Terrorist Supporters Adopt A Road

Right along the way where, just a few months ago, a Hezbollah affiliated terrorist did a vehicle ramming attack at Temple Israel, a group that was until now unknown has apparently "adopted a road" and got the Road Commission to put up these signs:

 

Purely an attempt to intimidate, with the sign being placed right in the central area of the Jewish community here, right by a synagogue that had recently been attacked by an Arab terrorist.

There is no filed assumed name for the group in Oakland County, nor is there a state-level entity actually formed on record for this group. It does not legally exist as an organization.

We will have to see if the "group" whoever they are,  ever show up to do the required twice per year cleanups as required for this propaganda stunt.  My bet is they're not showing up as simply getting the signs up was the point.

So, in addition to the myriad of potholes, it seems we may now need to worry about IEDs on this stretch of road.

Update:  The signs were taken down as of this morning (Monday June 15) and the Oakland County Road Commission is promising to review its "process" as to how the signs were ever approved to be issued and placed in the first place to a non-existent group. 

Dam Trouble

What happens when you have 20 inches of snow pack quickly melting and days of non-stop heavy rain at the same time?

A really bad time for a lot of dams in Northern Michigan, and for the people living near them. 

The Detroit News: Northern Michigan lake drained after dam failure in Alcona County

The Detroit News: Residents told to evacuate downstream of west Michigan dam

The Detroit News: Cheboygan River remains less than 5 inches from top of dam. Friday updates

Dams with their spillways fully open are still not keeping up with the water, leading to the risks of the dams failing and evacuation warnings and orders have gone out.

Bridges are also at risk of failing with two already having failed: 15 Michigan bridges close, 2 fail as flooding concerns mount 

The views of the massive volumes of water coming out the spillways and still not keeping up with the flood is rather wild to see:

There's lots of homes being flooded and roads being washed out by the force of all the flood water. 

the Detroit News: Northern Michigan lakeshore, homes surrounded by water after flooding

Thankfully, no one had been reported to have been hurt of killed by the flooding and hopefully and in following evacuation orders that will continue to be the case,  It's still a massive and terrible blow to people there having their homes and property destroyed.

The Detroit News: Michigan faces new road challenges from 'historic weather challenge'

It's quite bad up there, but with luck the rains will let up and allow for the dams to catch up with the water flow and avert further damage.

Without Government, Who Would Create A Shortage Of Road Salt?

The Detroit Free Press: Salt shortage has Michigan scrambling to keep roads clear

Yep, there was a clear lack of planning ahead and the governments expecting a mild winter and not ordering enough.  Likely they bought into the idea that  global warming was making winter a thing of the past - which it clearly is not doing.

Slippery-er than normal winter roads are the result with not enough salt being used due to the failure to stock up when demand (and prices) were low.  Now they're ordering salt at highly inflated prices and waiting on deliveries due to production and shipping bottlenecks.

Seriously, if we placed these same government officials in charge of the Sahara Desert, within a couple years they would be announcing a shortage of sand.

Maybe Quit Wasting Money On DEI Until You're At Least Competent In The Basics

The Oakland County Commission, the government that runs Oakland County recently became completely Democrat-dominated as of the last election.

Of course they've gone all in for DEI initiatives and other Dem-favored clap-trap and spending in such areas.

However, with such distractions, they've been falling down on their job to provide for basic services and core competencies that are actually needed.

Like snow removal for roads.

West Bloomfield Township and other townships in the county have their roads handled by Oakland County.

This snowstorm Oakland County has singularly and impressively failed to maintain the roads. 

Most of the major roads in the township are still snow-covered wrecks, days after the snowfall.   Many of the roads have become two-tracks where there are ruts to drive in where tires have been ,and mounds of snow and ice otherwise. Some lanes are still snow-covered and totally unusable.

Instead of getting salt on the roads when the temperatures rose these past few days (before plunging again) to get rid of the ice, they did sweet bugger all.  It appears they all took a day off for MLK day, and left the plows and salters in the yards.  Schools have been closed due to this road conditions.

While traffic circles are claimed to offer efficiency in moving traffic, when they're iced over it is another thing entirely. Nothing like moving in two directions as you go around the circle (the direction you want to go and spinning outwards from the circle at the same time).  

The snow fell Saturday. As of today, Tuesday, the roads are still sucking quite badly.  Quite simply, I've not seen the roads this bad this many days after a snowfall before.

Nearby Farmington Hills, that is in charge of its own roads, has them nice and clean and passable, as does Troy.  

The change is absolutely remarkable when you leave areas under the County's authority and reach a place still working on its core mission to its residents rather than being distracted by ideological frippery.

Snow Far Snow Not So Good

From yesterday afternoon to this morning, we got 5 inches of snow, which led to the roads becoming a wreck with multiple closures from downed trees, power lines, and of course, car accidents.  Never received so many road closure texts at one time before.

We also had thunder snow, which was kinda interesting to experience.

Wind then picked up today to over 30 knots crosswind to the runways at KPTK and low IFR.  So, no flying today for sure which I had planned to do prior to this weather coming in.  Just getting to the airport would have been a tad hazardous given the condition of the roads and blowing snow today.

So winter is now officially here.  It's been a rather enjoyable and nice delayed onset of winter, but the mild weather is done for now.

That Was A Lot Of Rain

Got caught in quite a storm last night driving home from jitsu. Lots and lots of lightning and thunder and massive amounts of water coming down.

There was so much water on the road that when driving I didn't just leave a wake, I was producing waves on both sides of the car that were reaching the windows. Indeed, the water would slow the car down considerably in spots.

It was worse around jitsu, as they are doing road construction and likely have the sewer grates covered to prevent dirt coming in, so there was a lot more water on the road around there. 

Made it home safely, driving carefully and no major issues. 

The storm was certainly more enjoyable from indoors, though I got soaked twice - first going from jitsu to my car just a few yards away (needed the shower anyways) and then car to home (probably needed the second shower as well) .

This morning along the roadway there's a nice pond, complete with ducks, where there had only been a ditch before.

That's a lot of water dropping in a very short time.

So much so the storm from two nights ago fouled traffic at Detroit Metro Airport, due to both pumps failing, and again, road work with covered sewer grates leading to flooded out highway tunnels and lower areas on the highway, not to mention the sheer volume of water.

Didn't lose power but lots of other people certainly did, and Ingham County got to sadly experience a tornado, which is never a good thing.  

Update:  It's now confirmed that three tornadoes touched down in the state during this storm, ranging in power from EF0 to EF1, causing at least one death and a lot of property damage.

Cloudy and low IFR out today, which puts the kibbosh on a planned flight.

Surprise: Not Only Do Michigan Roads Suck, But The Quality Control Does Too!

Well, surprising no one really, there's a very cozy relationship between the state road agency and the contractors that "fix" the damn roads.

That cozy relationship extends to a lack of competent quality testing, resulting in you guessed it - roads that don't even meet the already low quality standards in this state.

The Detroit Free Press: MDOT fails to ensure quality of gravel used in Michigan road projects, audit shows

I mean, our current road construction and quality standards are great - if this state was Georgia.  

For Michigan, however, with our winters even our current standards are not enough, and the state can't or will not even enforce those basic standards. 

So much for Gov. "Fix the damn roads" Whitmer - it's now over four years and she can't even ensure her own agency is holding the (union) road construction companies to the bare minimums, or her own state agencies to do their own damn jobs.

This is but one of the reasons why Michigan has some of the highest gas taxes and spending on roads, and yet continues to have some of the worst roads in the nation.

So Gov Whitmer You Spent The Last 4 Years Doing What About Roads Exactly?

Gov Whitmer's campaign slogan in the 2018 election was she was going "To Fix The Damn Roads".

Despite a very visible flurry of construction that -- coincidentally I'm sure  -- started around the beginning this year's campaign season, after years of her not doing much, she now says she's ready to fix the damn roads.

The Detroit Free Press: Whitmer: Entirely new approach needed to 'fix the damn roads'

So Gov, what have you been doing these past 4 years then on your signature campaign issue?

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer says she still wants to "fix the damn roads" as she begins her second and final term, but now believes an entirely new funding system is needed, to allow for the growth in electric vehicles and associated drop in gasoline consumption.

I expect we will see not much real action on fixing the roads, aside from her trying to push a new tax scheme.  I further expect that much of the money raised in such scheme will go not to fixing the damn roads but to more Democrat pet projects like mass transit and various government commissions on mass transit, urban panning, etc. Got to keep that graft going, after all.

At least she claims she is backing away from her 45 cent-per-gallon gas tax increase plan - at least for now.

Media: When Republicans Point Out The Truth, it's An "Attack"

When a Republican points out facts about Democrats, the Media reports it as an attack or that "Republicans pounce", not about the failure/foible of the Democrat in question

For example:

The Detroit Free Press: New Michigan GOP ad attacks Whitmer's pledge to 'fix the damn roads'

For all of Gov Half-Whit's laser-like focus on "fixing the damn roads" - in between trying her best to shut the state down and rule like an autocrat, the results of her 4 years of effort have been, well underwhelming. 

According to estimates from the Michigan Transportation Asset Management Council, the percentage of all Michigan roads that are in poor shape today — around 40% — is about the same as when Whitmer was elected, though the percentage of roads in good shape has ticked up by 4 percentage points.

So, four years of maximum Whitmer effort has resulted in the same amount of roads rated poor and only added 4% to the roads in good shape metric.

Most impressive.

One can only wonder what would have happened to the roads had she not been so focused, the thought is just too terrible to contemplate.

Why We Can't Have Nice Things - Michigan Roads Edition

Michigan roads are renowned as being rather lousy. So much so that there is a marked difference as you cross the state line with Ohio, even as there's never-ending road work in Toledo.

So why can't we have nice roads like Toledo?

One of the reasons is our rather inflated road construction cost.

The Detroit Free Press: Conner Street to get $4M in roadwork ahead of FCA Mack plant opening

That 4 million dollars will resurface all of 2 miles of road.

Yep, it's now $2 million per mile to fix a road. Hardly a bargain.

But hey! At least it'll have bike lanes right for those two miles beside a automotive factory, which is clearly something that every cyclist will want to cycle on by.

Tax And Spend, And Spend Even More

Over at Bayou Renaissance Man, Peter posts about the record revenues government is taking in.

As the economy improves under Trump, more taxes follow even at lower rates as economic activity picks up.

The increase in taxes collected, however, still can't keep up with the increase in spending and past spending at the federal, state and local levels for which the debt is coming due.

For example, in Michigan for the past twenty years roads have been underfunded and ignored, and the bills are coming due.

In Michigan in 2015 there was an increase of 20% more for vehicle registrations and 7.3 cents per gallon more in state gas taxes under the promise that it would be to fund road repair.

In reality, not so much.

Even with that tax increase, currently only 19% of roads in the Metro area are considered to be in good condition.

Why? Well part of the money was immediately diverted from road funding for other projects, and a goodly sum of it has been going not to repair roads but to pay down the over a billion dollars in debt for road repair done by bond sales in the Engler and Granholm eras, more than eight years ago, for which the repairs that were done back then are now in need of repairs themselves.

The solution being proffered to fix the situation? Of course, it's to increase taxes for road funding even more. They promise to use it all to fix the roads this time, and of course you can believe them this time.

Why We Can't Build Nice Roads - Because To Even Fix 18 Miles Of Road Will Take 14 Years

Yes, you read that right, for a stretch of 18 miles of I75 in Michigan, it will take 14 years at a cost of 1.3 billion dollars, or 72 million dollars per mile to fix.

Oh, and it will take 14 years to do it, giving a snail's pace of an average 1.3 miles per year.

Of course by the end of 14 years they're going to have to start fixing what they started 14 years ago...

The Detroit News: I-75 work launches between Troy and Bloomfield Twp.

Yes, it will include fixing quite a few vehicular and pedestrian bridges over the highway and adding a lane so it's not a little job, but still to schedule a repair of 18 miles over 14 years is certainly the very opposite of an aggressive schedule.

Speaking of the addiitonal lane, while the added lane would be a darn good idea and badly needed, they're going to take away a lot of the benefits of the additional lane in reducing congestion by making it an HOV-only lane, not to mention that in 14 years when this is finally done they may need to add yet another lane.

Michigan's Bumpy Road Paradox

As everyone hits the roads here in Michigan for the Memorial Day long weekend, they can ponder the great Michigan road paradox.

Michigan has the sixth highest fuel taxes in the nation, but has some of the worst roads and lowest investments in road infrastructure in the United States:

Michigan ranks 33rd among states for the amount of investment per lane-mile of road; 47th for investment per vehicle mile driven, and dead last among the 50 states for investment per driver.

The Detroit Free Press: Why Michiganders pay among highest gas taxes - to drive on crummy roads

Part of the reasons is that much of the taxes collected on fuel is never used to improving or repairing roads at all but is instead siphoned off into the general fund.

Of course, the Detroit Free Press thinks this can be solved by making Michigan residents pay more taxes for road repair, rather than properly allocating the taxes already reaped from the sale of fuel.

Yet another example of the faults in the blue state model in general - high taxes, low effective services.

That Michigan, the state with the claim to fame of putting the world on wheels had such lousy and often impassable roads is a disgrace.

Michigan: The Year Of The Pothole

Some years get the cool names like Year of The Dragon or Year of The Horse. This year Michigan gets the decidedly uncool Year of the Pothole.

Roads around here are more pothole than asphalt, and on one road I've traveled on about half of the right hand lane has crumbled into the side of the road.

Plenty of friends with flat tires and bent rims due to the damage, and it's sure not being fixed with any haste, speed nor competence. Now that the snow and ice are pretty much off the roads (except for the snow shower this morning - thanks so much Mr. Gore! - you'd think we could drive at normal speeds once again. Well, due to all the potgoles we sure as heck can't as people decide to slow to 5 mph whenever they see one or even stop dead when reaching a semi-submerged pothole field where there used to be a road.

I don't know if road commissions and various state politicians are just waiting for the situation to deteriorate more so that they can demand more money from the state to fix the roads or what.

Meanwhile, I'm not the only one noticing the execrable shape our states' roads are in:

The Detroit News: Michigan's potholes are scaring off investors

Considering we've got some of the worst roads in the US, it's well past time some effort went into fixing them, an effort beyond mere patching and flimsy repairs done only so that more road crews can fix the same piece of road next year in a lifetime-employment scheme for asphalt contractors.

I would not be against the state's proclaimed $1 billion dollar surplus going towards road repair and improvement. I support it if we knew that the money would be used well with resulting excellent roads that lasted and didn't need massive repairs in five years and the money wasn't wasted.

That's a big if.

Getting To FL Is Half The Fun

Where we stayed in Florida is a good 1270 miles from our home.

 Getting there via automobile with sanity intact upon arrival took some careful planning. The route was pretty much a straight shot down I-75 with only a few bypasses so it was pretty simple route planning.

We also had my mother-in-law along for the trip, so the van was packed to the gills with stuff and people.

First we drove through Michigan into Ohio and the roads improved somewhat almost immediately upon crossing the state line.

The kids were very well behaved while being excited at the prospect of the trip.

The traditional license plate game was played, and we even had a License Plate Game board game edition with little flippable license plates that quizzed the kids on state capitals as they found cars with different plates. It did help pass the time and I recommend it if you have kids or need a refresher of our states capitals. It is the reality based edition with only 50 states, not the 57 state variety.

 Another tool in our arsenal of keeping kids happy was the laptop with a supply of the kids favorite DVD movies and a car power converter to keep the battery powered. When that failed we had some other games, books and bribery. The bribe was this: the kids really both wanted a Ty Beanie Boo, which is the larger plush version of the beanie babies with big adorable eyes. We had bought each of them one: Ty Beanie Boos Cashmere The Cat for Leah and TY Beanie Boos - MAGIC the Pink Unicorn ( Buddy Size - 10 inch ) for Abby but had not given them to them. They were $10 each where we bought them (more than Amazon but they got to pick them in person) and the deal was this: For every half hour they were good they received .25. If they fought they lost a quarter. With 22 hours of driving time they decided to be good to make sure they could get their beanies upon arrival.

 The right incentives work folks, but it doesn't hurt to start off with great kids to begin with.

 By the time we reached into southern Tennessee the van was sighing with pleasure as it cruised along smooth roads, and it was happy beyond all automotive measure by the smooth roads of Georgia and Florida, however that didn't happen for a couple days.

 First we stopped in Cincinnati after a 5 hour drive as there was a huge quilt show going on that Natasha and her mom wanted to see. Its apparently the second largest show in the US after the Texas show and they enjoyed themselves immensely. We stayed at the Cincinnati Hilton, which, while looking rather worn, small and past its better days (and no fridge) was decent enough. It did have a pool and I took the kids for a dip. Their harsh (in their words) swim coach (his motto: "you can cry but you gotta try") is really paying off - after 5 lessons they're actually swimming. We had dinner in the mall that is attached to the Hilton and met interesting cultures, namely the kids wanted to know why people were walking around with their pants falling off - a classy crowd indeed. The next morning we crossed the bridge into Covington KY from Cincinnati - having just read Harry Turtledove's alternate history of World War I - The Great War: American Front the crossing point was quite fitting considering it features prominently in the book.

We drove through Kentucky into Tennessee, stopping for lunch at Famous Daves BBQ for verily if one stops in the south, BBQ is what is for lunch. We had the BBQ Feast and it fed everyone quite suitably.

We  then entered Georgia and drove past Macon and south of Macomn there were two separate wrecks blocking the northbound lanes, and while it didn't interfere with us, an accident in just about the same place did on the return. How you can manage to completely block a highway on a perfectly clear day on a straight stretch of road takes talent and these Georgia drivers seem to have that talent in spades. We then drove on ending that night at Cordele, GA. On the early afternoon of the third day we reached paradise:

Temperatures in the 80s, the crashing of the waves, and a bright sunny day.  We quickly walked down to the beach to say hello to the ocean. Then we unpacked, had a snack and took the kids for a dip in the waves. The relaxation portion of the vacation had officially commenced.

Because Proposing to Raise Taxes is Such a Winning Idea.....

The Detroit Free Press: Gov. Rick Snyder to propose $40 annual fee to fix roads

In addition to the new $40 fee that would be in addition to existing levies, he'd change how the current gas tax is applied. The change would be from a fixed amount at the retail level to a percentage base at the wholesale level (this will lead to higher gas prices in Michigan).

Of course, the money collected won't just go to fix roads, but will be yet another tax on drivers to fund yet more mismanaged mass transit.

The fee would also go for a new mass transit authority for the southeast Michigan region with New. High-Speed. Buses. (because the current ones are such models of workability). On the upside at least he's not pushing New. High-Speed. Rail.

As pointed out by Right Michigan, this is practically the same proposal made by Granholm no being resold under an (R) brand.

How about this - use the sales tax collected on gas and other fees on vehicles to actually fix the roads first before more quixotic subsidies of mass transit public employees unions. Then, when the roads are up to the standards of say, Ohio, we can talk about diverting funding from road repair, construction to reduce congestion and maintenance to these mass transit boondoggles.

Getting Michigan's road up to and one would think beyond Buckeye quality should be a competition we can get behind and should be quite doable if the funding is actually put towards it rather than diverted to the general fund or endless subsidies of government happy projects.

Road From The War of 1812 Featured in the Detroit Free Press

The Detroit Free Press: Downriver War of 1812 trail gets its due
A road built through a swamp built out of logs for the movement of troops in the War of 1812 is featured in the Detroit Free Press today.

607 of the original logs are still in place and a visible marker of "Hull's Trace", the road built by General William Hull with that section built around July 4, 1812.

Pretty impressive that the remains of the log road are still there, almost 200 years later.

As yet another example of the more things change, the more they stay the same, people were bitterly complaining about the lousy conditions of Michigan's roads back then, much as they continue to do so today.

Other's Flat Tires And Empty Heads In Rush Hour

So this morning in rush hour a few flakes of snow were falling. Nothing heavy but it was starting to leave its mark on the roads, but there was no perceptible slippage, at least not yet, we're due for a few inches of road wreckage today.

Traffic was moving nicely. Note the "was".

Until, on geting on a long one lane road a Ford Explorer turns onto it in front of the van that was ahead of me, and traffic starts slowing for no perceptible reason. Traffic starts backing up behind me.

In looking there is no traffic ahead of the Explorer, all the cars in fromnt of it are well and truly out of sight, yet it is running 15 mph in a 45 mph zone. The van finally gets annoyed and passes it in a passing zone, I then have to wait and then pass when its clear in the next passing zone myself as yep, not the van's fault its the explorer driving very slow with not a car in front of it in sight. Why?

There's a woman driving it and the rear left tire is flatter than a pancake. She's merrily driving along at 15 mph, blocking traffic and likely messing up her wheel. She's been obliviously driving for well over a mile with her tire in that condition and sees no point in stopping. There's plenty of side streets for her to pull into and wait for triple A if she can't change her own tire but that would require some thought.

Luckily, I got around before the traffic entered a heavy traffic zone again, and looking back there's a whole line of cars crawling along behind her probably wondering what's the hold up.

Amazing how one oblivious and inconsiderate person can wreck the flow of traffic for everyone, not to mention she's doing herself no favors riding on her rim.

Michigan's Inefficient Spending on Roads - The Fort Street Rebuild As An Example

Part of the reason Michigan's roads are in such terrible condition, compared to other states is not just that work and maintenance has simply not been done, but the sheer cost of the repairs.

To repair 1.2 miles of one road including an overpass will cost approximately $40 Million dollars.

Crumbling Fort Street to undergo overhaul

Drivers who've put up with a bumpy stretch of Fort Street and one of the region's most notoriously decrepit bridges will have a chance to see plans next week for $40 million in upgrades to the roadway and the overpass in southwest Detroit....That's what the Michigan Department of Transportation has in store for Fort between Schaefer Highway and Oakwood Boulevard in Detroit -- roughly between the Fort-Schaefer I-75 exit and the Rouge River. The project is scheduled to begin next summer and last through late 2011.

$40 Million dollars to repair all of 1.2 miles? At that rate the state will run out of money long before it runs out of roads to fix.

Certainly it is time the state looks into how to control the costs of road maintenance. I remember when $1 million per mile was absurd, but $40 million is just plain nuts. Whether it means streamlining the process, dropping favored clauses and padding from contracts and getting real performance bids, or reexamining all the costs involved, something needs to be done.

Making matters worse on the Fort street project is the overpass itself, namely that

Despite its condition, the overpass is on the National Register of Historic Places, MDOT spokesman Rob Morosi said , and can't be redesigned.

An overpass as a historic site? Yes, it really is:

Fort Street--Pleasant Street and Norfolk & Western Railroad Viaduct [Image]

URL: http://pdfhost.focus.nps.gov/docs/NRHP/Text/00000116.pdf
Link will open in a new browser window
URL: http://pdfhost.focus.nps.gov/docs/NRHP/Photos/00000116.pdf
Link will open in a new browser window
Publisher: National Park Service
Published: 02/18/2000
Access: Public access
Restrictions: Public domain
Is Part Of: Highway Bridges of Michigan MPS
Format/Size: Physical document with text, photos and map
Language: eng: English
Note: Fort St. over Pleasant St. and N&W RR.
Item No.: 00000116 NRIS (National Register Information System)
Subject: EVENT
Subject: ARCHITECTURE/ENGINEERING
Subject: COMMUNITY PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT
Subject: ENGINEERING
Subject: TRANSPORTATION
Subject: STRUCTURE
Subject: 1925-1949
Keywords: Wayne County Road Commission;1928
Place: MICHIGAN -- Wayne County -- Detroit

Record Number: 133203
Record Owner: National Register of Historic Places

No idea what it or its designer did for it to be so designated, but who knows how much extra that adds to the cost of repair, not to mention it can't be updated for safety or improved traffic flow.

In any case, $40 million for 1.2 miles is simply too much.

Michigan Roads Decline as State fails to obtain Federal funds through Neglect

Not only are Michigan’s roads some of the worst in the United States due to lousy road maintenance and repair practices as well as chronic underfunding, but due to inexcusable neglect in the form of leaving road maintenance funds on the federal table rather than getting those funds to repair the roads.

In Lost road projects cost Michigan plenty, Douglas Buckler of the Michigan Regional Council of Carpenters and Millwrights points out the blatantly obvious - The State of Michigan royally and inexcusably messed up by not finding matching funds to get $740 million dollars in federal road repair funds. (With Michigan Department of Transportation processes and union work rules and wages that likely averages out to only repairing 740 miles of road, but still that is quite significant).

When 137 transportation projects were recently canceled across Michigan because of the state's economic situation and the inability to find matching funds to support the construction work, about $740 million was lost. And our state and our workers stand to lose plenty as well.
. . .
According to drivemi.org, 28 percent of Michigan's 10,754 roadway bridges are structurally deficient or functionally obsolete, while 38 percent of the state's 120,256 miles of roadways are rated in poor or mediocre condition. In May, the Michigan Section of the American Society of Civil Engineers gave Michigan's infrastructure a grade of a D. And Thomas Maxwell, president of the state civil engineering group, says more than 90 percent of Michigan's 2,581 dams will reach the end of their design life by 2020.

This is bad news for Michigan. Poor road conditions combined with the abandonment of these crucial projects compromises the safety of all citizens.

Repair and reconstruction of our roads, bridges and freeways is obviously needed. It is time for a serious look at addressing our decaying infrastructure. Updating our roads and other infrastructure will help Michigan attract new business, which results in a stronger economy, more jobs and increased tax revenue.

By abandoning road and bridge repair and reconstruction projects, thousands of jobs are lost, affecting an untold number of Michigan households.

Mr. Buckler is exactly right that leaving this money unused is wasteful. Michigan is a net donor to the Federal government when it comes to transportation funds and this only makes that ratio of funds sent to funds received worse. Not only are jobs lost due to this but roads will decline even more, further harming the economy.

Governor Granholm should be required to explain how it occurred that the state government (mis)managed to pass this money up. Not only does it harm everyday Michigan residents but even her key supporters – union members who work on these projects that aren’t going to be working on them now. It’s good to see union leadership like Buckler take the state government to task and speak up for their members even in the face of the Disastrous Democrat’s decisions.