Plan provides $140M in new road funding to Oakland County

State Rep. Mike Harris and the Michigan House last week approved a historic plan to invest well over $3 billion annually to fix roads throughout the state without hiking taxes or taking on debt.

The plan — House Bills 4180-87 and 4230 — would dedicate existing resources toward infrastructure by ending earmarks for corporate incentives and eliminating other wasteful spending. The bills passed the House with bipartisan support.

“On broken Michigan roads, cars rattle over bumps and jolt in and out of gaping potholes,” said Harris, R-Waterford. “Enough is enough. Michigan drivers have heard politicians talk over and over about someday fixing the roads. Those do-nothing days are over. I voted to invest more than $3 billion every year to repair our roads and bridges, so people can get where they need to go safely without paying more in taxes.”

House Republicans’ plan would ensure every cent of state taxes paid at the gas pump goes toward road repairs, a shift that would provide about $1 billion in additional resources each year. The plan would also use $2.2 billion of annual corporate income tax revenues.

Most of the new funding will go to county, city, and village roads, which have been most neglected in recent years, receiving none of the governor’s recent debt-financed road funding. The House Republican plan will provide more than $2.5 billion in new funding to fix local roads around Michigan, including $140 million for the Oakland County Road Commission— a 109% increase.

“Some state highways got fixed in recent years, but many local streets in between our driveways and the highways are in terrible condition,” Harris said. “Michigan can’t keep neglecting local infrastructure. Our bipartisan plan invests the most in the county, city, and village roads people drive around Oakland County and other communities.”

The plan would specifically create a new Neighborhood Roads Fund, which would distribute money to local municipalities based on the number of road miles in the community, not on the ability to generate matching funds.

The bills would also ensure that schools and local governments will maintain full funding even as the state invests other resources into roads. The road-funding plan now advances to the Senate for consideration.