Gov. Rick Snyder Praises New Roads Plan Live On WWJ

LANSING (WWJ) A jubilant Rick Snyder spoke live on WWJ Newsradio Wednesday morning after the Michigan Legislature finally approved a plan to boost road spending late Tuesday and fix Michigan's long-lamented and crumbling roads.

"Now we're on a path to getting better roads in our state," Snyder said.

The proposal includes a 20 percent hike in vehicle registration fees and a 7.3-cent gasoline tax increase.

It will cost the average Michigan driver about $20 per vehicle in added registration fees, and $40 in extra gas taxes, Snyder said.

It would generate $600 million a year for deteriorating roads and bridges in 2017 and more in future years until topping out at $1.2 billion in 2021 and beyond.

The plan drew nearly all its support from majority Republicans in the Legislature.

Snyder said he will sign the legislation. "A lot of good hard work went into it," Snyder said.

To Michigan business leaders who do not like the plan, especially its transfer of general fund budget to roads. Some worry it will impact education funding.

"That gets phased in over a number of years," Snyder said, adding growth projections were built into the plan. The money will not be fully transferred from the general fund until 2021.

He added cuts should not be required for any other budget. "We should still have some dollars to invest in other things," Snyder said.

Road improvement will start this year, the governor added. The plan phases in through 2021.

"The vast bulk of this (money) goes to roads," Snyder said.

"What about the not-vast" part of the money? WWJ morning show host Roberta Jasina asked him, pressing him on whether every penny will actually go to roads.

The governor would say only that distribution will go through the normal roads formula.