Editorial: WCRC Urges Legislators to Reject House Bill 5016

by Washtenaw County Road Commission

Editor’s Note: While the Mirror takes no position on political issues, we will occasionally provide space for commentary from informed community members.

One month after Governor Snyder signed the long overdue road funding package to restore the State’s transportation infrastructure, House Bill 5016 jeopardizes road projects by threatening to increase the price tag associated with making road improvements, potentially costing Washtenaw County residents hundreds of thousands of dollars a year.

The proposed legislation would require that public road agencies provide telecommunication companies a one-year advance notice if an upcoming project requires relocation of the telecom’s facilities (i.e. wires, cable and other utility lines) from the public right of way. If the one-year advance notice is not provided, road agencies must reimburse the telecoms for the cost of relocating their facilities.

While at first glance the one-year advance notice may seem like a reasonable proposal, the nature of road improvements and the multiple factors that cause frequent design plan and schedule modifications, make the one-year notice unrealistic. The Washtenaw County Road Commission questions why legislators would support a bill that could cost the public hundreds of thousands of dollars annually while the for-profit telecoms already occupy the public right of way free of charge.

In a letter to Michigan legislators, Roy Townsend, Managing Director of the Washtenaw County Road Commission outlines the reasons why the proposal is impractical for taxpayers, as well as the road commission.

“H.B. 5016 jeopardizes our agency’s ability to serve the public and improve the road system as intended by the road funding package approved this November. After decades of underfunding our road system in Michigan, it makes no sense to erode the revenue that will be generated by that package to benefit for-profit telecoms. WCRC does not believe that this is how the public wants their transportation dollars spent—to assist for-profit companies in relocating their privately owned facilities at the expense of improving publicly owned roads.”

Here is Townsend’s complete letter to the legislators:

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by Sara Swanson

Sara Swanson is an editor, writer and founder of the Manchester Mirror.