Michigan is ready to spend $4.8 billion on infrastructure – although very little of it is going toward fixing roads.
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signed the two bipartisan bills on Wednesday, March 30, in a plan to spend the money dubbed the “Building Michigan Together Plan.”
What’s the money for? Which communities are the biggest winners? Who is footing the bill?
Here are four ways to visualize the $4.8 billion plan:
Water projects takes priority over roads
While “infrastructure” might make residents think roads and bridges, only about 13% of this new funding is allocated for transportation. And only a fraction of that about $645 million is for roads and bridges, while the rest is for items like public transportation and airports.
Water-related projects are the biggest chunk of the Building Michigan Together Plan, accounting for nearly half of the funds.
Here’s the spending breakdown by category:
(Can’t see the chart? Click here.)
The two most expensive pieces of the plan are $750 million for drinking water infrastructure projects and $515 million for wastewater/stormwater infrastructure projects.
The plan also includes $100 million for Michigan’s Unemployment Trust Fund – a victory for Republicans and business owners. Employers pay into the fund and the money is disbursed to people filing for unemployment.
At one point in the pandemic, Michigan had burned through 84% of its Unemployment Trust Fund money, with more than 2 million people filing for unemployment when COVID-19 first hit. Employers must pay a higher rate when the fund dips below certain checkpoints. Whitmer had nixed previous Republican attempts at putting state money into the privately-funded trust fund, prior to this.
Other major pieces of the spending bill include $383 million for emergency rental assistance, $251 million for broadband infrastructure grants and $250 million for state parks.
Here’s a look at each piece of the $4.8 billion being allocated:
(Can’t see the chart? Click here.)
Money for roads includes $238 million for state trunkline road and bridge capital construction projects, plus a few isolated road projects in Kent and Monroe counties.
Which communities are getting money?
Only about 11% of the funding is earmarked for specific communities, while the rest is not set aside for a specific place.
There are eight projects with a price tag of $30 million or more and tied to a location:
- $75 million for lead service line replacement in Detroit
- $60 million to develop the Joe Louis Greenway in Detroit, a 30-mile trail system
- $59.9 million in disaster recovery money for the Midland area to address the May 2020 flooding
- $55 million to expand the Grand River Greenway in Grand Rapids with urban park space, more access to the Grand River and 28 miles of trails
- $50 million grant for Michigan Potash & Salt Company to extract potash (a key ingredient in fertilizers) in Osceola County, according to Bridge Michigan
- $45 million for drinking water infrastructure improvements in Benton Harbor
- $40 million to widen and reconstruct M-37 in Kent County
- $30.2 million to develop a new state park in Flint
Here’s a map of the 28 community-specific projects in Michigan:
(Can’t see the map? Click here.)
Most funding comes from the feds
Less than $600 million of the $4.8 billion plan comes from state coffers. The rest is from various federal programs, like the American Rescue Plan Act and Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.
In other words, 88% of the plan is federally funded, while the remaining 12% is state funded.
The largest state-funded projects include $206.8 million in grants for dam projects and $50 million for the potash extraction.
Here’s the breakdown of federal versus state funding:
(Can’t see the chart? Click here.)
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