LANSING – In discussing the amount of money proposed by Governor Rick Snyder to go to the Department of Transportation this fiscal year, Sen. John Pappageorge suggested upping the ante for what he and others expect will be a long season of filling potholes.
Pappageorge (R-Troy) off-handedly proposed to Senate Appropriations Committee members on Wednesday that $100 million be put in a supplemental for pothole maintenance this spring. He said $39.1 million should go to the counties and the state, while $21.8 million went to locals. He also suggested using some of the money from the Roads and Recovery Fund established last year for the same purpose.
Pappageorge, chair of the Senate Appropriations Transportation Subcommittee, made his comments as backers of expanding the state’s transportation revenue stream warn that the state’s roads will suffer severe damage once the weather warms following one of the coldest winters on record.
Governor Rick Snyder, one of those supporters, said hopefully the public is appreciating the need to invest more in roads.
“This is by far one of the most challenging winters I think most of us have lived through, so it’s more expensive and more challenging,” he told reporters. “Pothole season has started early this year. There’s some serious ones and we don’t even have the thaw yet.”
This story was provided by Gongwer News Service. To subscribe, click on Gongwer.Com
