Priorities

We are now in October and Plan B – the alternative to Proposal 1 – has yet to be identified, let alone acted on by the legislature. We are running out of time to increase badly needed funding to improve our transportation system. Many speculate that if this issue is not passed by the end of the calendar year, we will have to wait until the next lame duck session to possibly get any additional funding. You’d think this would result in the legislature going full bore on this issue, looking for the compromise that so far has eluded them. However, this does not seem to be the case.

Just this past week, legislation was introduced to increase the speed limit on freeways in the rural areas of the state to 80 miles per hour. In addition, the great debate on large trucks and the impact they have on our roads has sprung up again. These issues are very complicated and emotional and politically charged. Why are these issues coming up now, when the legislature has yet to solve the funding issue they have been working on for the past several years?

The speed limit issue is extremely complicated. There is no doubt that many people drive at speeds that exceed 70 miles per hour – and not only in the rural areas. Others will point to the fact that they feel this is a bad idea, especially given that traffic deaths are up this year – 704 deaths on Michigan roads as of October 1.

The truck issue is the same issue that has been discussed for years in the legislature without any resolution. Why does Michigan allow trucks that weigh twice as much as every other state in the nation?

Speed limits and truck weights are both legitimate issues and should be discussed and addressed – but not until the transportation funding solution has been agreed upon. The priority needs to be on finding a way to fund our badly needed transportation system. Period. Once that has been completed, we can then go on to analyze, discuss, debate, and resolve any other issue out there.