In an effort to boost the economy, Michigan will enter the market with $150 million of state trunk line bonds nearly a year ahead of schedule to finance dozens of road projects initially scheduled to begin in 2009, Gov. Jennifer Granholm announced last week.
The state Department of Transportation plans to begin work this summer on up to 34 road and bridge projects in a move that officials estimate will create up to 2,100 new jobs.
The projects are part of the governor’s economic stimulus plan outlined in her state of the state address in early February. Under the proposal, the DOT would sell $150 million in trunk line bonds as part of a two-year, $1 billion road improvement and building program. The state originally planned to sell the bonds sometime in 2009, but now plans to enter the market within the next few months, said state spokesman Bill Shreck.
A total of seven projects in the Detroit metro area account for roughly $87 million of the $150 million, including the single largest project, a $53 million reconstruction of a stretch of Interstate-94 in St. Clair County.
