By Alethia Kasben
Managing Editor
Posted: February 24, 2020 3:09 PM

Last week, a woman was driving on a Michigan highway when a chunk of concrete fell from a bridge and crashed into her car, hitting her in the head, but thankfully not taking her life.

It did little to shake loose Michigan's road funding debate where many believe the state not only needs new revenue but needs billions in new revenue annually.

Governor Gretchen Whitmer has taken to bonding to get $3.5 billion more into the system in the near term, creating angst from mostly Republicans about paying off the debt during future decades. It is also not a solution to the state's crumbling infrastructure, as many, including the governor, have noted.

As this election year continues to ramp up, will anything new happen on roads? Last week, Senate Majority Leader Mike Shirkey (R-Clarklake) said there is an informal work group of sorts looking at local roads. House Speaker Lee Chatfield (R-Levering) said the House has been working with the Senate "since day one to reach a long-term road funding solution."

He added those conversations are ongoing and "there's been much progress."

Sounds like much of what reporters and the public have been hearing for the last year on road funding with little changes and little action.

Last week Department of Transportation Director Paul Ajegba told a House subcommittee the one-time funding the Legislature has put toward roads in recent budgets is not helping the problem. During the same hearing, Republican Rep. Aaron Miller of Sturgis accepted some new revenue was needed, expressed openness to that concept and asked why the public thinks the state has enough money for roads in its existing budget and how lawmakers can tell the correct story better.

The House Republican takeaway from the hearing, which it posted on Facebook, was Mr. Ajegba's answer to a question from Rep. Matt Maddock (R-Milford) on what the administration's plan was for road funding, to which he answered the very-much-dead 45-cent gas tax increase.

Ms. Whitmer has said the Republicans in the Legislature need to put out a road funding plan and that although her plan was not embraced, she put something on the table.

Like I said, more of the same on road funding.