Road Commission presents $25 million safety grant, rising tree-response workload and 30-mile safety projects to county commissioners

Travis Bartholomew, managing director of the Road Commission of Kalamazoo County, presented the road commission’s 2024 annual report and 2025 priorities to the Board of Commissioners on June 3, highlighting a $25 million federal safety grant, funding sources and growing tree-removal and service-request workloads.

Bartholomew told the board the commission’s main recurring funding source is the Michigan Transportation Fund (MTF), currently modeled at roughly $28 million per year, supplemented by federal and state grants (about $3.9 million this year for primary-road projects) and increasing township contributions on local roads.

He described a 2024 award from the federal Safe Streets and Roads for All (SS4A) program totaling $25 million for a five-year package of safety work. "We were awarded the grant in 2024 for $25,000,000," he said, and the program will fund improvements across roughly 30 miles of primary roads, including reconstructed segments, shoulder widening, clear-zone work (moving trees away from the roadway), and centerline and edge-line rumble strips to reduce single-vehicle lane departures.

Bartholomew described the county’s service-request workload as a daily operational metric: 5,700 service requests were logged in 2024, and tree-related calls outnumber other categories. He gave a recent storm example: road crews pushed 450 fallen trees to the road edge during a 32-hour response window to restore access for emergency vehicles; long-term cleanup will likely take months.

He outlined a set of priority projects for 2025 including intersection and turn-lane improvements on G Avenue, the final phase of Sprinkle Road (using centerline and edge-line rumble strips and a concrete median in places), a roughly $2.8 million two-and-a-half-mile reconstruction in Pavilion Township that will add paved shoulders where previously absent to support the bike-route network, and additional reconstruction work in Schoolcraft Township.

Nonmotorized planning was also highlighted: the road commission maintains a county bike-route network with signage (about 500 signs) and supports Kalamazoo River Valley Trail segments and township nonmotorized master-plan projects. Bartholomew said the road commission acts as an Act 51 agency and helps route and manage funding for partner projects.

On operations and outreach, Bartholomew described a new public communication video about chip seal, explained RCKC Connect (a project alert system for road closures and project updates) and said the commission is hiring a road maintenance operator and a mechanic. He also noted ongoing collaboration with local units of government and county departments, including a recently approved emergency management vehicle storage agreement.

Commissioners asked questions about critical bridges, millage-funded township projects, MS4 stormwater permit costs and long-term trends in tree-related workload. Bartholomew told the board that two locally owned bridges are closed and costly to replace (bridge replacements can approach or exceed $1 million), that townships planning millages can work with the commission on planning and data to support voter outreach, and that MS4 stormwater permitting will require additional staff time and expense to meet state requirements. He said the commission is shifting from chemical brush control to more mechanical tree work to address large limbs and mature-tree failures.

Ending: Commissioners praised the report and graphics and encouraged continued collaboration between the road commission and townships on safety, millage planning and nonmotorized routing. Bartholomew urged residents to sign up for RCKC Connect for project and closure notifications.