Transportation & Roads
Changing preferences challenge transportation agencies
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By STEPHANIE HERNANDEZ McGAVIN
Capital News Service
LANSING — Increased fuel efficiency, an insufficient gas tax and younger generations’ disinterest in owning cars have created a complicated combination of financial concerns for Michigan transportation agencies. Experts predict it’s not likely to change soon. Department of Transportation (MDOT) Director Kirk Steudle said younger generations increasingly depend on other forms of transportation as they put off a major car purchase. That trend “showed up in a survey in the mid-2000s, where it said the public wanted more access to move around and they wanted different choices on how to move around. In fact, we had never gotten that response before, and we’d been doing the long-range plan for decades,” Steudle said.