LANSING, Mich. — It is pothole season in Michigan which means holes will be patched until there's a more permanent fix.
On Wednesday, Lieutenant Gov. Garlin Gilchrist III was in Lansing rolling up his sleeves to highlight the major investment proposed in Gov. Gretchen Whitmer's budget.
But some have questions about the timing of this push to expedite road projects.
“The state budget that we introduced has $6.3 billion for additional accelerated fixes of bridges and state roads; state trunk line roads in particular. We are really focused on delivering more of that for the people," said Gilchrist.
Whitmer announced an executive directive Wednesday to expedite short-term road repairs during the spring as a temporary fix before major construction to fix roads during the summer. That money, Gilchrist says, will shorten the project timelines.
“Basically seven or eight or nine years worth of projects and compress that within the five year time span, because that's how important this is," he said.
Whitmer proposed a total of $6.3 billion in her budget for the coming fiscal year. Her office is calling that the state's biggest transportation investment in Michigan history.
The push on road projects is not new. It's been one of the Governor's biggest campaign promises since she first announced her candidacy in 2017.
Michigan GOP Spokesman Gus Portela says he believes this push to fix the roads now, in an election year, is motivated more by politics than improving quality of life for Michiganders.
“We're seeing Governor Whitmer and Lieutenant Governor Gilchrist finally prioritizing our roads and actually filling the potholes that she said she was going to do," Portela said. "So she's clearly seeing what’s moving folks in the local polling out there. It's very clear that she follows the political science.”
During Whitmer's time in office the administration says it has fixed more than 13,000 roads and 903 bridges across the state.
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