Talking Michigan Transportation

On this week’s Talking Michigan Transportation podcast, Jake Nelson, director of traffic safety advocacy and research for AAA, talks about the disturbing rise in crash fatalities since the beginning of the pandemic.Since pandemic stay-at-home advisories went into effect in 2020, traffic fatalities have risen. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) estimated that 42,915 people died in motor vehicle traffic in 2021, a 10.5 percent increase from 38,824 fatalities in 2020.A new report found unsafe driving behaviors, including speeding, red-light running, drowsy driving, and driving impaired rose from 2020 to 2021. Nelson explains that the most alarming increase was among drivers admitting to getting behind the wheel after drinking enough that they felt they were over the legal limit, an increase of nearly 24 percent. According to survey data from the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety, that represents a reversal in the steady declines of dangerous driving behaviors in the three years from 2018 through 2020.The problem illustrates how we should think about technology, whether it is GPS navigation or sophisticated driver assistance. As Nelson observes, the technology can enhance safety but not entirely shift the responsibility from the driver.Nelson also talks about crashes and fatalities caused by drivers traveling the wrong way on freeways. They studied the wrong-way crashes between 2015 and 2018 and found a 34 percent increase over the years between 2010 and 2014. They found that six in 10 of those crashes involved impaired drivers.

On this week’s Talking Michigan Transportation podcast, a conversation with Jeff Farrah, executive director of the Autonomous Vehicle Industry Association (AVIA). As discussed in previous installments, U.S. traffic deaths jumped 10.5 percent in 2021 to 42,915, marking the highest number killed on American roads in a single year since 2005. Farrah talks about the safety benefits of autonomous vehicles, both in terms of passenger vehicles and commercial trucks. He observes that many vehicles on the road today have driver assistance technologies, which help to save lives. The evolution of the technology will only enhance those safety benefits. On next week’s edition, the focus on safety continues as Jake Nelson, director of traffic safety advocacy and research for AAA, joins the podcast to talk about the troubling crash data and what can be done.

Michigan is poised to become the 26th state to implement a ban on the use of hand-held phones while driving. The new laws, passed as House bills 4250, 4251 and 4252, are headed to Gov. Whitmer’s desk for her signature and are expected to take effect on June 30. This follows adoption of similar legislation in Ohio in April. An early analysis of data tracking the use of hand-held mobile devices in vehicles indicates distracted driving may have dropped as much as 9 percent during the first weeks of implementation there. On this week’s Talking Michigan Transportation podcast, Ryan McMahon, senior vice president for strategy at Cambridge Mobile Telematics, explains how his firm gathers the data and why it’s important. McMahon said the media coverage and attention to the legislation in Ohio and other states with similar laws contributes to the reduction in distracted driving crashes, which the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) says accounted for more than 3,500 crash deaths in 2021.

The American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) released their infrastructure report card for Michigan at a May 8 news conference and gave the state a cumulative grade of C-, which counts as improvement since the previous grade was D+. On this week’s Talking Michigan Transportation podcast, two people who participated in the news conference talk about the roads component of the report card. First, Ron Brenke, executive director of the American Council of Engineering Companies (ACEC) of Michigan and the Michigan section of ASCE, talks about how decades of underinvestment in transportation infrastructure put Michigan where it is. Later, Amy O’Leary, executive director of the Southeast Michigan Council of Governments (SEMCOG), explains the vital transportation needs of the communities served by her organization. Michigan’s grade for roads showed slight improvement, largely because of investments in state trunklines, the heaviest-traveled roads, from the MDOT’s Rebuilding Michigan program. From the report:  Traffic volumes have returned from pandemic-era lows. Vehicle miles traveled in 2021 were 97 billion, 95 percent of the 2019 number. Fortunately, the condition of roads Michiganders are driving on are improving, thanks in part to a 2017 funding package. Of Michigan’s 120,000 miles of paved federal aid-eligible roads, 25 percent are in good condition, up from 20 percent good in 2017. Forty-two percent of the roads are rated as fair, and 33 percent are in poor condition. Gov. Whitmer’s 2020 “Rebuilding Michigan Program” included $3.5 billion of one-time bond financing, accelerating major highway projects on state trunklines. To erase decades of underinvestment and meet future needs, decision-makers should increase dedicated funding for roads, re-tool fee models, prioritize traffic safety, and improve resilience to worsening environmental threats.

On this week’s Talking Michigan Transportation podcast, conversations about how grants from the federal Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL), also known as the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), will help the Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) rebuild or shore up major roads and bridges over the next few years.First, Beckie Curtis, director of MDOT’s Bureau of Bridges and Structures, talks about the big news that MDOT received a $73 million federal grant to replace the 85-year-old Lafayette Avenue Bridge in Bay City. It is MDOT’s second-oldest movable bridge.Curtis also explains where the bridge fits with priorities and efforts to rebuild or replace other aging bridges on the state network.Later, Niles Annelin, policy section manager at MDOT, explains the broader grant process and the work involved in applying for and winning IIJA grants.These include a $105 million grant for the I-375 Reconnecting Communities project in Detroit, which involves replacing the depressed freeway with an at-grade urban boulevard, accommodating multi-modal users. U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg joined Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer to announce the grant in September 2022.

On this week’s Talking Michigan Transportation podcast, a conversation about the success of efforts by the Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) to attract pollinators with roadside sunflowers and other vegetation. Amanda Novak, a resource specialist in MDOT’s Bay Region, talks about the origins and successes of MDOT’s pollinator program and how the experience of other state departments of transportation (DOT), including North Carolina, inspired the program. Novak talks about MDOT’s efforts planting sunflowers, dubbed pollinator superheroes, along state highways. From a 2015 issue of “The Scenic Route,” a publication of the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center at the University of Texas: The alarming loss of habitat over the past two decades has left untold millions of bees, butterflies, and other wild pollinators hungry and homeless. The small creatures on which we depend for a significant portion of our food supply have hardly been without their champions; public support for monarch butterflies alone has been estimated in the billions of dollars. Still, the pollinator prognosis remained dire. But over the past 18 months, support for pollinators has undergone a seismic shift, led by President Obama, who called for a national Pollinator Task Force in the spring of 2014. Less than a year later, in a book-length “Strategy to Protect the Health of Honey Bees and Other Pollinators,” the federal government set ambitious goals that include the restoration or enhancement of 7 million acres of land for pollinator habitat over the next five years. Roadsides will comprise a significant portion of that acreage. Novak also talks about “Show Stopper” wildflowers to be planted at the Port Huron and Coldwater welcome centers. This is a trial year for us to see how the seed does. A second segment reprises a 2021 conversation with Margaret Barondess, manager of MDOT’s Environmental Section, explaining the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and how it informs Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and DOT decision making.

On this week’s Talking Michigan Transportation podcast, a look at transportation-related legislation being debated.Aarne Frobom, senior policy analyst at the Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT), and Troy Hagon, MDOT director of government affairs, break down the proposals.Among those discussed:House bills 4132 and 4133. These bills, resurrected after very nearly making it to the governor’s desk in 2022, would allow the use of cameras to enforce speed limit violations in state trunkline work zones. As discussed on a previous podcast, the cameras have had a positive impact in other states. Senate bill 43. This legislation, also debated and nearly adopted in the previous legislature, would:Require the Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) to use concrete barriers or equivalent crashworthy temporary traffic barriers when closing a freeway or a portion of freeway for construction, improvement, or repair.Specify that the requirement would not apply if the freeway or portion of freeway were closed for not more than three days for an emergency repair, utility crossing, maintenance, or other short-duration operation.Allow MDOT to exercise its engineering judgement in designing and placing concrete barriers or equivalent crashworthy temporary traffic barriers and associated traffic control devices for each closure of a freeway or portion of freeway. House bills 4352 and 4353 would allow for MDOT to restrict highway lanes to high occupancy vehicle (HOV) lanes and allow road agencies to open a HOV lane to other classes of vehicles (trucks or automated vehicles). The legislation also allows enforcement of I-75 HOV lanes and Detroit and Grand Rapids bus lanes. 

On this week’s Talking Michigan Transportation podcast, some good news for innovative projects aimed at enhancing mobility.On March 21, the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) announced winners of Strengthening Mobility and Revolutionizing Transportation (SMART) grants.Michele Mueller, MDOT senior project manager for connected, automated, and electrification, joins the podcast to talk about a SMART grant award for $1.8 million to implement a proof of concept of a smart corridor for truck- borne goods traveling across the Blue Water Bridge, a vital international crossing between Port Huron, Mich., and Sarnia, Canada. Later, Janet Geissler, mobility innovation specialist at MDOT, explain the details of another SMART grant, a $1.3 million award to advance rural mobility. There are 82 public transit agencies in Michigan, 60 of which serve rural areas.These were among several projects receiving grants across the country.

With the introduction of a new bill in the Michigan Legislature to enable the use of automated technology to enforce speeding laws on segments of road under construction, this week’s Talking Michigan Transportation podcast reprises an episode from Aug. 30, 2022, after a similar bill was introduced last legislative session.  House Bill 4132 has bipartisan sponsorship that has generated a great deal of discussion. The podcast now follows up on talks when the similar bill was discussed in the previous Legislature. Some key points from the previous podcast: In 2006, Illinois became the first state to authorize the use of automated traffic enforcement programs to enforce speed limits in highway work zones, with implementation coming a few years later. The enabling legislation provided a legal framework for photo enforcement of speed limits in highway work zones. In the summer of 2022, some Michigan lawmakers, Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) officials, leaders in labor organizations, and the road building industry witnessed demonstrations on Michigan freeways on how the technology works.  The podcast first featured a conversation with Juan Pava, Safety Programs Unit chief, Bureau of Safety Programs and Engineering at the Illinois Department of Transportation, about how the enforcement has worked there.  Later, Lance Binoniemi of the Michigan Infrastructure and Transportation Association (MITA), talks about why he and his members are advocating for the previous House Bill 5750, and what he learned from the demonstrations. 

As Black History Month 2023 winds down, this week’s Talking Michigan Transportation podcast highlights the Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE) program and some of the success stories.First, Lisa Thompson, administrator of MDOT’s Office of Business Development, which includes the DBE program, explains why the federal government requires state DOTs to help give historically disadvantaged groups an equal footing in procuring transportation contracts.Thompson explains that the origins of the program and case for support dating back to the Reagan administration, including revisions over the years, as outlined by the U.S. Department of Transportation:This program has been the Department of Transportation's most important tool for promoting equal opportunity in federal transportation contracting since it was first signed into law by President Reagan in 1983. Effective March 4, 1999, the department issued a new final regulation to guide the administration of the DBE program. This new regulation has three major goals:To create a level playing field on which DBEs can compete fairly,To mend but not end the DBE program, andTo make the DBE program more effective and efficient for all participants.In a second segment, Rhonda Rowe, owner and chief executive officer of Rowe Trucking, LLC in Detroit, talks about how the program has helped her family business thrive for several decades. Her business is among those highlighted in a special MDOT initiative.