Tri-City Sun

A bill intended to give local road agencies the flexibility to prioritize repairs for the worst roads, enabling local roads to be repaired first, was recently signed into law by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.

House Bill 4965 was sponsored by Michigan Rep. Rodney Wakeman (R-Saginaw Township), who testified before the House Transportation Committee in December about the importance of the legislation, according to a post to his official Facebook page.

“There’s no doubt Michigan’s previous road funding formula helped contribute to our current roads dilemma, which we have been spinning our wheels trying to solve for decades,” Wakeman said on his Facebook post. “It was never about how much money we were spending for road repairs; it was how smart we were spending it. Rather than focus on the roads in the worst shape, we had been operating under a formula that stipulates 75% of funds go to primary roads while 25% go to secondary roads. This method was not practical, was definitely not fiscally responsible and has left many of our local roads in the worst shape ever.”