LANSING —Today, the Michigan Section of the American Society of Civil Engineers released its 2018 Report Card for Michigan’s Infrastructure. Michigan received an overall grade of D+, but received a D- for its roads because 39 percent of the 120,000 miles of paved roads are rated in poor condition, 43 percent rated in fair condition and 18 percent rated in good condition. In response, state Rep. Scott Dianda (D-Calumet) issued the following statement:
“It’s now known across the country that Michigan’s roads are terrible and not really getting much better anytime soon. The 2015 Republican plan for roads isn’t generating the funding we actually need, and the additional money we recently approved for local roads is nice, but isn’t going to fully solve the problem. If you’re buying paint, you can skip getting it shaken because the roads under this administration and Michigan Department of Transportation Director Steudle will do that for you. Good roads mean opportunity for Michiganders because it strengthens the businesses already here while attracting new ones — and new jobs — to the state. We need to get busy and fund our roads properly so we’re actually repairing, rebuilding and maintaining them and not just patching potholes every year.”