LANSING ? Michigan House Speaker Jase Bolger announced on Wednesday 124 special road projects being tackled with $115 million during this year’s construction season and boasted that $40 million of the funds are being used in Democratic districts.
The last batch of $115 million in road projects nearly was entirely in Republican districts.
Mr. Bolger (R-Marshall) said in a statement work still needs to be done on the issue, but the projects announced on Wednesday were a product of working with both sides of the aisle and prioritizing state dollars toward roads. He also expressed disappointment that it had to be mentioned some funds indeed went to Democratic districts.
“Although roads and bridges shouldn’t be a political issue, some people repeatedly rush to political calculations,” Bolger said. “That may mean something to people in Lansing, but the people who work hard every day in our communities just want their roads fixed. We still have a lot of work to do, but nearly $870 million has been poured into Michigan’s roads in the past few years to begin building a better foundation for our drivers.”
Katie Carey, spokesperson for House Democrats, said the number is still lopsided with more projects in House Republican districts than House Democratic districts.
“There’s definitely some improvement from the first round of projects. … But whatever letter comes after somebody’s name definitely played a role in this,” she said.
Robert McCann, spokesperson for Senate Democrats, said the projects chosen raise significant questions on whether decisions were based on need, or if they were made based on politics.
“We’re not happy with how they were chosen,” he said. “These were projects that were supposed to be run through the formula and weren’t.”
But Bolger spokesperson Ari Adler said in some cases the Senate member representing the area may be a Democrat, further balancing out the partisan split of the projects.
Some of the bigger projects of the 124 announced include $4 million for University Drive over I-75 in the 12th Senate and 29th House districts; $3.3 million at Muskegon Avenue in the 34th Senate and 92nd House districts; $3.86 million for River Road in the 36th Senate and 103rd House districts; $3 million for I-69 to Marshall Circle in the 19th Senate and the 63rd House districts; and $2.3 million on M-45 north to Remembrance Road in the 28th Senate and 74th House districts.
Bolger said work will continue throughout the summer on reaching an agreement on how to better fund the state’s infrastructure.
“Underinvestment in our roads has been a problem for decades and, like our work on reforming government spending, paying down debt and settling Detroit’s past, we will continue to solve long neglected problems like this from our past for a brighter future,” he said. “But, our working women and men have been very clear when it comes to road problems: they want to see us increase efficiency, improve quality, add fairness and dedicate all existing resources possible before asking them for more money from them to fix our roads and bridges.”
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