Right Voices

I read this article in the Grand Rapids Press, and was left stunned:

Did the asphalt divide and swallow your Bug? The concrete crack and crunch your Chevy?

Driving U.S. 131 this week is a tie-rod twisting, shock-shaking, Goodyear-grinding demolition derby that could use reflexes and vehicles better fit for the Baja 1000.

And as another thaw-freeze cycle makes mincemeat of our asphalt, a statewide transportation group wants your nomination for the state’s worst pothole.

Winners get $318 — the average annual cost to each and every Michigan driver from pothole havoc, the group says.

This is nothing short of insulting and criminal. Ben Beversluis, the reporter, must not be aware of the fact that the majority of his readers pay taxes to build and maintain our infrastructure.

“We came up with this as a fun way to highlight the dramatic need that we have here in Michigan with regards to our failing transportation infrastructure,” said Mike Nystrom, co-chair of the Michigan Transportation Team, a group of nearly 50 organizations, from paving and asphalt contractors to unions to chambers of commerce.

“For years, for decades really, our state has underfunded our system here,” he said, citing a $2.7 billion gap in road needs versus spending.

So this winter’s weather, he said, is a worst-case scenario for a system that once was Michigan’s pride and is now its shame.

“We’re trying to point out to anyone who will listen, there’s a huge need for funding.”

The group says Michigan needs to spend another $1 billion a year on roads to keep up, on top of the $3.3 billion it annually spends now.

Nystrom acknowledged that “may take some adjustments, we need to talk about it in a creative mindset.”

Translation: tax hikes.

Michigan road funding comes from gas and diesel taxes and vehicle registrations.

Nystrom said Michigan could raise the $1 billion with a 9 cent per gallon increase in gas tax phased over three years, a similar increase in diesel tax along with a 4 cent hike so it equals the gas tax, and eliminating a phased reduction in registration fees for the first three years for new cars.

Nystrom said Michigan gas taxes are among the lowest in the country and that Michigan is one of only a few states where taxes on diesel are lower than on gasoline.

“We would hope it would be a priority this year, especially with the situation we face on the roads right now,” Nystrom said.

But besides being a bad weather year, this is also an election year, so he doesn’t hold much hope.

So here’s the deal.

Photograph a whopper of a pothole and enter the contest at drivemi.org.

A fun way?
What’s so funny about the fact that we have already spent billions of dollars on roads that are not condusive to Michigan weather? Back in the 70′s and 80′s they were. That was in the heyday of Michigan manufacturers hogging the roads with their semi-trailers loaded with product.

What’s so funny about the fact that a road is laid and two years later it gets torn up for work that had been planned 4 years prior to this?

What’s so funny about driving down a road and looking at the “patch” work that, to the untrained eye, looks like some kids got drunk and played with tar? (okay that is kinda funny)

What’s so funny about the fact that The Grand Rapids Press and other Michigan papers, never run stories about the AG suing the contractors for shoddy work? Never show what contractors get repetitive business?

There isn’t anything funny about this! What we need to do is sue to recoup our losses. What we need to do is get the MITA out of the picture. They are a part of the problem and not the solution to Michigans needs. We have spent billions and have been ripped off! Tax increases? Before that even comes to the table, let’s discuss the above items!

Think I’m wrong? Just drive out of Michigan and into Indiana…Their monikor may be “The Hoosier State”, but they know how to build a road that lasts longer than a winter!

Trackposted to Outside the Beltway, The Virtuous Republic, Rosemary’s Thoughts, A Blog For All, Right Truth, Shadowscope, Pursuing Holiness, Adeline and Hazel, , Diary of the Mad Pigeon, Faultline USA, Allie is Wired, third world county, The World According to Carl, Blue Star Chronicles, The Pink Flamingo, A Newt One, CatSynth.com, and The Yankee Sailor, thanks to Linkfest Haven Deluxe.