DETROIT ? Could toll roads be in Michigan?s future? Perhaps Gov. Rick Snyder said Tuesday during a press conference at the LIFT Detroit offices.
Snyder was participating in a roundtable discussion on the future of the nation?s aging and crumbling transportation system. Also attending the conference was U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx. Foxx said during the discussion that the federal government was taking a look at letting states make toll roads out of federal highways. In Michigan those would include the heavily used and deteriorating Interstates like I-94, a major truck transit route between Chicago and Detroit.
During a news conference after the event, Snyder, responding to a question from MITechNews.Com Editor Mike Brennan, said he had only just heard that toll roads could be an option for Michigan.
?It?s a relatively new concept,? he said. ?It?s something we want to be a good partner on with the Department of Transportation. We need safer roads in Michigan.?
When asked if he thought voters would approve his plan to raise the state sales tax by 1 percent to generate another $1 billion a year to repair Michigan?s deteriorating roads and bridges, which comes up for a vote on May 5, Snyder said he still thinks it will pass ? despite recent polls that show voters surveyed opposed the sales tax hike by a 3 to 1 margin.
But if it doesn?t, Plan B may now involve creating toll roads in Michigan.
