Road to Redemption?

I’m pretty cynical, but not so much that I can’t give politicians credit for something when they deserve it.

Michigan Governor Rick Snyder – the nasally dweeb who’s been lambasted by progressives, including me, for robbing from the poor to give to his rich business buddies – is apparently singing the right song when it comes to transportation issues. He announced his proposals for rebuilding Michigan’s infrastructure last week, complete with a clever, if elementary, new catchphrase: “Better roads drive better jobs.”

Snyder’s plan includes the following, among other ideas:

• Boost annual infrastructure investment by $1.4 billion, in part by increasing vehicle registration fees by $120/year. (Someone told me the fancy SUV driver would pay the same as the coed in the clunker, which doesn’t seem right, but maybe she’s wrong.) 

• Revive regional registration fees. This means if voters approve, regions or individual counties could charge up to $40 per vehicle, which could raise nearly $300 million/year for local roads or public transportation. (I’m pretty sure voters aren’t going to support this but what do I know? I didn’t think Dubya would be re-elected either.) 

• Revise motor fuel taxes. Instead of continuing Michigan’s per-gallon fuel taxes – 19 cents for unleaded and 15 cents for diesel – paid at the pump, Snyder suggests we replace them with a wholesale tax to be collected when fuel is delivered to retailers. 

• Consolidate road commissions. Michigan currently has 82 of them, and 83 counties. Road commissions, which get almost all their funds from fuel taxes and vehicle registration fees, employ around 7,000 regular and temporary workers across the state. (It would be nice if consolidation didn’t result in a lengthening of the unemployment line.)

• Consolidate small-city road funding. Snyder said road funding should be diverted from small cities to larger, more sophisticated road agencies better equipped to use those funds efficiently. (Who would make these decisions and on what would they be based? Just because an agency is bigger doesn’t mean it’s better. Right, FEMA?)

• Focus highway investment on high-volume roads. (This seems logical, unless “focus” really means “spend only on.”)

• Create a regional transit authority for Southeast Michigan. (Again, this seems logical on its face.)

• Build the Bridge. (I’ve written before that Snyder supports the New International Trade Crossing proposal, although Matty Moroun, the greedy billionaire who owns the only bridge currently connecting Detroit and Windsor, Ontario, doesn’t. A second bridge is opposed in the Moroun-owned, GOP-controlled legislature but Snyder might have a trick up his sleeve.)

• Build a new lock at Sault Ste. Marie. Snyder supports replacing two obsolete locks built during World War I. Approach channels have already been deepened and Congress authorized the project back in 1986, but the state needs $546 million to finish the project.

• Close the Digital Divide. Snyder said increased computer connectivity can help Michigan add jobs and improve government, education, health and wellness.

Megan Owens, who heads up Transportation Riders United, a nonprofit organization dedicated to improving transportation access and mobility in Greater Detroit, said, “I'm excited that Governor Snyder clearly understands the importance of investing in transportation. TRU strongly supports his ideas of a Regional Transit Authority and more local funding options.

“Now we just need to convince the Michigan Legislature that some things are worth the investment,” Owens added.

The Detroit Free Press published an interesting editorial that gives Snyder credit for standing up to the anti-spending loons in his own parties while pointing out that his proposal represents a “big hit to people's wallets in a state still struggling to rebound from a decade-long recession.”

Michigan has the fourth largest road system in the nation, with 88,000 miles of county roads, streets and highways and more than 5,700 bridges. Our infrastructure, like others, has been crumbling and neglected for years. It’s refreshing to see our chief executive talking about doing something positive for the state instead of implementing the foolish, backward ideas of the Mackinac Center, the Koch Brothers, Grover Norquist and the other selfish entities that currently have a lock on the Republican Party.

I’m still don’t trust the guy and I’m not convinced that he suddenly has the best interests of the state at heart. But I’m no longer convinced that he doesn’t.

Sources: Detroit Free Press, MLive.com, Bay County Road Commission.