A broken transportation system hits Michiganders in the pocketbook. Every year, our friends and neighbors spend millions of dollars on car repairs after driving on crumbling streets.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
How we fund transportation in this country is broken. You all pay a gasoline tax, right? Well, cars go farther, we get electric cars, and so on. And then we do more with the money than just build roads. We do bike lanes and mass transit.
Whether stuck in traffic because of construction or fixing a flat tire after hitting a pothole, Michiganders feel frustrated with the quality of our roads.
We hear a lot about rebuilding Detroit, and we just spent $70 billion to bail out the auto industry - well, they need to be cost competitive, too. If they have high-cost energy, those suppliers are going to move to Japan or Mexico instead of Michigan and Tennessee.
When people think about Michigan, they usually think about cars.
The road system that we've come to depend on, the road system that we built our wealth on and our power on, is falling apart.
At some point, if you don't take care of the roads today, it's like any other maintenance issue: you're going to end up paying a lot more down the road.
If we expect to continue our leadership in the global economy, we must invest in a long-term transportation plan -f or both highways and transit programs. Too many of our roads, bridges, and railways have fallen into disrepair.
For every $1 billion we invest in public transportation, we create 30,000 jobs, save thousands of dollars a year for each commuter, and dramatically cut greenhouse gas emissions.
In America, people buy cars, and they put very little money down. They get a car, and they go to work. The work pays them a salary; the salary allows them to pay for the car over time. The car pays for itself.
The road to ruin is always in good repair, and the travellers pay the expense of it.