Washtenaw County road project spending to drop significantly in 2010
Washtenaw County Road Commission officials say they expect the agency's budget will drop by 25 percent in 2010 - the harsh reality of rapidly declining state and federal revenues.
Those revenue losses are coupled with declining land development and associated road improvements by developers.
Spending on road projects alone will drop from $25 million in 2009 to $11.5 million in 2010 under the new Capital Improvement Plan approved by the Board of County Road Commissioners earlier this month.
Tim Fehrle, heavy equipment operator and driver at the Washtenaw County Road Commission, sprays down his truck in this 2006 file photo.
File photo
“This is yet another sign of the times we are all experiencing in Michigan,” Steve Puuri, Road Commission managing director, said in a written statement. “In a span of three years, we have gone from setting an all-time record investment level to curtailed expenditures at the lowest level since 1998.”
In recent times, the Road Commission has dedicated a higher percentage of its budget to performing preventative maintenance on paved roads in Washtenaw County. However, the overall pavement condition rating still places the county at fourth worst in the state, according to the agency.
“Why are we still ranked as fourth worst? The short answer is we have nearly 800 miles of paved roads that need to be resurfaced, and we have identified enough funding to resurface less than 50 miles per year," Puuri said.
Puuri said the Road Commission has focused on being as efficient as possible, but can't cut its way to adequate road funding levels. He said the Road Commission has been facing five years of decreasing Michigan Transportation Funds and double digit annual inflationary pressures for road materials.
To counter those funding challenges, the Road Commission is in the process of implementing service level adjustments.
“These policy changes will direct more funding towards preserving our highest traffic volume roads and bridges as well as continuing to place a high priority on routine maintenance,” Puuri said. “We will continue to provide services to the gravel roads and subdivision streets; however, we are limiting the amount of overtime work for our crews. Routine maintenance on the lower volume roads such as snow removal will occur during normal business hours."
Ryan J. Stanton covers government for AnnArbor.com. Reach him at ryanstanton@annarbor.com or 734-623-2529.
Comments
scooter dog
Sat, Nov 21, 2009 : 10:51 a.m.
Forget costco lets build another WALLMART.How about one on every corner like cvs
jackson72
Fri, Nov 20, 2009 : 1:54 p.m.
Gary, I think you mean I-94, not I-96.
Gary Lillie
Fri, Nov 20, 2009 : 12:57 p.m.
The County Road Commission was offered $750,000 per year for the first 20 years of a land lease for 12 excess acres at I-94 and Zeeb Rd., with substantial increases every 5 years for the remainder of a 5-year land lease. At the end of that time either Costco negotiated a new lease, or they moved out and the Road Commission owned the building. Just think how much improving of roads they could have done had the Scio Towship Board approved the site plan? Instead, they listened to the minor few who claimed it would increase traffic on Zeeb Rd., it should be south of I-96, etc. None of those arguments were valid. The Road Commission had the perfect location that would minimize traffic. Get off I-96 westbound, where most of the traffic would come from, and across Zeeb Rd at the traffic light. Another anti-business decision for the sake of anti-business, with no consideration of the benefits. That's $15,000,000 in the first 20 years that went away - not to mention the real estate and personal property taxes they would have paid.
scooter dog
Fri, Nov 20, 2009 : 9:22 a.m.
speed limit on a un-posted gravel road is 55 mph
Kurt Hagemeister
Fri, Nov 20, 2009 : 8:50 a.m.
They don't even address here, the many miles of sub-standard dirt roads in the county that should be paved. Being constantly in poor condition and often having 50 mph speed limits, terrible accidents (including fatalities) happen on these roads all the time. In addition, the county spends a ton of money having to re-grade these roads throughout the year just to keep them passable. Until this state starts to think for the long term, and invests in its roads, any hope of creating a strong economy will go out the window.
DagnyJ
Thu, Nov 19, 2009 : 7:03 p.m.
Fortunately we have money in the county budget for 4-H and Spark. Who needs roads anyway?
Sling Blade
Thu, Nov 19, 2009 : 6:45 p.m.
If Mr. Prater is "a good guy" Maybe Mr. Prater can get the rail road crossing fixed on Willis Rd in York township. The county say's it's up to the rail road to fix and the township says it's up to the county to fix. The crossing is horrible now, just wait until next spring. The county and toyota took time and money to alter the Willis Rd & Platt Rd intersection and Bemis & Platt Rd intersection for toyota while failing to acknowledge the rough RR crossing less than 1/4 mile from where the new pavement stopped. Mr. Prater took credit for fixing the RR crossing on Rawsonville Rd. in Augusta township that borders Wayne County. How about taking credit for getting something done in your own backyard. But it would be very cool if we could legally ride our sleds in winter on the main roads, way cool.
treetowncartel
Thu, Nov 19, 2009 : 5 p.m.
Voice of reason, it is the norm in most of the State. The other plus, those snowmobiles have to licensed and registered, oh and insured. Spurs some revenue for the state and a local salesman or two. maybe we can get Mr. Prater to bring this to the table, he is a good guy.
voiceofreason
Thu, Nov 19, 2009 : 4:51 p.m.
Treetowncartel, That is actually a great idea......I would definitely purchase a snowmobile and drive it around town if it were legal....great way to save on gas during the winter
treetowncartel
Thu, Nov 19, 2009 : 3:17 p.m.
We should allow the use of snowmobiles on the roads in the county, when and if we have enough snow. they are definielty greener than a car since they are lighter and use less fuel. then it wouldn't matter if the road was plowed or not.
Cash
Thu, Nov 19, 2009 : 2:11 p.m.
In case WCRC is reading this....fix N.River Street past Highland cemetery so people can stop driving on the grass instead of the potholes that used to be a road. Forget SUVS....we need ATVs to drive it.
Cash
Thu, Nov 19, 2009 : 2:08 p.m.
Woman in Ypsi (me too! LOL) Public transportation would be GREAT if we HAD it! The poor excuse for PT we have in Washtenaw County is a reason we have such horrible streets. I can go to Michigan's sparsely populated thumb and get better public transportation than I get here. If only we had a strong county executive instead of the boatload of county commissioners all fighting for their own turf and ignoring the best interests of the entire county as a whole...and our largest city administrators are out of touch with the rest of the county (and sounds like they are out of touch with a lot of Ann Arborites too). There's LOTS of talk...and NO action. Just my opinion.
Sling Blade
Thu, Nov 19, 2009 : 2:05 p.m.
It's great to see the county resurfacing Carpenter Rd. with cold patch between Washtenaw & Packard, was that suppose to be a joke? Nice job on the bike path on Platt Rd in Pittsfield Township. The bike/walking path was over engineered but I do like the stop ahead and stop signs on the path at all the road crossings and the barriers are nice also. Is that going to be done on all sidewalks in the county without standard cross walk/stop lights so people know to stop before crossing the street? With the barriers how are you going to get maintenance vehicles down the path? Great job by the county for supervising the project though! What I really like are the back roads that get scraped so the shoulder is higher than the road is and water drains into the road instead of the ditch. Just ask Obama for money and you'll get the money to fix all the roads in Washtenaw County. JUST FIX THE ROADS!
John of Saline
Thu, Nov 19, 2009 : 2:03 p.m.
The buses handle snow better than my car that is for sure and is a green trend that works well all year long. Not in my experience. Hour and a half behind in one snowstorm. Then he pulls into the transit center, annouces the bus is changing number, and too bad for me trying to get home. One more hour waiting for thr right bus.
ownrdgd
Thu, Nov 19, 2009 : 2 p.m.
YA there always broke and never have any money to fix the roads and are going to cut back on winter plowing and salting,Yet they always find money so all their big shooter foreman have nice new chevy pick-ups to drive home every night at taxpayers expense for the gas and insurance.I see em at the local party stores most every night after work.I wasent aware of the county owning local stores.Park the perks and fix the roads or we'll turn you in for squandering federal funds.
Woman in Ypsilanti
Thu, Nov 19, 2009 : 1:50 p.m.
John Galt, A nice alternative to owning an SUV is public transportation. The buses handle snow better than my car that is for sure and is a green trend that works well all year long.
John of Saline
Thu, Nov 19, 2009 : 1:49 p.m.
Walmart built that.
Basic Bob
Thu, Nov 19, 2009 : 1:42 p.m.
@John Galt, I drove a rear-wheel drive Chevette in the Lake Erie snow belt for ten winters. Sure it got stuck once or twice, but I was always able to push it out. 4WD is not necessary anywhere in Washtenaw County. I've been driving through the construction on Square Lake Rd in Bloomfield Township, and wondered why we can't get the ARRA money here for US-12 through Pittsfield. They built a multi-lane bubble around Walmart and then it just tapers back to two lanes.
John of Saline
Thu, Nov 19, 2009 : 1:17 p.m.
So much for paving the south end of Stone School and that section of Morgan between Platt and State. Fair amount of traffic there now.
John Galt
Thu, Nov 19, 2009 : 1:03 p.m.
Well.....considering the pitiful state of our roads and infrastructure, this is a good reason to have SUVs and 4-wheel drive vehicles. We will need them to navigate the potholes and cracks that are a typical Michigan road. Not to mention the fact that the snow removal is also cut back. The "green" trend does not work very well in a State with 4-5 months of winter (batteries do not do well in cold, biking is not exactly a viable option in below zero temps and snow, small cars w/o clearance will get stuck, etc.) And our corrupt Federal Government, in their wisdom, decided to waste most of the "stimulus" spending and give it to Wall Street. At least they would employ more people and end-up with something tangible, if they had put it into infrastructure projects.