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House committee hears bill creating neighborhood roads fund, adds $100 million a year for local bridges
Summary
Chairman Altman introduced House Bill 42 30 to create a dedicated neighborhood roads fund, eliminate township matching requirements for neighborhood-road projects, and allocate $100 million per year for local bridge repairs distributed by a Local Bridge Advisory Board.
Chairman Altman introduced House Bill 42 30 on the House Transportation Infrastructure Committee agenda, saying the measure would create a neighborhood roads fund and direct new money to local bridges.
Altman said the bill establishes a dedicated funding source for repairing and maintaining neighborhood streets in cities, villages, and townships and removes a local matching requirement that has hindered some townships from pursuing projects. “Too often, these roads have been overlooked in favor of larger infrastructure projects,” Chairman Altman said. “This bill ensures that the roads people rely on every day where they live, work, and drive finally get the attention that they deserve.”
The bill also includes a substitute provision to allocate $100,000,000 per year for local bridges, to be distributed by a Local Bridge Advisory Board made up of members from local road agencies. Altman told the committee the bridge allocation is intended to let communities begin repairing “critical and restricted bridges” that local agencies currently lack resources to fix.
Why it matters: The bill targets small-scale, frequently used streets that local officials and witnesses said receive less attention and funding than state trunk lines. Witnesses told the committee the match elimination will particularly help townships with limited tax bases and enable long-term maintenance rather than short-term fixes.
Committee comments and testimony: Representative Brett Frisbie praised the elimination of the 50% match requirement for some township projects, saying the change is “critical, especially for those rural small townships that have no tax base.” Representative Colazar, representing suburban charter townships, said her constituents have expressed concern that the current formula does not work for their local governments and thanked the sponsor for focusing on township needs.
The committee took formal action on the bill later in the hearing. Representative Wirtz moved to adopt Substitute H-1 for House Bill 42 30; the substitute was adopted and the committee reported the bill with a recommendation as Substitute H-1.
Details and limits: The bill text—introduced and discussed on the record—says townships will not be required to provide the previously required matching share when partnering on projects funded from the neighborhood roads fund. The substitute also creates the $100,000,000 annual allocation for local bridges and names the Local Bridge Advisory Board as the distribution body. The committee record does not specify implementation dates or final administrative rules for the advisory board in this hearing.
Next steps: The committee adopted the substitute and reported the bill with recommendation as Substitute H-1 to the full House. Further details, including final statutory language and administrative guidance for the Local Bridge Advisory Board, will appear as the bill moves through subsequent legislative steps.
