The 2009 transportation budget was more than $3.6 billion, yet only $2.3 billion of that was appropriated for our road and bridge programs. Transportation dollars should go first and foremost to new pavement or bridge construction. We need to put more of our transportation budget into our roads and our bridges and less of our transportation budget into bureaucrats and middle managers.

For the 2009 budget year, nearly $50 million was diverted from road and bridge construction projects to pay other state department bureaucracies. As Governor, Cox will review every existing diversion and eliminate those that are unnecessary or can be funded through other means; i.e. gas taxes should be spent on roads.

Michigan occupies a unique geographic position as the busiest freight gateway for commerce with Canada. More than 34% of U.S./Canada trade went through Detroit and Port Huron in 2008. As the location for some of the world's largest multi-national corporations, Michigan's workforce contains an abundant amount of trained logistics and supply chain management staff. With access to key trade routes like I-75 and I-94, the Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence Seaway, an established freight rail network and airports like Detroit Metropolitan, Michigan possesses natural assets that our leadership need to acknowledge, support and grow. By investing in the infrastructure at our ports and rail systems, improving access and traffic flow at our border crossings and providing tax incentives for logistics companies to locate in Michigan, we can position our state to take advantage of a growing industry that already exists. Michigan can create logistics jobs today.

Acknowledging the need for additional investments in our transportation system, Mike Cox supports innovative approaches to road funding. Proposals to promote public/private funding partnerships, where private investors assume operation and maintenance of various existing or future infrastructure assets, need to be supported. We need to leverage partnerships with private investors to supplement local or state funding match requirements to move new projects forward. We need to closely examine all areas of the state budget to determine what revenue sources will
be better served by supporting our transportation system as opposed to their
current use.

Michigan has 83 county road agencies, 533 incorporated cities and villages and numerous regional planning and local transit agencies, all competing against each other and the state for the limited pool of state transportation resources. This leads to overlapping jurisdictions, duplicative services and unnecessary administrative expenses, all taking dollars away from where they are needed most -- our roads. When a local community steps up to the plate to help pay for road repairs through locally approved property taxes, works together with other communities to pool resources for a project or consolidates administrative functions, the state needs to recognize that commitment by changing the road-funding formula to reward those efficiencies and to encourage other communities and agencies to follow that same path. By working together, consolidating services and maximizing efficiency, we will improve Michigan's roads.