Flanked by his legislative partners and construction barrels in the state Capitol, Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder on Tuesday signed into law an additional $175 million for transportation projects statewide, the majority of which will be immediately available for local roads for the upcoming construction season.
"Michigan's roads are not in good condition and we have heard the frustration from residents about the need for improvement," Snyder said. "We are accelerating improvements for the upcoming construction season with $800 million more in new state funding. We also will see continued progress beyond that due to the additional funds going into roads each year until 2022."
Joined by Lt. Gov. Brian Calley, Senate Majority Leader Arlan Meekhof, House Speaker Tom Leonard, and County Roads Association of Michigan Executive Director Denise Donohue, Snyder signed House Bill 4321 into law. The measure, sponsored by state Rep. Laura Cox, makes supplemental appropriations for the current fiscal year. The road funding disbursements from the state will be made to local road agencies on April 4.
"As a state, we are in dire need of ramped up road funding," Calley said. "We've grown our economy immensely, and to continue our success we have to make the quality of our roads match the quality of our entire state. Looking forward, the future of our roads looks a lot better than the past."
Sixty-one percent of the road funding from the state goes to local roads (managed by counties, villages and cities), whereas 39 percent goes to state highways and interstate freeways.
Specific projects highlighted during the press conference that will be targeted for improvement using the additional funding include sections of Telegraph Road (U.S. 24) in Oakland County, Old U.S. 27 south of Gaylord, and Wilson Avenue in southern Kent County.
An additional $627 million from modernized auto registration fees and gas taxes, combined with today's allocation, will bring the total additional spending for this year's construction season to more than $800 million. The addition of the $175 million also marks the milestone of most state funds ever appropriated in a single year for road and bridge construction.
Snyder also highlighted during the bill signing that more than $1.45 billion General Fund dollars from the state budget have been allocated for roads since 2011. General Fund spending on roads in the previous administration totaled just $3 million.
The bill signed Tuesday is now Public Act 82 of 2018.
Published: Thu, Mar 22, 2018
