If legislators do nothing more than ensure Michigan receives it’s full federal match of highway dollars for next year, the state will be able to pave less than half the miles of roadway it did five years earlier.

That’s the message that MITA has been sharing with legislators who want desperately not to lose out on $600 million of available federal dollars but don’t want to fix the chronic transportation-funding shortfall.

There is a proposed funding plan being discussed in the legislature, click here to see an analysis of the proposal that would tie the fuel tax to gas prices, while allowing them to rise no more than 3 cents per year. The plan would also include vehicle registration fee increases phased in over five years. These changes would raise an additional $1.5 billion per year and stem the tide of failing roads.

House Republicans announced an alternative plan this week that would take $100 million of sales tax on fuel purchases and earmark it specifically to the MDOT road and bridge program. Although the plan is a good start, even if the state could match the full federal amount, our program would be 35 percent less than five years earlier, click here to see a chart. With material costs for steel, asphalt and fuel skyrocketing, the state will be able to pave less than half of the roads from five years earlier.

MITA continues to encourage members to contact their legislators. In addition, the www.drivemi.org website has additional sample letters to the editor that can be used to send to your local newspaper.  Click here to recent sample letters.