You probably noticed something on your way to work this morning -- the state's highways are kind of a mess. Potholes, cracks, freeway overpasses seemingly held together by those plywood support things, etc.
A big reason for the condition of our roads, beyond the decades of systematic neglect by our state government, is that the excessive damage created by overweight trucks. Currently the fines and fees schedule for the trucking industry doesn't repay the state for the cost of the trucking industry's impact on the roads. But that may change thanks to a bipartisan effort to reform licenses and fines for the trucking industry. Whether those reforms could make a difference is another matter altogether.
Detroit Free Press: Rep. Wayne Schmidt, R-Traverse City, chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, and Rep. Marilyn Lane, D-Fraser, the committee vice chairwoman, said it’s difficult to sell Snyder’s proposal to raise an extra $1.2 billion a year in road revenues by increasing fuel taxes and vehicle registration fees until inequities such as overweight truck permit fees are addressed.
“We’re looking at adjusting some of those fees,” Schmidt told the Free Press. However, “you could double them and it’s not going to make much difference.”
The Michigan Department of Transportation raised $4.5 million from the sale of about 104,000 special permits for oversize and overweight trucks in the 2011-12 fiscal year. Overweight loads accounted for more than 41,000 of the permits and generated about $2.7 million.
What if we triple the fees? Would that make a difference?
