Debate regarding transportation funding is at an all-time high. Please submit a Letter to the Editor by referencing the ideas below.
Click here for a link to e-mail addresses for statewide newspapers.
LTE 1
Our legislature really needs to do something about what we already know: our roads are terrible! I’m tired of driving over countless amounts of potholes on my way to work, wondering if they’ll ever be fixed.
Our state must come up with a solution to the worsening condition of our roads and bridges. If they don’t, we’ll only continue to spend hundreds of dollars each year to fix our cars due to extra maintenance, tire wear, and miscellaneous damage.
Roads are being pulverized and turned to gravel across the state due to lack of funding. Seems like a step in the wrong direction to me.
How much more will it take for Michigan to realize that we’re facing serious problems? We don’t need another Minnesota bridge story, and heaven forbid I should be the one on the bridge when it collapses.
Contact your local legislator and tell them to fix our roads!
LTE 2
Kudos to the Michigan legislature for finally coming up with an answer to fixing our awful roads, highways, and bridges. The Transportation Funding Task Force’s recommendations are just what Michigan needs to not only improve our roads, but also help our struggling state’s economy.
If this proposed package of bills passes, 19,000 jobs will be created by 2010, and our legislature can avoid losing $6 million in state matching funds because we can’t meet the federal requirements.
By acting immediately, Michigan taxpayers can avoid paying a greater cost in the future, because the problem will only get worse. Many Michigan residents need jobs, and these bills will help create them.
Those who commute to work everyday need to know that the roads they’re driving on are stable and secure. We need to encourage our legislature to get these bills passed because we can’t afford not to.
LTE 3
Have you looked around? We have a sky high unemployment rate, a crumbling infrastructure, a failing auto industry, and tourists staying as far away from the Great Lakes as they can. What will it matter if people are paying a few cents more at the pump, when repairing our roads will bring vitality back to Michigan?
Tourists will visit Michigan if roads and bridges actually let them enjoy their trip. Legislators have proposed a package of bills that will not only fix our roads, but create jobs and save residents money. You’re spending more on car repairs due to our road conditions then you would spend on a raised gas tax.
The proposed bipartisan package of bills is expected to sustain 126,000 Michigan jobs in a state with a 13 percent unemployment rate.
Let’s be real. There aren’t any excuses for not fixing our roads, it must be done now.