Anybody who drives the highways and byways of the great state of Michigan can readily tell you what a major new report is showing regarding the state of affairs on our roads and bridges. Things are not getting any better.
Even though the measure is considered to be equal to “holding our own,” the latest report on the condition highway bridges in Michigan shows that our state has more deteriorated condition bridges than any other state in the Midwest. With more than 11-percent of Michigan bridges considered “structurally deficient,” it’s not an enviable position to have, even if we are managing to hold our own.
Yesterday afternoon, the Michigan Transportation Asset Management Council (TAMC) delivered the Michigan 2016 Roads and Bridges Annual Report to the Michigan Legislature and the State Transportation Commission. Michigan Law, MCL 247.659a(9), requires TAMC to file an annual report with the Legislature and State Transportation Commission by May 2nd of each year. The report summarizes road and bridge conditions and provides condition projections into the future. The report also provides a synopsis of TAMC program activities and events over the past year.
During 2016, the TAMC rated the pavement condition of the paved federal-aid eligible roads for the twelfth consecutive year. This data collection included 57,961 lane miles of paved roads in Michigan, including State Freeways and Highways, City Major Streets and County Primary Roads. This effort was achieved through a cooperative effort of individuals from county road commissions, city and village engineering staffs, the Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT), regional planning agencies, and metropolitan planning organizations. In addition, the TAMC also collected pavement conditions on some of Michigan’s paved non-federal aid eligible roads as well.
In terms of physical condition, the report reveals further deterioration of Michigan’s federal aid eligible roads from the previous year with more miles being rated as “poor.” The 2016 condition data indicates 18-percent of these roads are in good condition, 43-percent are in fair condition, and 39-percent are in poor condition; in 2015, the breakdown was 17-percent good, 45-percent fair, and 38-percent poor.
The report also includes data on the condition of all public bridges in Michigan. An analysis of the bridge condition data indicates that state and local bridge owners are “holding their own” despite rising costs and revenue challenges. This year’s report reveals Michigan has 11.1-percent of bridges rated as “structurally deficient.” By way of comparison with other Midwest states, Michigan has a significantly higher percentage of structurally deficient bridges than other Great Lakes state with Wisconsin having 8.7-percent, Indiana 8-percent, Illinois 8.4-percent and Ohio 6.9-percent.
The TAMC Performance Measure Dashboards have been updated to show the condition, operation, and investment in the federal-aid eligible road system and in Michigan’s 11,054 public bridges. The TAMC website also contains an interactive map viewer that allows the public to view road and bridge conditions used in creating the annual reports. In addition to the 2016 Roads and Bridges Annual Report, the TAMC website has previous annual reports available for viewing under the “About Us” section. The 2016 report was approved by the Council on April 26, and can be viewed, along with other past reports, at this link (scroll down on screen to select “Annual Reports”):
http://tamc.mcgi.state.mi.us/TAMC/#/aboutus
The TAMC includes representatives from MDOT, Michigan Municipal League (MML), Michigan Association of Counties (MAC), Michigan Townships Association (MTA), Michigan Association of Regions (MAR), Michigan Transportation Planning Association (MTPA), the County Road Association of Michigan (CRA), and the Michigan Department of Technology, Management and Budget-Center for Shared Solutions (MCSS).
Transportation asset management is a process of managing public assets, such as roads and bridges, based on the long-range condition of the entire transportation system. The TAMC, created in 2002 by the Michigan Legislature, promotes the concept that the transportation system is unified, rather than separated by jurisdictional ownership. Its mission is to recommend an asset management strategy to the State Transportation Commission and the Michigan Legislature for all of Michigan’s roads and bridges.
