CHICAGO - Southeast Michigan needs to invest more than double the $68 billion it currently plans to spend over the next 26 years to adequately address all its transportation needs, according to a report released this week by a regional government planning group.
The southeast section of the state - which accounts for more than half of Michigan's transportation dollars - currently invests roughly $1.3 billion annually on its transportation needs, but should invest $2.8 billion, according to "Direction 2035," a long-term transportation planning report released Monday by the Southeast Michigan Council of Governments.
The SMCOG report is one of several issued over the last year warning that Michigan is not investing enough money in its transportation infrastructure and that new revenue is needed to avoid major deterioration statewide.
It comes as state legislators plan to hold a hearing on allowing public-private partnerships for some transportation assets, and as advocates push legislators to consider new revenue sources, such as raising the gas tax or implementing tolls on major highways.
"For years we've been telling elected officials and the public that we have lots of needs and not a lot of money," said Jennifer Evans, the transportation coordinator for SMCOG. "We have $68 billion that we can use for all the projects we've identified, but we know that we need twice that in order to address all the needs we've identified."
Direction 2035 details all state and local projects in the pipeline through 2035 and features a wish-list of additional projects that lack current funding sources. The report is issued every five years, and for the first time this year includes rapid transit projects and an increased focus on the importance of pavement preservation, according to Evans.
According to the report, the southeast region expects to spend $315 million annually on public transit projects, including maintaining the existing system of buses and adding three rapid-transit lines along Woodward Avenue in Detroit, between Ann Arbor and Detroit, and between Ann Arbor and Howell.
The region plans to spend $328 million annually for pavement projects, a funding level that will only maintain "the status quo of about 68% of roads in good or fair condition by 2035," the report notes.
Another $103 million will be spent annually to reduce traffic congestion, $74 million will be invested in bridges, $19 million in public safety projects, and $15 million on new bike and walking paths.
The report suggests developing a regional transit authority to oversee a new transit system and maintaining higher level of security at ports and airports, among other goals.
"We're trying to make public officials and the public care about 2035, and see how funding decisions impact the condition of the roads, and relate transportation performance issues to other things like the economy, and how you get to work, and the environment," Evans said.
Current economic conditions will likely make it difficult to address some transportation needs even in the short run, and the SMCOG report advocates finding "additional and innovative" revenue sources to fund the system.
Other transportation advocacy groups have reached the same conclusion. SMCOG "says we need to double the amount of money to pay for future needs, and that's very much in line with what [a government-appointed transportation task force] said in terms of state-wide needs," said Keith Ledbetter, director of legislative affairs for the Michigan Infrastructure and Transportation Association. "These aren't really surprising numbers but it's scary to the extent that we're so far beyond where we need to be right now."
A push to get state legislators to entertain new revenue options during the late-2008 lame duck session largely fizzled out, and lobbyists are now hoping for renewed interest in other areas of reform later this year, Ledbetter said.
Lawmakers have scheduled a meeting for Sept. 15 to consider public-private partnership initiatives, and may entertain other, smaller reforms of the system over the next few months.
But the push to consider new revenues is not expected to move quickly, as state legislators now face a 30-day deadline to craft a final 2010 budget and then head into a new election year.
