Michigan budget agreement ensures continued investment in roads

On this week’s edition of the Talking Michigan Transportation podcast, State Transportation Director Bradley C. Wieferich talks about the Fiscal Year 2027 budget agreement reached last week between Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and legislative leaders.

The budget negotiations also produced an agreement to advance Senate Bill 71 to the governor’s desk.  The bill ensures that unauthorized individuals who illegally climb or breach restricted portions of the Mackinac Bridge will face enhanced penalties.

Wieferich also offers an update on the Rebuilding Michigan program with many projects completed but some major work ongoing across the state, including I-94 west of Detroit, another segment of I-475 in Genesee County, an extension of the US-23 Flex Route in Livingston County, I-96 in Ionia County and I-94 in Berrien County.

Transcript

Welcome And Budget Overview

Jeff Cranson 0:07

Hello, welcome to the Talking Michigan Transportation Podcast. I'm Jeff Cranson. Today I had an opportunity to catch up with MDOT Director Brad Wieferich and talk a little bit about the fiscal year 27 budget that was agreed to by leaders from both the House and the Senate and the Governor's Office. Last week we talked about what the $8.1 billion that flows through MDOT will mean, mostly a bit of a continuation of things that have been going on. This follows some agreements on additional funding for roads and bridges across all systems. That agreement was reached in the fall of 2025. So this year's budget continues a lot of what was agreed to there in terms of the funding and how it'll be distributed. We also talked a little bit about a compromise that was part of the budget agreement that pushed forward a bill to make the Mackinac Bridge a key facility which offers extra protections and extra penalties for trespassers, people who climb on the bridge and often do other nefarious things. And we also talked about rebuilding Michigan and where things stand with that $3.5 billion program, which still has a few years to go with some major, major projects uh across the state, everywhere from Macomb County to Barry and County and including Flint and Genesee County. Uh we've managed to thanks to those funds, uh MDOT has been able to rebuild some of the most heavily traveled freeways and corridors across the state, and that's ongoing, as anybody driving in the state this summer knows. So I hope you enjoy the conversation. Director Brad Wieferich is with me today to talk about the budget wrapping up and what it means to transportation across the state. Um,

Why $8.1B Is Misleading

Jeff Cranson 2:00

and we're gonna touch on some other things kind of related to that. But first, um give me your your first impressions. It's kind of a continuation budget. We're not seeing a lot new, but uh it does sustain a lot of the things we're doing. And I think one thing that people need to understand it's always eye-popping when they see an $8 billion transportation budget that that money, a lot of that money flows through MDOT, but isn't MDOT's money to spend. So you want to talk about that a little bit?

Brad Wieferich 2:27

Yeah, sure, absolutely. I I think first I'd just like to, you know, thank the thank the folks that we work for on our budget this year. Um, you know, the governor's office, obviously very supportive, and the governor is still fixing the damn roads. Um, but also the uh the chairs of our transportation appropriations groups um were were very helpful. And I think we had some really good dialogue and we were able to build trust with them. And quite honestly, this was probably the simplest budget process that I've been through here at MDOT. Uh, you did mention, yes, it's $8.1 billion. That seems like a very, very large number, and it is. Um, I think that also speaks to the needs that are out there as well. Uh, but folks need to remember that $8.1 billion doesn't all go directly to uh MDOT and the state trunk line system. Um, included in there is roughly $2 billion of federal money and about $6 billion of other state restricted monies that get shared, not only with the department, but with our partners at County Road Commissions and cities and villages.

Jeff Cranson 3:36

So when you talk about the restricted monies, I I want to kind of put a fine point on that because I think there's still uh skepticism. There's still people that wonder about you know diversion of funds. And there's a reason why it's set up that way constitutionally, so that uh those those monies do have to go to roads and bridges.

Brad Wieferich 3:56

Absolutely. You know, that's that's Act 51 and served us very well for for many, many years. Um, but as you said, you know, these are are restricted, these are dollars that go to transportation

Act 51 And Restricted Road Funds

Brad Wieferich 4:10

agencies. Uh today that money is primarily through your fuel taxes that you pay at the pump, your registration fees as well. Um, the neighborhood roads fund that was added in last year, which will kick in fully this year, um, is another piece using other funding, and we're we're gonna be working out over the next several months on how exactly that cash flows. But primarily, it yeah, it's restricted funds that are dedicated purposely for transportation activities.

Jeff Cranson 4:45

You mentioned the neighborhood roads fund. That was uh actually kind of an off-cycle agreement uh after the FY26 budget was agreed to, a little later than usual. So let's say early October of 2025. Uh later in the fall, they came up with this idea to channel more money to roads, especially to the locals uh who have been uh feeling like they've been in need while the governor was only able to uh have MDOT bond for state trunk lines, and we put a lot of that money into the most heavily traveled roads. Uh city streets, village streets, county roads, uh felt like they still needed more investment, and that's largely what the neighborhood roads fund does.

Brad Wieferich 5:29

Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. With the rebuilding Michigan bond program, obviously that was directed towards the state trunk lines that carried the highest volumes of traffic, the highest volumes of commercial traffic, and we're really looking for long-term fixes on those. Uh, you know, the governor was able to do that bond program for the state. There are local governments that could have done the same thing, could do the same thing. Um uh county governments or municipalities perhaps, but uh not not road commissions. I'll acknowledge that road commissions didn't have that ability. Um, but we obviously all know that all roads uh need uh investment right now. And I purposely use the word investment, by the way. A lot of times we talk about you know raising taxes and funding. At the end of the day, the the taxpayers are providing an investment in a very valuable asset, and that is our our highway system as well as our modes. It's important that we think of it that way because if we're not keeping up with our investments, we'll actually disinvest and our assets will become less valuable. And at the end of the day, that means more problems for transportation. So I think it's important that

Neighborhood Roads Fund Explained

Brad Wieferich 6:50

we frame things that way so folks understand the value that they're getting for the investment that they're making.

Jeff Cranson 6:57

Yeah, and that leads into uh a point I think we've tried to make over the years about you know what our uh what our great-grandparents and grandparents and parents left to us and how we're keeping it up and ensuring that it's uh it's still there for our uh posterity. And that's why I I can defend bonding, even though it's debt. I think that debt pales next to what a crumbling system would mean in terms of the money that it's gonna cost future generations to maintain it and restore it.

Brad Wieferich 7:29

Absolutely. And when you think about your asset, you know, at the DOT, we look at the the road and transportation systems. Um, think about your car. You could save money by never getting an oil change or or or doing fewer oil changes. But are you really saving money over time? You're actually decreasing the value of your vehicle. It's the same with transportation. If we're not keeping up with those investments, our our asset will continue to lose value.

Jeff Cranson 8:00

Well, to talk for a minute along those lines. Um, when the governor ran in 2018 and there were a lot of ads, I mean, it was the signature issue, fix the damn roads. She also talked about fixing them right. And uh a lot of people uh that build roads at first took that a little personally as if they weren't fixing them right. But what was really meant by that statement was we need to invest properly because a lot of these need to be rebuilt, and all we've been doing are you know low maintenance things just to just to keep them as as passable as possible for as long as possible. And we still do that, obviously. There's a layered approach with asset management, but the bonding plan, rebuilding Michigan, allowed us to really rebuild

Investment Mindset For Road Value

Jeff Cranson 8:45

them correctly, right?

Brad Wieferich 8:47

Absolutely. I think both our our own staff and our contractors and probably our engineering consultants um maybe scratched their head when they said uh we're gonna fix them right. Well, we use, as you mentioned, a very sophisticated asset management approach for determining what is the optimal way that we can make our investments that stretches out the life of the assets, think roads, bridges, etc. Um, you know, if if a road is in good condition, it is far cheaper to keep that road in good condition rather than let it fall into uh a poor condition. Once you get to a poor condition, it's very expensive to rebuild. So for many years, um, as you said, we've kind of held the system together, doing a combination of preventive maintenance and rehabilitation to keep roads in good shape. So we're stretching the dollars, we're stretching the investment, but we can only stretch so far until such point that the road becomes uh you know into a state of disrepair where it must be re uh reconstructed. And I believe that's really what uh what was being said when we said we're gonna fix them right. That means we're actually gonna dig them up, remove them, and replace them. Um without rebuilding Michigan, the funds wouldn't have been there to do that. We would have continued to we're still gonna invest wisely, we're still gonna stretch it, but we just wouldn't be able to get to these big projects that carry huge amounts of traffic that really need a long-term fix.

Jeff Cranson 10:36

And as rebuild Michigan winds down over the next few years, um, we're gonna largely refocus on that asset management program and go back without without any additional investment. Obviously, we're always hopeful uh that the legislature

Fix Them Right Through Asset Management

Jeff Cranson 10:50

can appropriate more money or find a way to uh increase revenue, but that's gonna continue to be a focus and uh MDAT will continue to be a leader in asset management.

Brad Wieferich 11:02

Absolutely. We will continue to focus on that. I will say that the road funding package that we got last year um will give uh road agencies additional money to invest. So there are things that we can do, but again, uh yeah, I tell folks in our department, you know, I think a lot of people were looking at some of the initial numbers that were thrown out, three, four billion dollars. You know, in my 30, almost 31 years at the department, I can't ever say that there was a year where we said, aha, we have all the funding need to make all roads perfect. Um, that's not realistic. Uh, we are grateful for what uh the governor and the legislature did last year, and we will take that additional investment and continue to put it into the transportation system as wisely as possible. But instead of being able to focus on big projects long term, now we're gonna be back to our preventive maintenance, rehabilitation, right fix, right time, in order to uh you know extend the life of our assets as much as possible.

Jeff Cranson 12:12

So the Rebuilding Michigan program, um, this kind of dovetails with uh what you just talked about with the budget, uh, has uh some remaining projects. You know, I said winding down earlier, and overall we are, but uh we're gonna have some going through at least 2029. Um could you just move across the state maybe and kind of highlight some of the bigger ones that are ongoing?

Brad Wieferich 12:36

Yeah, I would say almost all rebuilding Michigan projects are big. Um we did focus again on the highest volume corridors, highest commercial volumes, things that really needed reconstructs. Um, so admittedly, most of this is uh, you know, lower Michigan,

Rebuilding Michigan Project Map

Brad Wieferich 12:55

below US 10-ish. Um, but we do have projects, you know, all the way from the west on I-94 and Barrion County. Um we still have a little bit of work to finish a project uh that we were able to extend uh near Grand Rapids, a couple of big projects in Southeast Michigan and Ann Arbor on 23, uh I-94 up towards uh Macomb County, as well as a couple of active projects right now, uh one on I-94 near uh Detroit Metro Airport, and we're still working on our one of our first progressive design build contracts for I-375 in Detroit. So still uh a considerable amount of work to go east to west. I will say that we are uh in the process right now of procuring the last $700 million of bond funding. Uh the total program was about $3.5 billion. Uh, we were very fortunate in some of our receipts on these. We actually uh received, and my finance folks can explain this better than me, but we see we received premiums on the bonds. So we had additional money that we could allocate to these projects. A lot of them, like the one uh south of Grand Rapids or 94 Macomb County, were on the original list. But due to pressures that we were having in the program when this started, remember this was COVID time and inflation was, you know, just skyrocketing. So we had to kind of uh pull back and you know effectively manage the program. But I'm I'm happy that we were able to add a few of those back in. Uh, but we will have the last $700 million of bond money coming in here shortly, which we really try to tie the receipt of those bond monies to when we're actually going to pay a contractor. So I think a lot of people were like, well, why isn't the money, you know, out the door already? Well, we're still in the contracting process on some of these and that will be uh built over the next few years. And we wanted the timing of the receipt of the bonds to be more closely aligned with those expenditures. And I can probably guess another question would be well, why is it taking six, seven years to do this? Uh think about all the orange barrels that you see out on the road right now. If we tried to do this all within about a three-year time frame, it would have been very difficult to get anywhere.

Jeff Cranson 15:28

I think a lot of people driving around feel like we did.

Brad Wieferich 15:31

Well, we yeah, we did. This was this this was very

Bond Timing And Orange Barrels

Brad Wieferich 15:35

aggressive, what we did on top of our regular program that people are seeing around the state. So if folks are wondering why didn't we, you know, squeeze this all into you know $3.5 billion into two or three years, uh, that wouldn't have worked out very well for traffic and for our customers.

Jeff Cranson 15:52

Yeah, I always like what uh Lieutenant Governor Garland Gilchrist says when people complain about all the work going on and uh you know what it means in terms of getting from here to there, and he says, You're welcome. Right. Yep.

Brad Wieferich 16:03

I'm not gonna say I'm sorry.

Jeff Cranson 16:05

Yep, we're we're fixing your roads and we're fixing them right. Stick around, there's more to come. Right after this short message.

MDOT Message 16:12

If you need to get out and stretch your legs, don't forget about the annual Mackinac Bridge Walk. Make your plans to attend the walk on Labor Day and take in some of the best views in the state of Michigan on the Mighty Mac. For more information, go to Mackinacbridge.org slash walk.

Jeff Cranson 16:30

So you mentioned briefly um in terms of specifics, I-375. Uh that's a project that's been uh up and down. Uh it's been a lot of work to get consensus in the community. Uh that's this involves uh kind of counterintuitive to rebuilding Michigan. This involves removing a freeway, uh, restoring

Mackinac Bridge Walk Message

Jeff Cranson 16:50

a an at-grade boulevard, uh, more connectivity, more walkability, all kinds of advantages to that. Um how do how do you feel about that project right now?

Brad Wieferich 16:59

I'm actually feeling really good about that project right now. Um this is a project that's been in the works probably 20 years or so, and there was a lot of momentum. Uh, we did a lot of community engagement and outreach. One of the things that I saw when I first started working on this program or this project was that uh it's it's very different than anything that I had seen in my 30 years. I used to be a design engineer, I used to be a project manager, I've seen a lot of projects, but this one has a complexity that is to me is really like no other. Um, and it's complex from a design and construction, engineering, technical standpoint, but that wasn't, isn't the most difficult piece on this. The the difficult piece on this is really trying to understand what the vision for this corridor will be. And we have a lot of people that have a lot of input that we need. And obviously at the end of the day, as we remove a piece of freeway and create a boulevard, we're gonna free up real estate, we're gonna free up property that can be used for development. Now, City of Detroit, they drive the bus when it comes to land use, and they're working on that right now. But I think it's important that we continue to uh you know

I-375 Removal And Community Vision

Brad Wieferich 18:30

meet with the community and take input on what that corridor might ultimately be. Um I'll tell you, I'm always fascinated at the history of the city of Detroit. Um, but the story of I-375 and I-75 is very similar to a lot of uh other projects that happened around the nation back in the you know 1950s and 1960s when urban renewal was in vogue. Uh, you know, these freeways took out uh very tight communities of minorities, African Americans. So it it happened all over the US. This is one example. And when we did our environmental uh work or NEPA work early in the project, we know that this project needed to somehow recognize that. I've always said that one project is never going to right or wrong, but what can we do as part of the project to understand, uh, educate and acknowledge uh what happened here and what this uh area once was?

Jeff Cranson 19:38

And I I think across the country it wasn't so much the federal government or state DOTs. It was driven by local leaders, business leaders, mayors, going back in Detroit's case almost to the 40s, uh, and other council members who thought that was progress. They thought uh, you know, urban renewal, taking out these neighborhoods and having a freeway go through them was better for the city. Now, we know in retrospect that that might not have been correct, but um I bristle a little bit at the idea that a bunch of people in Lansing were sitting around the drawing board and saying, let's let's do this to the city. Um that's not how it happened.

Brad Wieferich 20:14

Very, very doubtful that it happened that way. But I will say, you know, these types of projects, um, you know, the big dig in Boston was one of these two that were the catalyst for our environmental review processes that we do today, the National Environmental Policy Act, NEPA, and the requirements that we have in order to make sure that we're actually getting input from all stakeholders. I wasn't alive uh when a lot of these decisions were made here on I-375 when it was built, but I have to imagine that they did likely not have the robust engagement and input opportunities that we have today.

Jeff Cranson 20:58

Yeah, that's that's right. Uh, one other thing I wanted to mention related to the budget, uh, part of that agreement got over the finish line, uh, a long discussed bill sponsored by Senator John DeMoose from Harbor Springs, and he his district includes northern lower peninsula and the eastern upper peninsula. Um, and that's making the Mackinac Bridge a key facility. This all relates to uh some trespassing that went on for uh some some guy who climbed to the top of the bridge just to take pictures and be a social media star. Um, this was a there was a lot of back and forth. It was stalled, and then suddenly we found out that there was an agreement as part of the compromise on the budget. You were at a Mackinac Bridge Authority meeting this week, and I know everybody was really happy about that. So could you talk a little bit about that?

Brad Wieferich 21:45

Yeah, absolutely. This has been really a long time coming, um, and and something that, you know, to me as a as a department engineer seemed like a no brainer. Um we really appreciate the efforts of Senator Demous. He's been Extremely supportive of security issues and all issues really at the Mackinac Bridge Authority. So yeah, to see that come through. And we know that there was alignment with the House of Representatives on this. I think a duplicate bill at one time was was entered in the House. But at the end of the day, we're just very pleased. And I know the Mackinac Bridge

Mackinac Bridge Key Facility Law

Brad Wieferich 22:25

Authority and Executive Director up there, Kim Nowak, are very excited, very, very happy, and very appreciative of Senator De Moose and the legislature for getting that through.

Jeff Cranson 22:38

Yeah. Well, the only other thing I wanted to mention real quickly, since you were in northern Michigan the last couple of days, update on the latest flooding. I want to say the flooding, but there's been so much. There's been between the ice storm and the other floods, like the North Region staff, I talked to Bill Wall, who's the associate region engineer and acting region engineer now up there. But can you talk a little bit about that and the response to that?

Brad Wieferich 23:03

Yeah. You know, the North Region folks have been great in their response. And uh quite honestly, I don't envy them. Uh, you know, not only this year, we had last year we also had a devastating ice storm that went across northern lower Michigan. Uh, had more of it this spring. The latest round with these very localized but super intense storms has created some pretty amazing and devastating uh destruction on some of the state highways up there. You know, we've had a few of these this year around the states where our culvert gets washed out and our folks are able to jump out there and, you know, within a matter of weeks, able to replace it and get traffic open, which is a testament to the you know, the skill and ability of our people and their in their dedication. But one specific route that

Flood Damage On M-119 Bluffs

Brad Wieferich 23:55

I think is worth mentioning is M119. Harbor Springs up to Cross Village. Um, it's the tunnel of trees, very narrow roadway. Uh, doesn't even have a center line painted on it. For those of us that have been up there, especially in the peak color time, um, it's it's just a very beautiful, fantastic drive. Unfortunately, much of that roadway is on bluffs. And with these localized, super intense storms, we've had some unbelievable washouts. These are not just culverts, you know, that were blown out and we need to go in there, dig them out, and reset them and put the road back. You're talking about entire hillsides. The damage goes uh well before and well off of our the right of way that the road sits on, some cases several hundred yards. So I I think people need to get a little perspective on this and understand the magnitude of the devastation up there. We're working very hard with uh people with very uh you know specialty knowledge of how to do this sort of slope repair. This is more like stuff they see in the mountains, right? You know, that we we don't have here in Michigan. These costs are going to be considerable. They're gonna be more than, probably certainly more than what we allocate for the entire northern lower uh region in any given year, probably several years. So, you know, we at MDOT are working very hard to frame the issues, to understand the scope, to understand what's even possible. But I think there's going to have to be bigger discussions about, you know, how and when uh we we do any repairs on those roadways.

Jeff Cranson 25:47

Yeah, I think we're gonna have to talk a lot more about building for resiliency and adjusting to the to the climate and what's going on. That's gonna be an ongoing problem. But thank you very much for taking time to do this and and go over this. I think uh, you know, we call it a continuation budget, and that's really what it is. And given what's going on with the state and the austerity that's necessary right now, um, I feel

Closing Thanks And Credits

Jeff Cranson 26:10

like there is still uh a solid commitment to transportation, so that's good.

Brad Wieferich 26:15

Absolutely. Thanks, Jeff. Appreciate your time and uh always great to talk about transportation.

Jeff Cranson 26:21

I'd like to thank you once more for tuning in to Talking Machine Transportation. You can find show notes and more on Apple Podcasts or Bud Sprout. I also want to acknowledge the talented people who help make this a reality each week, starting with Randy Debler, who skillfully edits the audio, Jesse Ball, who proofs the content, and Jacke Salinas, who posts the podcast to various platforms, and transcribes the audio to make it accessible to all.