Chair of civil and environmental engineering interviewed by the Detroit Free Press on the state of Michigan's roads
Joseph Hummer, professor and chair of civil and environmental engineerings was recently interviewed by the Detroit Free Press on the state of Michigan's roads. Excerpt below:
Michigan's flat 19-cent-per-gallon fuel tax hasn't kept pace with inflation, especially as vehicles have become more fuel-efficient. State trunkline spending in 2015 was $141 million, down from $195.3 million in 2014 and $155 million in 2010, according to MDOT.
Joe Hummer, a professor of civil and environmental engineering at Wayne State University in Detroit, said one of the biggest factors in all of it is money.
"Every DOT has projects that just go bad," he said. But in general, Michigan's crumbling roads are the result of "chronic underfunding."
"When they get the money, they know how to do it well," Hummer said.