LANSING, Mich. (Michigan News Source) – The cornerstone of Democrat Gretchen Whitmer’s gubernatorial campaign in 2018 was to “fix the damn roads.” However, it looks like that is not happening.

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Michigan roads have always been a source of ridicule, dismay, angst, accidents and untold dollars spent for car repairs since most Michiganders can remember. The change of seasons, poor quality of materials and a lack of funding team up to create potholes in the state that appear to be bigger than some Michigan cities. The orange construction cone is considered by many to be the state “flower” as the roads always seem to be under repair, but somehow, never fixed – or at least not for very long.

Townships, counties and the state – none of them seem to be able to keep on top of our crumbling roads nor can they figure out a way to make them last. Instead of throwing money at the problem, other gubernatorial candidates running against Whitmer at the time, like Republican Patrick Colbeck, came out with common sense solutions to fix the problem including prioritizing ways to extend road life, lower material costs and privatize services that were being done by the Michigan Dept. of Transportation.

However, once Governor Whitmer came into the office, it appeared that money was the main thing being thrown at the state’s infrastructure woes and agreeing on how to fund the roads and bridges wasn’t an easy task. Whitmer blamed her political opponents for the problem. She told Bridge Michigan, “…it will have been the leadership in that (Republican) party that stood in the way of a real fix.”

Back when she was running to be governor the first time, Whitmer told WXYZ-Detroit about the roads, “Frankly, it’s an embarrassment. You have to be able to get to your job. We have to be able to get our kids to school and the state of the roads right now is downright dangerous.”

Michigan roads are still an embarrassment – and a danger – some five years later as we approach Whitmer’s fifth year of governing the state and first year with a Democrat-led House and Senate.

With no fix to the crumbling roads in sight, we find out that we’re still on a road to nowhere in our travels to fix the damn roads – and the Michigan Transportation Asset Management Council’s (TAMC) 2022 Roads & Bridges Annual Report proves that point.

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The report shows that only 25% of federal-aid roads are in “good” shape. 33% are rated as “poor” and 42% are “fair.” Report after report during the last two decades has shown that our state has had more bad roads than good ones. The report actually calls it a win that “road conditions did not deteriorate substantially from the significant gains in 2021.”

The report isn’t optimistic about the future of Michigan roads, either and it says, “…this trend is not expected to continue as paved federal-aid roads are expected to deteriorate, outpacing the potential funding available to maintain the network.”

TAMC predicts that only 19% of federal-aid roads will be in “good” condition by 2034, with 33% expected to be “fair” and 48% “poor.” These projections are based on increasing costs of reconstruction projects as well as the loss of money from federal COVID-19 handouts.

Bridges in the report came out a little better than the roads with 34% in “good” condition, 54% “fair”, 8% “poor” and 4% “severe” – although, according to the report, in 2022, 69 bridges were actually closed because they were in such bad condition. The report doesn’t predict that the bridges will get much better by 2034 either, with a projection of only 21% of Michigan’s bridges to be in “good” condition 11 years from now – while 60% will be “fair” condition, 12% “poor” and 7% “severe.”

The report, says, “This indicates that without additional investment for bridge programs additional bridges will be at high risk and lead to more emergency repairs and closures.”

Rep. Ken Borton (R-Gaylor), who serves on the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation, has been spearheading efforts to increase the funding for local road repairs. He released a statement on Monday, accusing the Democrats of rejecting his and other Republican amendments to “ensure transparency, oversight and fiscal responsibility while repairing Michigan’s roads and bridges.”

In the statement, he said it’s important to find long-term solutions to fix the state’s roads and bridges and that the state budget should “reflect the needs of Michiganders, not personal pet projects.”