By KEVIN WALKER
Michigan Correspondent
 
LANSING, Mich. — A new survey by the County Road Assoc. of Michigan suggests that the condition of county roads in the state is worse than ever.

The survey indicates there has been a pronounced increase in the reversion of county roads from hard surface to gravel. This is something county road commissions do when funds aren’t there to replace or adequately repair a paved road. Twenty-three counties reverted a paved road to gravel in 2008, which is up from seven counties in 2007.

There has also been a significant increase in counties that turned down available federal funds for road maintenance and repair because local matching funds weren‘t available. In 2007 four counties turned down federal money, while seven did so last year.
The survey results, released earlier this month, come shortly after a failed attempt to raise gasoline taxes and other taxes and fees that would have increased funding for the state’s roads. Some of the stakeholders on this issue – for example, the construction industry – contend the state’s roads are chronically underfunded.
Gov. Jennifer Granholm is supposed to present a plan for increasing funding for county roads sometime this year, but it’s not known what that plan will be, according to Monica Ware, a spokeswoman for the County Road Assoc. of Michigan. Ware said legislators have been reluctant to pass a tax increase in this economic climate.

Late last week state officials unveiled a 1,301-page list of requested projects from local governments, public libraries, colleges, Internet service providers and others that would tap into federal stimulus funds once they become available. Although county road projects are included, it’s believed they will not be a priority.

A separate list of candidate projects compiled by the Michigan Department of Transportation does not include any county roads.
Mike Steenhoek, executive director of the Soy Transportation Coalition, is heavily focused on rural transportation issues in the greater Midwest region of the country.

“The survey is unfortunate, but not surprising,” he said. “It’s an experience that’s shared in other parts of the country.”
He said more roads were embargoed, or essentially cut off to heavy truck transport, last year because of the bad weather. “It’s become more dramatic over the past couple of years,” he said. “We don’t like the trajectory in states like Iowa and Michigan. There are fewer dollars to maintain a rural infrastructure.

“If you don’t have a local rural road system, other transportation modes upstream become relatively less important. We’ve got to care just as much about the county roads as the other links in the chain.”

According to Steenhoek, historically there has been a somewhat acrimonious relationship between farmers and local governments. Farmers use more heavy transport than they used to, partly because they produce a higher yield. It’s also more common today for farmers to own their own heavy trucks.

Part of the reason for this, Steenhoek said, is because railroads figured out they could do things more efficiently by having fewer stops and longer trains. This was good for the railroads, but it forced farmers to make fewer but larger deliveries in heavier equipment, which is harder on county roads.

“Railroads want to assemble a train at one location,” Steenhoek said. “It’s put more pressure on our roads. States and counties have to bear some of that cost. Our infrastructure is in really tough shape. That survey really documents that.”

Other facts from the survey include reduced maintenance, preservation and construction in 66 counties in Michigan in 2008, up from 44 in 2007; reduced replacement of hard surface roads in 54 counties, up from 33; reduced gravel road maintenance in 47 counties, up from 15; reduced mowing and brush control in 44 counties, up from seven; and reduced bridge and culvert replacement in 21 counties, also up from seven.