Two days ago, a beaming Gov. Rick Snyder opened the annual conference of our state?s economic and political elites on an upbeat note. He cited the official themes the Detroit Regional Chamber of Commerce set for their annual Mackinac Conference. "Innovation, Collaboration and the Twenty-First Century Global Marketplace." Those are things he himself is all about.
Whether you agree with his positions or not, this governor wants what he thinks are rational policies aimed at giving this state a future. But the morning after his triumphant welcome, the governor had to again admit defeat over an issue that shouldn't even be an issue: Road funding. Too many Michigan roads are in poor shape, and a whole lot more are rapidly getting worse. Earlier this year, the Michigan Department of Transportation estimated ninety per cent of our roads are in good or fair condition, which seemed too high to me.
But the state also calculated that unless we start investing far more heavily in our roads, only 44 percent will be in acceptable shape a mere eight years from now. That would be a disaster.
A strike by Canadian railway workers threatens to slow or shut down production at some U.S. auto plants.
5,000 Canadian Pacific Railway workers walked off the job early Wednesday because of a dispute with management over a new contract.
Large numbers of finished vehicles and auto parts come to U.S. factories via Canadian Pacific.
Ford and General Motors say they don't expect the strike to affect production - at this time.
Chrysler says it is actively working to mitigate any impact to its operations through alternative shipment methods, such as trucks.
The longer the strike goes, the greater the chance it could affect the U.S. auto industry. The Canadian Labor Ministry says it has the authority to intervene and will do that if the two sides haven't reached a deal by Monday.
The Lake Michigan car ferry S.S. Badger started what could be its final sailing season today.
The historic ship burns coal as its fuel and dumps the leftover coal ash into Lake Michigan.
The EPA has said the ship needs to stop this practice. They've given the owners until the end of this year to come up with a solution, but the owners want more time.
Dave Alexander of MLive reported on a press conference held by the ship's owners this morning:
Before the 9:15 a.m. departure from its Ludington dock for the four-hour trip across a lumpy Lake Michigan to Manitowoc, Wis., Lake Michigan Carferry co-owner Bob Manglitz announced his company has made application to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to continue its coal ash dumping practices another five years.
Michigan Radio's Sarah Hulett reported on legislation in the U.S. House that "would allow the Badger to continue to dump coal ash because it's been nominated as a national historic landmark." She reports environmental groups are fighting against the designation.
Time is running out for Congress to pass a new federal transportation funding bill.
The last funding bill expired in 2009. Congress has passed a series of extensions of the old law since then.
A coalition of Michigan environmental groups and unions say the ongoing delay is hurting state roads.
Mark Schauer is the head of the BlueGreen Alliance. The former Michigan congressman says the state’s roads are deteriorating, in part, because Congress can’t agree on a new six year federal transportation spending plan.
“I’m sure I’m not the only one that had to replace a tire as a result of hitting a huge pothole," says Schauer.
Michigan Congressmen Dave Camp and Fred Upton are on the special House-Senate conference committee working on the transportation bill. A spokeswoman for the committee says discussions continue with hopes of reaching an agreement before the deadline at the end of next month.
As part of the work on the "Gateway Project," the Michigan Department of Transportation opened an access road that will move truck traffic coming from Canada over the Ambassador Bridge directly on to nearby highways.
Prior to the road opening, trucks had to drive on secondary streets in southwest Detroit to get to the highways.
The Detroit Free Press reports the road opened yesterday, and a ceremony for the opening is planned for today.
The Detroit News reports the opening comes 5 days ahead of schedule, but because of the legal battles around the Gateway Project, the road opening is really years behind schedule.
In actuality, the opening of the access road comes about four years behind schedule because of protracted legal battles between MDOT and the Detroit International Bridge Co. over the $230 million Gateway Project.
When completely finished, the project will remove up to 10,000 trucks a day from secondary streets in southwest Detroit and move them directly to and from the Ambassador Bridge plaza to nearby freeways.
The project was supposed to be a partnership between MDOT and the Detroit International Bridge Company, but a judge found the DIBC to be in civil contempt of court after the company didn't follow the judge's orders to complete the project.
On March 8, the judge ordered the DIBC to cede control of its portion of the project and ordered MDOT to complete the remaining work.
MDOT says 95 percent of the new truck route is completed, and about 20 percent of the overall project is completed. When will it be finished? MDOT says their goal is to be done with the project "within a year and hopefully much sooner."
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