County Road Association details rising bridge, wetland and funding pressures on local roads

Denise Donahue, CEO of the County Road Association of Michigan, and Ed Noyola told the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee that county road agencies manage the majority of Michigan’s road network and face growing costs tied to bridges, wetland mitigation and declining fuel‑tax revenue.

The association said counties are responsible for about 90,000 centerline miles — roughly 75% of the state system — and for a little over 5,800 local bridges. "We have 90,000 miles of straight miles, excuse me, centerline miles of road," Noyola said, describing the system the association represents. Donahue highlighted that rules requiring larger culverts and more extensive mitigation mean some culverts now must be treated as bridges, increasing project costs.

That dynamic matters because of how Michigan distributes transportation funds. The association described the Michigan Transportation Fund (Act 51) as holding roughly $4.1 billion in deposits and said, after top‑level allocations, the formula distributes about 39.1% to MDOT, 39.1% to counties and 21.8% to cities and…