize that right now construction crews on state roads are repairing the bridges over I-94 not far from me in Stevensville near exit 23. Other workers are rebuilding a bridge over M-139 near Scottdale Road. This newspaper recently reported local businesses in Niles are troubled by the reduction in their customers who are trying to avoid the construction on M-51 near US-12. Crews hired to repair county and local roads are busy as well. We are all at times frustrated by all the orange barrel construction zones.
My initial inclination is to search for simple solutions. Magically, we just need more money to fix the roads. But on second thought, I suggest the problem is more complicated than simple solutions. If we are ever going to dramatically improve the condition of the roads and bridges in our state, we are going to have to start with serious discussions as to how we go about accomplishing that. During those discussions, we need to listen to what expert engineers tell us, what politicians and financial experts tell us about fiscal realities, and what voters and average Michigan residents say about their commutes and driving experiences.
But it is hard to be patient, isn’t it. While driving through construction zones on I-94, I do try to slow down to posted construction zone speed limits. However, I must admit to being resentful of those who ignore reduced limits speeding through construction areas ignoring the safety of construction crews and others. For some reason, I blame the drivers with Illinois plates more often, but there are many Michigan plates zipping through construction areas. Increasing road repairs will further test drivers’ patience.
No one that I know wants to pay more taxes. Some may want “the other guy” to pay more taxes. Many want to lower taxes for everyone, especially themselves. If a priority in our state is “fixing the damn roads” lowering our taxes is certainly not going to do that. Is it possible to increase road funding by cutting other sections of the State, County, or local budgets? Yes. Maybe. When politicians and voters discuss which programs to cut to make room for more money for roads, we run into a familiar problem. Whose programs do we cut? The answer will usually be someone else’s programs. Do we cut funding for universities and colleges to fund roads? How about K-12 schools? State police? Community Health organizations?
In the nine county area of Southwest Michigan (Berrien, Cass, Van Buren, Kent, Ottawa, Barry, Allegan, Kalamazoo, and St. Joseph), four counties have dedicated road millages: Allegan, Van Buren, and St. Joseph had close to one mill dedicated for roads in 2023. Ottawa county had almost a half mill. Should other counties consider a dedicated millage for roads? Who wants to raise that question at an upcoming county commission meeting during an election year?
A few years ago, politicians in Lansing floated the idea of dramatically increasing gas taxes to fix roads. That notion was quickly shut down. Recently, some have suggested somehow taxing drivers based on how many miles we drive annually. Sure, Tesla drivers need to pay their fair share.
There are no easy answers. But if we are ever going to “fix the damn roads”, we Michiganders need to listen to one another and just may have to be patient and compromise to get the job done.
No comments:
Post a Comment