Change Your World Week Winter 2021 (Archived)

What is the issue?

Watch our video of the poor conditions of Michigan roads HERE. 

Michigan has some of the worst roads out of all the states in the U.S.; as a matter of fact it has the 9th worst roads out of all the states. These roads are causing vehicles to wear out faster and an overall less pleasant driving experience. Not only are the roads normally bad, they're even getting worse; In 2018, 39 percent of Michigan roads were rated in poor condition, and in 2019, 51 percent of Michigan roads were rated in poor condition.

I personally have had to get my suspension fixed after hitting a pothole accidentally. Tow-trucks aren't cheap, and vehicle repairs are very expensive - just fixing my suspension cost over $1,000.

What's stopping the government from fixing the roads?

The big factor is money. The government doesn't have enough money to fix roads under normal circumstances, but the pandemic only makes it harder. The gas tax is what pays for most of the road repairs, but with more people quarantining - fewer people are driving and getting gas.

There have been a few attempts to reallocate money to fix the roads, but none have worked so far. The most recent legislature passed allowed for 1.2 billion dollars to go into fixing the roads over the course of five years, which is not enough to start seeing any improvements, according to the Michigan Department of Transportation.

How can the government fix Michigan roads?

The state government's fix things such as poor road conditions is by using the money gained from taxes to pay for the repairs. In Michigan the most of the money that goes to fixing roads comes from the gas tax. Governor Whitmer has already proposed a plan to raise the gas tax by 45 cents per gallon - for reference, the Michigan gas tax is 44 cents per gallon; the theory is that people need gas to drive, so raising the tax of gasoline allows for the people who use the roads the most to spend the most on fixing the roads. The more people drive the more money goes into fixing roads.

How effective is this strategy in theory?

Economists estimate that 90% of the roads would reach a good quality by as soon as 2029 if Governor Whitmer's plan is followed through. While a 45 cent increase may seem like a lot, keep in mind that due to poor road quality I had to spend over $1,000 to fix my suspension, so a 45 cent increase in tax to save over $1,000 sounds like a good deal to me.

How effective is this strategy in practice?

People can sit around and speculate about numbers for hours and never get a definite answer, so why speculate? This strategy has been proven to work in other states. New Jersey has a system that automatically raises the gas tax based on how well the gas market is doing. They've increased their tax by 10 cents already and have stayed in roughly the same zone for spending on roads. Expedite that to 45 cents, and you have most roads fixed in under a decade. Even other states like California and Virginia have similar laws to New Jersey.

Who is affected by the quality of Michigan roads?

Everyone who drives or takes public transportation is affected. Even people who just walk along the side of roads are affected as they could step into a pothole or get hit by a car that takes a pothole wrong. Everyone can put effort into making our voices heard - specifically by talking to our representatives.
The House representative for the area around Delta is Timmy Beason - this is his contact information:

Lansing Office

There are, however, some counter arguments and important questions to address. 

Is it really a good idea to implement this now, despite the ongoing pandemic?

This is an issue that cannot be put on the back burner any longer. As seen in the illustration below, road repairs become much more expensive the longer we wait, and the current funding just is not enough. We must do something now so we are not spending even more later. 

This graphic was taken from the 2015 report given by the 21st Century Infrastructure Commission, found on on pg. 66.

What about other plans?

There was a plan introduced that would raise $3.5 billion in funds over the course of three years through the use of bonds. This is another alternative, but the funds raised by this would only be going to state-owned trucklines, which includes US Highways, Interstates, and Michigan Highways. None of this extra funding would go towards local roads, which are in arguably worse shape than the more heavily-used roads. 

Where exactly are these raised funds going?

It is understandable to wonder what the gas tax goes towards and how much actually goes to the roads versus being used for other governmental funding. Luckily, MDOT put out a visual that explains the three parts of the gas tax and where those three portions go. Since the 45¢ tax would be a raise of the fuel tax, a majority of it would go to fixing and upkeeping the conditions of the roads. 

This graphic was taken from an article by Bridge Michigan

Sign a petition going to local lawmakers to show support of the gas tax increase in order to fix our roads!