A new federal report ranks Michigan 13th worst in the nation in the number of bridges in poor conditions, with more than 13% of highway bridges ranked structurally deficient.

Michigan isn't alone, of course. Nationwide, "The Fix We're In For" report, recently released by Transportation for America, found one in nine U.S. bridges in poor condition. Even so, another near-bottom ranking in the condition of Michigan's transportation system should become a call to action for state legislators and Gov. Rick Snyder.

It is no longer a question of Michigan not raising enough money to build and maintain a balanced, first-class transportation system that will meet the economic, social and mobility needs of the 21st Century. As it stands, Michigan can't afford to fix and keep up even the mediocre transportation network it has.

If nothing changes, Michigan can expect to double the number of roads in poor shape by 2015. On state roads alone, Michigan falls more than $300 million short of what's needed to maintain them. The nonpartisan Transportation Funding Task Force concluded two years ago that Michigan must double its transportation funding -- to more than $6 billion a year -- just to keep existing roads and transit systems in good shape.

To be sure, the state can take steps other than pumping more tax money into the system. A new report by the office of Michigan Auditor General Thomas McTavish, for example, concluded that the state needs to charge operators of oversize rigs more to cover the damage they do to bridges and roads. Heavy loads do an estimated $135 million in damage each year to concrete and in stress to bridges, but the state raises only a fraction of that in fees. Still, raising charges on the heaviest trucks would generate pocket change, compared to the multibillion-dollar needs of the entire system.

In the short-term, the only adequate fix is to raise the state's 19-cents-a-gallon gas tax, which last went up -- by 4 cents a gallon -- in 1997. Any such increase must include overdue parity between gas and diesel taxes. An increase in fuel taxes is not a long-term solution, but it would buy the state time to develop sustainable alternatives, including odometer fees.

As state roads and bridges become increasingly deficient, inadequate and even unsafe, continuing neglect of the state's transportation needs will take Michigan down a road to ruin.

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