Let's talk about how the roads around here are PISS POOR, and an embarassment.

[Honky Tonk]

It may not have been by a vote, but there was an increase on taxes that was to be earmarked just for roads..... what happened to that money?

http://detroit.cbslocal.com/2017/01/...stration-fees/

Please see Post # 317.

[RO_Resident]

Last year the drivers of MI voted for a license, registration, and gas tax increase, so the State of MI would have money to "Fix our roads". The money was put into the General Fund, then removed and used for other non-road repair stuff. Within days of the increase, the State started crying there wasn't enough money to "fix our roads". Until the people of this State, and City, start demanding accountability for their government's actions, you'll keep spending your hard earned dollars on vehicle repair, and posting a bunch of shit on public forums.

It's the opposite.

There was an increase in the state gas excise tax, diesel gas excise tax, and registration fees among other changes. Those changes do not fully kick in until 2022. Those funds must go for a transportation purpose.

The legislature is also pledged to kick in funds from the general fund for transportation purposes. It is ramping up, too.

One thing that did not change is the 6% sales tax on fuel purchases. Prior to the changes to the fuel excise and currently, the sales tax portion goes to the general fund.

[Honky Tonk]

It's the opposite.

There was an increase in the state gas excise tax, diesel gas excise tax, and registration fees among other changes. Those changes do not fully kick in until 2022. Those funds must go for a transportation purpose.

The legislature is also pledged to kick in funds from the general fund for transportation purposes. It is ramping up, too.

One thing that did not change is the 6% sales tax on fuel purchases. Prior to the changes to the fuel excise and currently, the sales tax portion goes to the general fund.

Then maybe you or brizee can explain to me why my tab fees went from $70 a year to $128 a year, last year? And I wasn't the only one. I distinctly remember friends telling me they were buying their tabs a month or two ahead of time "before the increase". License fees also went up. No points, residency, vehicle, or insurance coverage changes. If no increases are kicking in until 2022, then what was last years increase about? Are you saying that they're going to increase again in a few years? As long as these increases are being stored in the General Fund, they're going to continue to be siphoned off for non-intended purposes, and MI is going to continue to have crappy roads. The cash cow.

[Maof]

Reposting...

https://www.freep.com/story/news/pol...igan/95519264/....

I was able to renew mine, online, in early December of 2016 for May 2017 renewals.

[RO_Resident]

Then maybe you or brizee can explain to me why my tab fees went from $70 a year to $128 a year, last year? And I wasn't the only one. I distinctly remember friends telling me they were buying their tabs a month or two ahead of time "before the increase". License fees also went up. No points, residency, vehicle, or insurance coverage changes. If no increases are kicking in until 2022, then what was last years increase about? Are you saying that they're going to increase again in a few years? As long as these increases are being stored in the General Fund, they're going to continue to be siphoned off for non-intended purposes, and MI is going to continue to have crappy roads. The cash cow.

There are a few moving parts.

Starting on January 1, 2017, registrations went up by 20%. Hybrids and electric cars were given a surcharge.

The state gas excise tax went up from 19 cents per gallon to 26.3 cents per gallon on January 1, 2017. The diesel fuel excise also went up to be on par with the gas tax. The gas and diesel fuel excise tax will be indexed to inflation starting in 2022.

Constitutionally, monies raised from registrations and fuel excise taxes are restricted must be spent on transportation purposes. They cannot be funneled to the general fund.
http://legislature.mi.gov/doc.aspx?mcl-Article-IX-9

Let me repeat. Fuel excise taxes and registrations cannot be moved to the general fund. They must be spend on transportation purposes. The 6% sales tax on fuel purchases go to the general fund.

Why is it going to take a few years for the full package that increased the gas tax to increase? Some are budgetary. The state fiscal year starts October 1. When the gas [[and other taxes) increased on January 1, a quarter of the year was already gone. Now the state calendar year and fiscal year are synced.

The state's general fund contribution to transportation will not fully kick in until 2022.

[Atticus]

Prior to last year, the analogy I would use to describe Michigan's roads went like this:

If you go to a Fast Food restaurant, and order a burger off of the dollar menu, don't complain that you didn't get a great burger. You got a cheap burger, because that is what you paid for. And of course Michigan was 50 out of 50 in per capita spending on roads, so of course our roads suck.

Fast forward to now where we are paying a little more for roads than 2 years ago, but are still near the bottom of the barrel in funding them compared to most states. Well I would just switch the analogy from "dollar menu" to "regular fast food burger". Ok, we are now spending a little more to get the quarter pounder over the McDouble, but as long as you are still paying McDonalds level prices, you are still getting awful roads.

Everyone wants good roads in this state, but very few are actually willing to pay appropriately for them. Quite the conundrum.

[sirrealone]

The increase in taxes and fees is not going to translate to vastly improved roads overnight, and especially so on major projects. Big projects like I-696 take time to plan, design, bid, and all that, so to expect to see a difference in those types of roads barely 12 months after the increases went into effect is unreasonable.

For your first year or two, you'd likely see an uptick in smaller projects like resurfacing or patching, stuff that when an agency gets money, they can put it to use quickly. For the difference to be seen on your major interstates, that's going to be a much slower roll.

[One Shot]

I think we should be under a state of emergency. What the HELL happened to the roads! How can we accept this??? The main roads look like gravel/dirt! Like they’ve been bombed. It is embarrassing. If just a little maintenance was performed every year like caulking the joints we might not have as bad a situation!

[Johnnny5]

Today's warm up really brought the potholes to life! I saw about 6 cars in a row on 696 today with pothole related blowouts and some roads on the West side that looked like the surface of the moon!

I was just thankful to be driving around on steel rims and 10 ply tires.

[DetroitSoldier]

I drove home from work via I-75N tonight at about 10PM. I am not even joking when I say there were a minimum of 20 vehicles on the shoulder dealing with flat tires [[or worse) The shoulder lanes are an absolute mess from Gratiot to 7 Mile. The only reason I survived joining them was by staying in the center lane. It's only a matter of time until someone loses their life out there.

[Johnnny5]

It's only a matter of time until someone loses their life out there.

There was actually a story on Freep.com about this happening in Detroit last night. It's been updated since to say that high speed was most likely responsible, but I can easily see both.

[softailrider]

I think we should be under a state of emergency. What the HELL happened to the roads! How can we accept this??? The main roads look like gravel/dirt! Like they’ve been bombed. It is embarrassing. If just a little maintenance was performed every year like caulking the joints we might not have as bad a situation!

I couldn’t agree more, declare a state of emergency. It’s as if a street wasn’t just redone last summer it needs to be repaved again. It’s the worst I’ve ever seen the roads.

[Maof]

This happened a few days ago. Had to shut it down.

https://www.clickondetroit.com/news/...t-clair-shores

[One Shot]

This mornings commute is a joke. You are trying to watch for potholes AND watch your driving AND do it in this weather. People all over changing tires. Just wait if someone gets hit doing it. I don’t even want to drive right now.

[3WC]

In England they drive on the left side of the road.

In MI we drive on what's left of the road.

[Tig3rzhark]

In England they drive on the left side of the road.

In MI we drive on what's left of the road.

This isn't a joke, but I can see a few people laughing at us right now about this.

[Honky Tonk]

This isn't a joke, but I can see a few people laughing at us right now about this.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lkJ_0WqBQns

[Jimaz]

We're all warned about distracted driving but it's becoming suicidal not to be distracted by the potholes.

Not only do you have to watch for potholes in your own lane but potholes in other lanes can cause others to serve into your lane!

My next vehicle will be an ATV.

[Cincinnati_Kid]

I hear Mound Road in Macomb County, is so bad, they've considered closing it. They showed a section on the news yesterday, and it had craters big enough to swallow a small car. The part that sucks, the state won't reimburse you for damage to your vehicle. These sorry _ss Politicians just sit on their hands, and argue who's responsibility this belongs to. They could have come to some sort of agreement a long time ago to fix the roads, instead of passing the buck on who will.

[Maof]

My husband called today as he was on Schooner near Hall Rd down to Metro parkway today . Boy, was he pissed!

[Atticus]

In England they drive on the left side of the road.

In MI we drive on what's left of the road.

In England and most other developed countries [[and states), they pay enough to have their roads properly maintained. We spend less on roads in Michigan, and thus we have bad roads.

Why is that concept so hard for people to grasp? The majority of people in Michigan don’t really want to spend what it would take to have good roads..
so we don’t.

[One Shot]

In England and most other developed countries [[and states), they pay enough to have their roads properly maintained. We spend less on roads in Michigan, and thus we have bad roads.

Why is that concept so hard for people to grasp? The majority of people in Michigan don’t really want to spend what it would take to have good roads..
so we don’t.

For the most part I believe we have ok roads but believe maintenance would buy many extra years. Caulk the seams during the summer!

[313WX]

In England and most other developed countries [[and states), they pay enough to have their roads properly maintained. We spend less on roads in Michigan, and thus we have bad roads.

Why is that concept so hard for people to grasp? The majority of people in Michigan don’t really want to spend what it would take to have good roads..
so we don’t.

Exactly.

To add insult to injury, the road commissions in Michigan use salt to treat the roads in the winter, which eats them up even faster. And let's not even get into the lack of weighy restrictions for trucks.

It's just one huge racket all around, like Auto Insurance.

[ABetterDetroit]

Why does Detroit get dragged out into the sunlight for their obvious failures in governing when over and over again the State of Michigan gets a free pass on the condition of the roads around here?

Ohh... "Well they don't have the money and we don't give it to the state for roads so that's why..."

It is a bullshit excuse. Police, Schools, Fire, Prisons, Roads. If the State can't deliver than there should be hell to pay. Exactly as it should be.

Especially irritating when we will listen to yet another Governors race this summer and fall when both candidates will promise to no end that they will be the one to finally fix the roads just like the previous 4 governors did from both parties and never did.

[Atticus]

Exactly.

To add insult to injury, the road commissions in Michigan use salt to treat the roads in the winter, which eats them up even faster. And let's not even get into the lack of weighy restrictions for trucks.

It's just one huge racket all around, like Auto Insurance.

I am not disputing the reasons you listed, but they are really just a small part of the big problem. I hate the fact that politicians, media, and the populace in general rallies around those smaller issues, and in doing so will ignore the main problem in that we don't spend enough.

If someone were to a make a pie graph of all the reasons why our roads are bad, 95% of the pie would be that we simply don't spend enough, with another 2% for overweight trucks, 1% salt and winter maintenance damage, and 2% for other miscellaneous.

And yet people and politicians cling onto the truck weights, or winter salting, or whatever... and they complain about that to avoid addressing the elephant in the room. Highways cost money, and they eventually wear out, costing more money to repair or replace.

It is really simple. It costs $X to have good roads. If you spend less than $X, you will have bad roads no matter what your truck weights are, no matter how much salt is used, no matter how much crack seal you do.... you still have to spend $X to have good roads.