TRIP
Modernizing Michigan’s Transportation System: Progress and Challenges in Providing Safe, Efficient and Well-Maintained Roads, Highways and Bridges
Executive Summary
A decade after suffering a significant economic downturn, Michigan is recovering, with its population and economy growing and vehicle travel increasing in response to the growth. But the state’s rate of recovery could be slowed if Michigan is not able to provide a modern, well-maintained transportation system. The pace of economic growth, which will be greatly impacted by the reliability and condition of the state’s transportation system, continues to have a significant impact on quality of life in the Great Lakes State.
An efficient, safe and well-maintained transportation system provides economic and social benefits by affording individuals access to employment, housing, healthcare, education, goods and services, recreation, entertainment, family, and social activities. It also provides businesses with access to suppliers, markets and employees, all critical to a business’ level of productivity and ability to expand. Reduced accessibility and mobility – as a result of traffic congestion, a lack of adequate capacity, or deteriorated roads, highways, bridges and transit facilities – diminishes a region’s quality of life by reducing economic productivity and limiting opportunities for economic, health or social transactions and activities.
With an economy based largely on agriculture, manufacturing, technology, natural resource extraction, and tourism, the quality of Michigan’s transportation system plays a vital role in the state’s economic growth and quality of life.
In late 2015, Michigan’s governor signed into law a transportation funding package that relies on a combination of increased user fees, registration fees and general funds. While this increased funding will allow the state and local governments to move forward with numerous projects to repair and improve portions of the state’s transportation system, the funding is not sufficient to fully address the significant deterioration of the system, or to allow the state to provide many of the transportation improvements needed to support economic growth.
Achieving the state’s goals for a modern, well-maintained and safe transportation system will require staying the course with Michigan’s current transportation program and increasing transportation investment.
The Cost to Michigan Motorists of Deficient Roads
- Driving on Michigan’s transportation system costs the state’s motorists a total of $14.1 billion every year in the form of additional vehicle operating costs (VOC), congestion-related delays and traffic crashes.
- Driving on rough roads costs Michigan motorists a total of $4.6 billion annually in extra vehicle operating costs. These costs include accelerated vehicle depreciation, additional repair costs, and increased fuel consumption and tire wear.
- Based on research indicating that roadway design is likely a contributing factor in approximately one-third of serious and fatal traffic crashes, TRIP estimates that the economic costs of serious and fatal traffic crashes in Michigan, in which roadway design was likely a contributing factor, is $3.9 billion per year. These costs come in the form of lost household and workplace productivity, insurance and other financial costs.
- Traffic congestion costs Michigan motorists a total of $5.6 billion each year in the form of lost time and wasted fuel.
- The chart below details the average cost per driver in the state’s largest urban areas and statewide.
Transportation Funding and Needed Transportation Projects
Additional transportation funding provided by the state legislature in 2015 will allow MDOT to complete numerous needed projects throughout the state. While the additional dollars have been helpful, many needed projects still remain unfunded.
- In late 2015, Michigan’s governor signed into law a road funding package that relies on a combination of increased user fees, such as gas taxes and registration fees, and allocations from the General Fund.
- As a result of the funding increase, state funding for local roads and bridges, state roads and bridges, and transit will increase from $2.2 billion in 2015 to almost $3.7 billion in 2023. The chart below details the amount (in millions) of state funding for local roads and bridges, state roads and bridges, and transit.
- The 2015 transportation legislation provided an additional $484 million in transportation revenue in 2017, increasing to $649 million annually in 2021. The legislation also provided income-tax revenues for transportation starting in 2019.
- The income-tax revenue provided by the 2015 legislation is not dedicated in the state’s Constitution – – as road-user fees are – and the appropriation could be changed. After 2020, income-tax revenues are expected to continue at $600 million per year, and the fuel-tax rate will rise with the Consumer Price Index after 2022.
- Additional transportation funding provided by the 2015 legislation will allow Michigan to move forward with numerous projects that otherwise may have remained unfunded. The list below details a sampling of projects in Michigan’s major urban areas and throughout the state that are either underway or will be underway or completed no later than 2023, partly due to increased revenue.
Population, Economic and Travel Trends
Population and economic growth results in increased demands on major roads and highways, leading to increased wear and tear on a state’s transportation system.
- Michigan’s population is again growing and nearing pre-recession levels after beginning to fall in 2005 and dropping each year until 2011. The state’s population has increased each year from 2011 to 2018 and is currently at 10 million residents. Michigan has approximately 7.1 million licensed drivers.
- After decreasing by 14 percent between 2000 and 2009, when adjusted for inflation, Michigan’s gross domestic product, a measure of the state’s economic output, increased by 21 percent from 2009 to 2017.
- Vehicle miles traveled (VMT) in Michigan increased by seven percent from 2013 to 2017, to 101.8 billion vehicle miles traveled in 2017.
Michigan Road Conditions
The share of Michigan’s major roads with pavements in poor condition has increased due to a lack of adequate state and local funding, providing a rough ride and costing motorists in the form of additional vehicle operating costs.
The Michigan Transportation Asset Management Council (TAMC) found in its Michigan’s 2017 Roads and Bridges Annual Report that 40 percent of federal-aid eligible roads and highways in Michigan have pavements in poor condition, an increase from 2006 when 25 percent were rated in poor condition.
The TAMC report found that under current funding the share of federal-aid eligible roads in the state in poor condition will decrease slightly by 2027 to 37 percent.
Based on 2017 pavement condition data from the Federal Highway Administration, the chart below details pavement conditions on major roads in the state’s largest urban areas:
Download full version (PDF): Modernizing Michigan’s Transportation System
About TRIP
www.tripnet.org
Founded in 1971, TRIP ® of Washington, DC, is a nonprofit organization that researches, evaluates and distributes economic and technical data on surface transportation issues. TRIP is sponsored by insurance companies, equipment manufacturers, distributors and suppliers; businesses involved in highway and transit engineering and construction; labor unions; and organizations concerned with efficient and safe surface transportation.
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