Road agencies see savings if winter proves mild

By MICHAEL KRANSZ
Capital News Service
LANSING — With predictions of a mild winter ahead, some county road commissions anticipate that savings on fuel and road salt will funnel into spring road projects such as pothole repair. According to National Oceanic and Atmosphere Administration predictions for December through February, Michigan’s winter has a greater than 50 percent chance of above-average temperatures and a 40 percent chance to be less snowy than average. In the meantime, a delayed start to colder temperatures and snowfall is giving the commissions a chance to “catch their breath” from the workloads of past winters and catch up on road maintenance, said Dirk Heckman, the manager and engineer at the Mackinac County Road Commission. Projects include brush removal, drainage ditch clearing and rebuilding road shoulders, Heckman said. “We had not been able to do this in the previous fall and early winter months,” Heckman said.

More schools move to private bus services

By MICHAEL KRANSZ
Capital News Service
LANSING — The number of Michigan school districts contracting out at least a part of their transportation services increased 150 percent from 2010 to 2014, according to a think tank survey. The survey by the Mackinac Center for Public Policy in Midland recorded 78 school districts opting for some privatized transportation services during that time, in addition to 53 already contracting out. There are about 540 districts in the state, according to the Department of Education. And while some districts are contracting out only a portion of the service, such as employment, most are privatizing their whole bus operation, said James Hohman, assistant director of fiscal policy at the center. Michigan School Business Officials Associate Executive Director Scott Little said the switch to privatized transportation services took off shortly after the Great Recession began in late 2007, largely as an effort to recoup money lost from declining student populations and state funding.

Special lane designations would increase mass transit efficiency

By STEPHANIE HERNANDEZ McGAVIN
Capital News Service
LANSING — A new bill to allow local transit agencies to construct Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) lanes on state highways would make mass transit more efficient, advocates say. The bill would qualify any highway marked as a M-, U.S.- or I- route for BRT lanes. Rep. Sam Singh, an East Lansing Democrat who introduced the bill, said the BRT concept is relatively new to the state and the proposal would help designate the personal bus lane required for rapid transit and allow the state to work with local agencies in creating such lanes. “We need to make sure we have some vibrant public transit in all of our metropolitan areas,” Singh said. As a former member of the Lansing Capital Area Transportation Authority board of directors, Singh said he has a first-hand perspective on public transit as an economic development tool in mid-Michigan.

State will test more high-speed rails

By YUEHAN LIU
Capital News Service
LANSING—Part of the Michigan passenger rail service goes 110 miles an hour, but not all of it. Next year the state will test additional tracks to support that speed along the Amtrak route between Detroit and Chicago. “We have three Amtrak trains that run from Michigan to Chicago and the rider shift numbers are continuing to go up,” Kirk Steudle, director of the Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT), said. “And we are improving the rail line. So 110 is our goal to enhance the speed and cut down the time between Detroit and Chicago.