Infrastructure Issues taking shape in Lansing

Three bills have been introduced in the Michigan House of Representatives that move forward the concepts recommended just over a year ago by the Governor’s 21^st Century Infrastructure Commission. HB 5335, 5406, and 5408 would create the Michigan Infrastructure Council and Water Asset Management Council which includes water, sewer and stormwater; and make modifications to the current Transportation Asset Management Council.

The legislation creates a nine-member Infrastructure Council consisting of asset management, financing, and regional asset management planning experts. The council would be supported by numerous state departments including the Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT), the Department of Technology, Management, and Budget (DTMB), the Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ), the Department of Natural Resources (MDNR), the Public Service Commission (MPSC), and the Treasury.

The objective of the council is simple – work with the state and local governments to better track public infrastructure, including roads, water, and sewer lines to allow us to better plan projects to optimize the useful life of these assets and minimize situations where good assets are destroyed in order to repair or replace failed assets.

The three bills set up a structure where the Transportation and Water Asset Management Councils work with local governments and service providers to analyze the condition of the assets and make projections on the useful life of these assets. The legislation also requires plans to be developed on how the assets should be maintained and when they should be replaced.

The Infrastructure Council works as the umbrella organization that oversees the activities of the two management councils. The Infrastructure Council is there to ensure that management practices are further implemented in the state and that coordination takes place between the various infrastructure providers.

SEMCOG is already working with local governments in Southeast Michigan to assist in achieving the goals of these bills. We are working with local governments to create a common GIS file documenting where all of our infrastructure is located. This will be the first objective of the legislation. The second component of an integrated infrastructure program is knowing the age of the infrastructure structures. In some cases, communities have this information and it is integrated into the GIS files, but in other cases it is unknown. SEMCOG is working to assist in this area as well.

Since SEMCOG maintains data maps that include the age of every building in the seven-county region, we can make some assumptions to have a reasonable idea of when the supporting infrastructure was originally put in place, even on a block-by-block basis. This information will be important as the state moves to more intense asset management programs.

The legislation establishes predictive analytics to forecast asset condition and it requires development of a 30-year integrated infrastructure strategy that is updated every five years, a requirement that mirrors the federal requirement for our regional transportation system. It should be noted that SEMCOG is currently in the process of approving the 2045 Regional Transportation Plan for Southeast Michigan.

Of course in the end, we can have all of the information and make the best decisions possible, but if the funds to actually construct the project are not there…well, you know how that story goes. Still, these bills are heading us in the right direction.