May 13, 2008 -- This year's severe winter, and the winter maintenance services needed to keep state highways open for traffic, has resulted in higher costs for the Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT). As a consequence, MDOT is forced to scale back summer maintenance activities for the remainder of the fiscal year, which ends on Sept. 30.
Winter maintenance is budgeted using the average of the last five winters to determine the current year's allotment. This winter, costs for snow and ice removal exceeded the average by approximately $18 million. This means that summer maintenance activities must be reduced by $18 million to remain within this year's budget.
"Although the need for winter maintenance services has exceeded available funding, we continue to view the safety of motorists on Michigan's roadways as our highest priority," said MDOT Director Kirk T. Steudle.
Maintenance of state trunklines is funded with state transportation revenue from the state gas tax and vehicle registration fees. Revenues have declined during the past few years due to higher gas prices and more fuel-efficient vehicles - both resulting in decreased fuel consumption.
"We must be good stewards of the taxpayers' dollars, and unfortunately that means cutting back on some activities to stay within the overall maintenance budget," said Jon Reincke, MDOT Engineer of Maintenance.
The cutbacks include a variety of items, such as mowing, shoulder and curb sweeping, litter pickup, replacing aging snowplows and heavy equipment, the Summer Youth Corps program, ditch cleaning and brush removal, along with placing a freeze on hiring maintenance personnel where vacancies currently exist.
The reduction in maintenance activities equates to about a 20 percent decrease in the overall summer maintenance budget, which includes all road maintenance on the state trunkline system (M, I and U.S. routes).
"Our first priority is safety," said MDOT Chief Operations Officer Larry Tibbits. "We will continue to fund those critical items that keep Michigan highways safe for all motorists."
The items MDOT will continue to fund include: energy costs for traffic signals and urban freeway lighting; road surface maintenance, including pothole patching; emergency repairs to bridges, culverts, guardrails and signs; janitorial maintenance and trash removal for rest areas and roadside parks; litter pick-up to support the department's Adopt-A-Highway volunteer program; removal of large debris and dead animals from the traveled portion of the roadways; and lift bridge operations.
"These cuts will not impact major highway and bridge construction projects, which are funded primarily with federal transportation funds," said Steudle.
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