Heise Holds Town Hall to Discuss Transportation Issues

Reps. Kurt Heise (R-Plymouth) and Paul Opsommer (R-DeWitt) touched on transportation funding, mass transit and cost-saving construction measures, among other transportation-related issues in Michigan’s legislature Monday during a town hall at Plymouth Township Hall.

About 25 people attended the public forum, as Heise and Opsommer explained how statewide transportation measures affected the Plymouth, Canton and Northville communities.

On roads funding, Opsommer explained how the state’s transportation funding gets skimmed by other state and county departments before money goes toward communities under Act 51 (see attached PDF), legislation that dictates distribution of transportation funds.

Heise said he is working on a bill that will allow local governments to form road authorities between communities to capture funds for their roads under Act 51.

He said the bill would allow the road authorities to receive some Act 51 funds so money doesn’t go directly from the state to Wayne County.

Heise acknowledged the bill, which could keep transportation fund money from the county, might make him unpopular with county officials.

“It’s not going to win me any friends at Wayne County,” Heise said. “But what the heck? I don’t have too many there to begin with.”

Heise: Mass transit too costly for area

Kate Knight of Northville, a transit advocate in attendance, said mass transit would benefit communities.

“A lot of local small businesses would benefit from a transit agency,” she said.

Heise acknowledged Gov. Rick Snyder’s push for expanding public transit in Metro Detroit. Plymouth, Canton and Northville have all opted out of Wayne, Macomb and Oakland counties’ SMART bus public transportation system.

Heise said the idea of expanding these services into the western Wayne County communities is ambitious, but costly. He said the plan proposed by Snyder is about 2-3 times larger than what is in similar-sized communities around the United States.

“It’d be nice to have it,” he said. “We just can’t afford this type of system in this day and age.”

He said SMART and the Detroit Department of Transportation (DDOT) systems should merge, so there aren’t two competing bus lines serving the county.

Knight said she thinks mass transit through the western Wayne County suburbs could be popular with residents and visitors.

“I’d like to see a public forum (on mass transit),” she said after Monday’s forum. “Public interest is at an all-time high.”

MDOT exploring longer-lasting construction materials

The Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) currently is working on a in Plymouth, Canton and Northville, fixing or replacing 34 different bridges and overpasses.

When asked about using corrosive materials such as salt on bridges reinforced by steel, Tony Kratofil, the regional director for MDOT, said salt is the most cost-effective option for quickly melting ice from roads. He said, however, that the department has experimented with less corrosive chemicals and liquid solutions that can help extend a bridge’s life.

He said the department also is working with bridge materials other than steel, including carbon fiber. This material, he said, is lighter in weight than steel, but just as strong.

“We’re testing it on a few bridges,” he said. “Hopefully it will become the new standard.”

With it, he said, could come local jobs. Japanese companies are looking to build a U.S.-based plant to manufacture the carbon fiber supports, he said.

“We’re trying to get them to build it here in Michigan,” he said.