Dueling roads funding plans released in Lansing. Why is it so hard to ‘fix the damn roads’?

Governor Gretchen Whitmer released her much-anticipated roads funding plan this week. House Republicans have released their own. It’s setting up the possibility that we could see a bi-partisan roads deal this year.

Recent reports say the state needs $3.9 billion dollars in new road funding. Whitmer’s plan calls for $3 billion; House Republicans’ plan is for $3.1 billion.

It was exactly 10 years ago that we followed along as then-Governor Republican Rick Snyder, searched for a roads deal. (We spent some time this week reminiscing on the stories). Eventually, a plan was passed. But, Whitmer was not as successful when she first took office in 2019 on the campaign platform of ‘fixing the damn roads.’

It’s all to say: road funding is a hard sell in Michigan. And has been for a long-time.

On today’s It’s Just Politics, we talk with Truscott Rossman CEO John Truscott, former Communications Director for Governor John Engler, about how he sold a roads plan decades ago. Plus, Bridge Michigan’s Simon Shuster joins the show to dig into Whtimer’s plan (A hint? Pot for potholes. Really).

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