The Michigan Senate Transportation Committee has moved forward on a bill that would study the idea of implementing toll roads in the state. On the most recent episode of the Michigan Department of Transportation podcast, “Talking Michigan Transportation,” MDOT policy analyst Aarne Frobom said the bill only calls for a comprehensive study.
“It’s kind of a tenuous first step towards just studying toll collection on Michigan freeways,” Frobom said. “It doesn’t mandate tolls or enable the department to start putting our palms out, collecting money.
Frobom says MDOT has plenty of information to begin a toll road study.
“We know what’s moving over our system and where it comes from, and the distribution between cars and trucks. What we would probably go out and hire expertise for is the work of forecasting how much of that traffic volume would be diverted off the toll roads on to the parallel roads.”
Frobom also said the state would have to study the cost of installing modern toll booths along major interstates. He says this isn’t the first time Michigan has considered tolls.
“No one knows it today, but Michigan back in 1951 planned to build a toll road from Detroit to Chicago, and from Toledo to Saginaw. And they did all the engineering for it and appointed a turnpike commission, and then after about 1951, nothing happened.”
Frobom says there is reason to believe tolls would raise a substantial amount of money for fixing Michigan’s roads, noting MDOT’s ability to maintain the big highways will only diminish as gas tax revenues go down. He says, right now, a driver in Michigan pays about 2.7 cents per mile to drive, whereas it should be more like 5 cents per mile. However, he also admits the idea isn’t popular, noting the reasons why are obvious. The study required by the Senate bill would have to be completed by 2021 if the bill winds up winning final approval.
