Michigan’s overall infrastructure — roads, bridges, water lines, sewer systems, and the electrical grid — is considered to be in poor condition, and that factors into the state’s population loss and its inability to attract new residents.
According to a recent report from the Citizens Research Council of Michigan, a nonprofit organization in Livonia that works to improve local governments by providing factual, unbiased, and independent data, the state, along with counties and municipalities, continues to embrace a development pattern of suburban sprawl.
As more people sought to move away from dense urban environments like Detroit, Flint, and Saginaw, governments encouraged the migration by approving new roads, water lines, and sewer systems.
What’s more, between 1950 and into the 1980s, banks and lending institutions made it more difficult for minorities to access mortgages, often referred to as redlining.
The practice, coupled with real estate agents who used scare tactics to encourage White urban residents to move away from cities like Detroit, contributed to suburban growth and left older cities with a predominately Black population. While the federal government eventually cracked down on such practices — banks today have to provide lending to urban projects in the form of community reinvestment — it was too late to prevent sprawl.
The result is that “Michigan residents are now responsible for more infrastructure per person than in previous decades,” according to the report. Such costs factor into a business owner’s decision on where to locate a new office or a manufacturing operation, further impacting the state’s ability to grow its population.
According to the Citizens Research Council, an estimated 270,000 people are expected to leave the state by 2050, while Michigan’s population growth is one-third of the national average. Factoring in an aging population, a poor K-12 public education system, and older infrastructure takes the state to a crisis mode.
Consider: Michigan is in the bottom 10 states for electricity reliability, 34th in household income, and 36th in K-12 public education outcomes. Before Gov. Gretchen Whitmer took office in2019, the state was in the top 10 of many national measurements related to economic development, and it was a Right to Work state (Whitmer signed legislation in 2023 to end Right to Work).
What’s more, Michigan’s highways are the fourth worst in the nation, while local roads are in poorer condition. In turn, Michigan’s national highway system ranks 47th in pavement quality — which is worse than all nearby states and well below the national average. As
for funding, the state has the sixth highest total tax on gasoline in
the country.
Inside the Numbers
10,000 miles of the state’s highway system the Michigan Dept. of Transportation is responsible for.
47th Place — Michigan’s rank for national highway pavement quality among all states. (M, I, and U.S. routes)
Sixth — Michigan’s rank for gas taxes among all states (28.6 cents per gallon, 6 percent sales tax, and 18.4 cents federal tax).
So, how can the tide be reversed? For starters, require local governments to approve more urban projects at the expense of extending water, sewer, and electrical infrastructure; increase road funding; add more tutors to boost educational outcomes; and lower the amount of government “red tape” to complete new developments.
