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  • Possible changes for Michigan road funding

    Here are just three potential changes which could greatly affect road funding — including bike funding — throughout Michigan.

    The Good

    According to Crain’s Detroit Business, Governor Rick Synder will call for changes to how Michigan collects tax revenues on motor vehicle fuel. Rather than collect a fixed amount per gallon sold at the pump, he is proposing a percent rate on the wholesale fuel cost. While it won’t raise taxes initially, the total taxes collected will increase with inflation and fuel price increases.

    It makes sense to us.

    Getting the state legislature to increase the fuel tax, something that hasn’t happened in 14 years, is difficult. The Governor’s proposal removes the need to vote on any tax increases.

    The Bad

    According to the Spinal Column newspaper, State Senator Howard Walker, a Republican from Traverse City, also wants to eliminate fuel taxes at the pump. He wants to replace the lost tax funding by raising the state sales tax by 1%.

    That’s right. Rather than have motorists pay for roads, everyone would.

    Those who drive more, say perhaps people in northern parts of the state, would pay less for their roads while those who drive less or not at all would pick up the tab. This proposal would subsidize driving more than we already do.

    According to a recent national study, only 51% of road costs are paid by road users. This drop that percentage further with the difference coming from general tax sources.

    The Ugly

    The Washington Post has this article outlining the very real possibility that Transportation Enhancement funding could be stripped from the next federal transportation bill — or at least made optional at the state level. Enhancements represents about 2% of the total transportation bill.

    Losing Transportation Enhancement funding would be devastating to bike facilities development in Michigan and across the U.S..

    This is a primary source of funding for on-road improvements, like the 16 miles of new bike lanes in Southwest Detroit. This funding also supports trail development such as the Detroit RiverWalk and Dequindre Cut. And finally, it’s also used for streetscaping which improves walkability while often providing bike parking.

    While cyclists and others have banded together to fight off prior attacks on this funding, times are different.

    Please contact your Congressperson to let them know we cannot lose Transportation Enhancements.

     

  • New custom bicycle exhibit at CCS in Detroit

    The Center Galleries at the College for Creative Studies (CCS) has an interesting exhibit of locally-built custom Detroit bicycles called “T?te de la Course.”

    The Knight Arts blog has this to say:

    Aside from all of the cultural implications of cycling, “T?te de la Course” is really a celebration of the art behind the mechanics… The whole show seems to express an idea of where cycling came from, with a lens pointed toward the future.

    The exhibit runs through November 19th. The Center Galleries are located at the CCS Manoogian Visual Resource Center at 301 Frederick Douglas, which is directly east of the Detroit Institute of Arts.

  • Haunted bikes tours show Detroit isn’t that scary

    This is a really interesting article from Wayne State University’s The South End.

    While the article is primarily about the haunted bike tours offered through Wheelhouse Detroit, there is also a commentary on how bike tours can dispel Detroit stereotypes.

    Scott Galbraith and Cathy Kester, who participated in the Haunted Detroit tour, come from the Lansing area to visit Detroit about once a week.

    “We had been to a number of those places (on the tour) or driven by them and just seeing them at a different perspective outside on your bike and what not — they were all fun,” Kester said. “I think it’s good for the city, absolutely. It gives something else for people to do besides the sporting events and bars and restaurants, or casinos.”

    Biking through the city on a tour also helps to defeat Detroit’s stereotype as being unsafe or completely rundown, Galbraith said.

    “Detroit has a reputation,” he said. “The Cass Corridor is not the safest area, but to go through and feel safe and feel at ease and go through the park there, things like that, I guess it just gives you a new perspective that not everything you hear is always true and give it a chance.”

    This Friday, October 28th is the next Detroit Critical Mass ride at 6:30pm from the corner Trumbull and Warren. Costumes are recommended.

  • Time to combine county government with road commission

    Michigan Governor Rick Snyder is delivering his message on infrastructure and transportation next Wednesday.

    Of course we want him to support multi-modal investments and complete streets.

    We also want him to discuss Michigan’s interesting arrangement where county road commissions are in nearly all cases separate from county government.

    We recently wrote the Governor and included the following thought:

    Under Michigan’s unified form and general law county governments can manage parks, human services, health departments, airports, sewers, water supply, refuge collection, lake improvements, and libraries — but not roads. This means we have to have a separate county government just for roads, Having two governments with similar departments (e.g. law, planning, environmental) is redundant and wasteful. Requiring a county charter to eliminate this waste is not an easy solution.

    Road Commissions were established in 1894 and based on Bay County’s Stone Road District of 1883. It’s time to move into the twenty-first century by changing state laws to allow the consolidation of county government and road commissions. ACT 51 should provide financial incentives to counties that consolidate in this manner.

    Based on an earlier Detroit News article, he might be considering pushing for such consolidations.

    Snyder is expected to call for efficiencies and reforms, including performance-measuring “dashboards” and simplified financial statements he has demanded from state and local governments. The governor also wants to encourage consolidation and is examining whether a regional approach to local roads makes sense, sources said.

    What does that mean to cyclists? Consolidation can save transportation money while also bringing greater accountability to the public. If a county is not building complete streets, cyclists should be able to contact their elected county commissioners to demand change.

    Regional approaches would be a benefit as well. It’s difficult advocating for bicycling facilities among the many dozens of road agencies across Metro Detroit. Having fewer would make that easier while producing more consistent results.

    And regional approaches mean bike lanes would less likely end at a city’s borders.

  • Detroit Tweed Ride this Sunday

    Get your wheels and wool ready. This Sunday is the next Detroit Tweed Ride.

    You can RSVP on Facebook.