Report: Michigan's state highways getting better, local roads continue to deteriorate

LANSING — Michigan's county road system will need billions of dollars just to stop the deterioration, according to a new study from the County Road Association of Michigan.

More fuel-efficient vehicles are cutting into the state's gas tax road funding formula and construction inflation costs have well outpaced a 5% annual cap on increases for road projects, approved by the state in 2015, said Ed Noyola, chief deputy and legislative director for the association.

The gap for local roads, which typically do not qualify for federal dollars, has grown in the last two years, he said.

In 2021, the local road system was about $1.8 billion short of additional annual funding and in 2023 it was $2.4 billion short, according to the association. The surge in federal dollars for construction have helped to improve state roads, which have gone from 52% in good or fair condition to 65% from 2021 to 2023. Local roads however, went down a bit: From 46% good or fair to 44%, according to the association's figures.

Local roads account for about 75% of the state's road network, or about 90,000 miles. Most of those local roads are unpaved including gravel roads for logging and farming.

While there are more miles of local roads, most of the driving is done on state roads: 52% of the total traffic and 79% of the commercial traffic in 2022, runs on state roads rather than local roads, Jeff Cranson, a spokesperson for the Michigan Department of Transportation, said in an email.

He said a report from last year, by the Michigan Infrastructure & Transportation Association, called for an annual need of $3.9 billion for all Michigan roads.

"While all state trunklines receive federal aid, so do many of the roads owned by counties, cities and villages," Cranson said. "Gov. (Gretchen) Whitmer's $3.5 billion Rebuilding Michigan program has rebuilt some of the busiest trunkline corridors across the state the past few years and that work continues and has made a dent in overall trunkline pavement conditions. That's without raising any taxes."

Mark Christensen, superintendent and manager of the Montcalm County road commission, said the lack of money means more roads will converted from pavement to gravel or, in rare cases, the roads can be shut down.

He said his county may have a half dozen roads without homes, but closing even those roads would be difficult because farmers use the roads to move their goods and there would be opposition to closing or downgrading roads.

The funding gap is fixable, said Denise Donohue, CEO of the association.

"This is a math problem with a solution," she said. "It's more affordable than kicking a can down a deteriorating road."

Noyola said the gap will be up to legislators to solve, and they can use funding mechanisms like income and marijuana taxes, which already provide hundreds of millions of dollars in road funding each year.

He said the association would be open to a variety of ways to pay for the extra work, including gas tax increases or linking miles traveled to road funding.

Contact Mike Ellis at mellis@lsj.com or 517-267-0415.