A $6.8 billion transportation budget is moving toward approval in the Michigan Legislature. State Representative Joey Andrews tells us the House Thursday voted to allocate $400 million extra dollars to local road agencies.
“It’s by [population] density, which is important because usually these things get allocated by population, which tends to leave our area out of the equation,” Andrews said. “It’s a $400 million fund, and it’s allocating that money first by county. So, it goes by population of county and then by density to the cities and villages.”
Andrews says this means funds will go out statewide.
“As an example, the city of St. Joseph and the city of Benton Harbor will each receive $300,000 to $400,000 from this fund to help with road maintenance.”
However, Andrews notes this still isn’t enough to meet the state’s road needs. According to Bridge Michigan, the budget put together by Democrats also includes $150 million in funding for roads in counties with populations of at least 350,000 residents. That means Wayne, Oakland, Macomb, Kent, Genesee, and Washtenaw counties. There’s also another $100 million for projects in Clinton, Macomb, Kalamazoo, Wayne, Oakland, and Bay counties. Republicans say Democrats are favoring areas that voted for them. Andrews says that $400 million pot of funding benefits areas statewide, and not just areas with high populations.
