Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s pledge to “fix the damn roads” as she ran for office in 2017 continues to leave commuters and transportation companies in the dust.
More work is needed on the state’s road funding issue than just securing more resources for roads and bridges, according to a report released today by the Citizens Research Council of Michigan in Livonia.
The new report, A Data-Driven Assessment of Michigan’s Road Program, examines the level of resources committed to roads and bridges and assesses their performance as measured by the condition of the road system.
The analysis uses data from all 50 states to compare Michigan’s level of funding and road conditions to its peer states, while also examining how the state’s changing funding levels have translated to changing road conditions over time.
Among the report’s findings:
- Michigan ranks 30th among all 50 states in road funding levels by an assessment of data from 2012 to 2021 and 40th in road system conditions using the latest available data.
- Michigan’s road program performance — the efficacy in utilizing given funding levels to maintain the public road network — is found to have declined between 2004 and 2024.
- Policy discussions regarding road funding should include an evaluation of options to improve Michigan’s road program performance. Primary among policy implications are recommendations to review the efficacy of Michigan’s approach to pavement management and to prioritize the repeal and replacement of Public Act 51 of 1951, the main road funding distribution law.
“The fact that most of Michigan’s peer states have achieved better system conditions than Michigan, and several of them have achieved better condition with similar or lower funding levels, is one red flag that what we’ve been doing isn’t working as well is it should,” says Eric Lupher, president of the Research Council.
According to the Citizens Research Council of Michigan, its research provides an objective and independent analysis of what is known about road funding levels and road system conditions in Michigan.
“Evidence suggests there are multiple inefficiencies in our current system,” says Eric Paul Dennis, associate for infrastructure policy at the Research Council. “Allocating more funding to roads without addressing these inefficiencies may reinforce systemic problems without making much progress in fixing the roads.
“Michigan’s citizens and taxpayers deserve a thorough evaluation of transportation funding policy before being subjected to substantial tax increases or redirecting general fund revenue from other programs.”
Reform of the road program should begin, the Research Council recommends, by replacing Public Act 51 of 1951.
The report documents many indications that available resources are not getting to the roads in need of repair. Additional reforms that could be considered include the authorization of local-option taxes to supplement state-shared revenues, introducing highway construction cost inflation into the resource distribution methodology, and assessments of Michigan’s pavement management methodologies.
Visit here to review the full report.
