The State Transportation Commission met this morning to put their final stamp on the state's five-year transportation plan.  A plan that has been in the works for the past few months.  This plan formally recognizes Michigan's inability to match all available federal road dollars beginning with the 2011 fiscal year that starts October 1st due to continued declines in state gas tax revenues.  The commission voted to shelve 243 road and bridge projects statewide.  The 243 projects include 128 bridge replacements and rehabilitations, 105 road rehabilitations and reconstructions, eight new roads and two capacity improvements (a full list of the projects is attached).  Ironically, this action comes two days after bills were introduced in the Michigan House of Representatives to raise Michigan's gas and diesel taxes to 27 cents per gallon by 2013.  The Governor will announce her full Fiscal Year 2011 budget on February 11th and the MDOT budget will be a part of that announcement.  Hearings on the budget are expected to begin in the House the following week, so stay tuned for more details on the impact of these changes.  At the same time that the commission was adopting this plan, news was released that Michigan was only awarded about $40 million out of its $800 million high-speed rail federal stimulus application, definitely not the news that we were hoping for and unfortunately fitting the theme for the day.  Chris Hackbarth works for the Michigan Municipal League handling transportation issues.  He can be reached at 517-908-0303 or email at chackbarth@mml.org. 

DelayedprojectsList.pdf (372.66 kb)

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