Once down, trains and cars prove their staying power

By ERIC FREEDMAN
Capital News Service
LANSING – These have been hard times for train travel and the auto industry in Michigan, but there are signs of recovery. Statewide ridership on Michigan’s three Amtrak routes – the Wolverine, Blue Water and Pere Marquette – hit 797,017 in 2011 and 782,286 in 2012, according to Michigan Department of Transportation statistics, up by more than 100,000 since 2009. And work has started on track improvement projects that will enable passenger trains to travel as fast as 100 mph in mid-Michigan and eventually cut travel time between Chicago and Detroit/Pontiac from about 6½ to 4½ hours, officials said. In a bid to lure more passengers, Amtrak has started to allow a limited number of bicycles aboard its Blue Water line running between Port Huron and Chicago, with stops in East Lansing, Battle Creek and Kalamazoo. The railroad also announced plans to add cellular-connected Wi-Fi next year.

What's in a name? that which we call a road…

By ERIC FREEDMAN
Capital News Service
LANSING – You already drive through Kent, Ottawa and Allegan counties on the Gerald R. Freeway – Interstate 196 – and take The Lodge – named for former Detroit Mayor John C. Lodge – in Oakland and Wayne counties. The Walter P. Reuther Freeway – Interstate 696 in Metro Detroit – already honors the legendary United Auto Workers president, while M-6 on the south side of Grand Rapids carries the name of the late U.S. Rep. Paul Henry. Now some legislators want you to tool along the First Michigan Colored Infantry Regiment Memorial Highway – Interstate 375 in Wayne County – and along the Officer Eric Zapata Memorial Highway – Interstate 94 – in Kalamazoo County. In Jackson, you might someday cross the Officer James Bonneau Memorial Bridge. And in Shiawassee County, the Graham Barlow Jr. WWII Memorial Highway – M-71 – could become your route through the village of Vernon.

Good news, pothole dodgers: orange cones coming soon

By KYLE CAMPBELL
Capital News Service
LANSING — With the backing of a $3.7 billion proposal for road and bridge maintenance from Gov. Rick Snyder, the Department of Transportation (MDOT) is set to move forward on 14 highway construction projects in Northern Michigan this year. The projects are laid out in the department’s five-year plan, which includes 50 road and 12 bridge renovation projects between 2013 and 2017 in the North and Superior regions. James Lake, communications specialist for MDOT’s Superior Region, said most these projects were in the works years before they began surfacing in five-year plans, meaning even without all of the money requested by Snyder, this year’s projects will be able to move forward. The renovations are set to begin with the resurfacing of a 6.3-mile stretch of M-37 in Wexford County between M-115 and 4 Road, which could start in March, depending on weather, said Bob Felt, communications specialist for MDOT’s North Region. The other four Lower Peninsula projects are set to start during early in the summer and include two minor alterations to US-31 in Emmet County, restoration of a 5.5-mile stretch of M-88 in Antrim County and 1.5 miles of rehabilitation to US-31 near Traverse City.

Bad roads could turn tourists away

By JUSTINE McGUIRE
Capital News Service
LANSING – Michigan’s deteriorating roads aren’t equipped to handle the extra traffic from the growing number of tourists throughout the state, and some officials fear bad roads could turn tourists away or give them a bad first impression. A lot of money goes into Pure Michigan and it’s been “wildly successful,” but the first impression of Michigan for many people is bad, dirty roads full of potholes that detract from the state’s beauty, said Kirk Steudle, director of the Department of Transportation (MDOT). Pure Michigan is an ad campaign that promotes the state as a tourism destination. Indicators of statewide tourism increases include record hotel occupancy in 2012 and increased out-of-state spending, according the Michigan Economic Development Corp. Pat Black, director of the Marquette County Convention and Visitors Bureau, said, “It’s great the state gives us $25 million a year for Pure Michigan, but there are more and more people on the roads wearing them down.”
“We’re really shooting ourselves in the foot,” Black said.

West Michigan bridge project on track — if there's enough money

By CORTNEY ERNDT
Capital News Service
LANSING – The Department of Transportation (MDOT) anticipates less traffic congestion when the M-231 bridge, forecasted to be the sixth-longest bridge in Michigan, is done in three years. The bridge will measure about 3,700 feet long and 47 feet high, MDOT said. After construction, M-231 will stretch 7 miles and connect M-45 (Lake Michigan Drive) to I-96 and M-104. MDOT Director Kirk Steudle said, “Just the crossing of the Grand River will be huge from a mobility standpoint.”
Steudle said there are currently 20 crossings of the Grand River in Kent County. MDOT Grand Region communications representative John Richard said it will be the fourth Grand River crossing in Ottawa County.

As road money declines, salt, labor cost more

By SILU GUO
Capital News Service
LANSING – State and local transportation agencies face a steady decrease in road funding and an increase in costs, and no short-term solution is likely. “We are at a critical point,” said Bob Felt of the Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) Office of Communications. “We may not have enough state funding.”
According to MDOT, state level transportation funding has been decreasing for the past 10 years and will continue to drop until 2015. “It peaked in 2004 and kept declining after that,” Felt said. Receipts from gasoline taxes, diesel taxes, vehicle registration fees and other revenues are the main sources of the state’s transportation funding, had fallen to less than $1.86 billion in fiscal year 2012.