 Counties and their townships have
a unique relationship on the issue of road construction and maintenance.
Unlike incorporated cities and villages, townships do not receive
gas tax revenues for roads and therefore must rely on their county
to provide nearly all road-related activities.
Brownstown,
Canton,
Grosse Ile,
Huron,
Northville,
Plymouth,
Redford,
Sumpter,
and Van Buren
We
hope this information will help you understand how Wayne County
is working to improve and maintain township roads.
Wayne County is responsible for maintenance and construction on all primary
roads [so-called "mile roads"] in townships. It also performs daily
maintenance on all state freeways, M-routes and US-routes [such as Michigan
Avenue, Telegraph, Fort Street and Ford Road]. The State, however, is responsible
for the resurfacing and rebuilding of these roads.
Wayne County also maintains township residential streets year-round, but it
is not responsible for making major improvement since the county did not build
them. Residential streets are built by developers and paid for by homeowners
as part of the cost of their home. Therefore, the cost of paving or resurfacing
generally is borne by the property owners, usually in the form of a special
assessment district.
The County also is not responsible
for access streets within condominium developments. Those are private
streets, the maintenance of which is paid for out of association
fees.
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State law specifies that cities,
villages, counties, and the Michigan Department of Transportation
[MDOT] have jurisdiction over roads. These agencies are responsible
for constructing and maintaining the roads that fall under their jurisdiction.
They also carry the legal liability for the roads. Consequently, funding
for
roads is provided by the state legislature only to these agencies. State
law does, however, provide the option for a township to incorporate
as a city or
village, which would give it jurisdiction over roads within its boundaries.
There is also a provision in state law which allows townships with populations
of more than 40,000, to receive from their county road commission, 75
percent of the cost of maintaining the local county roads within
their borders, provided
they levy at least one mill for road improvement and maintenance.
Most maintenance on roads
in townships is funded with dollars allocated to county road
agencies by the state legislature. Most major road improvements
[bridge replacements, road widening, etc.] are funded with federal monies.
In Wayne County, those monies are allocated by the Wayne County Federal
Aid
Task Force, which is comprised of representatives from Wayne County and
each of its 43 communities.
State road funds are distributed
according to a formula established by state law. The formula provides
39.1 percent of state road funds to MDOT, 39.1 percent to county
road commissions, and 21.8 percent to cities and villages. This
formula was amended somewhat as part of the 4-cent gas tax increase
in 1997. In that case, 100% of the first penny went directly to
MDOT, while the remaining 3 cents are distributed according to
the existing formula.
While townships are not included
in the formula, the portion going to county road commissions
is intended to cover roads in townships. The reality, however,
is
that state road funding historically has been woefully inadequate,
especially in high-population counties such as Wayne. To compensate
for that, Wayne County transfers revenue from its primary road
fund to its local road fund to supplement its township road maintenance
budget.
While many projects in townships
are paid for with state gas tax revenues, some projects also
require Federal Funds or special state grants. The county's
Federal Aid Task Force, based on objective criteria selects these projects.
The availability of township matching funds is not typically a consideration
and would not result in more township projects.
Yes.
In fact, they usually get back more. Townships, especially less
populated ones, do not produce as much gas tax revenue as larger
cities, although they
might have a considerable number of roads for the county to maintain. To a
certain degree, the services in townships are subsidized by larger communities
that generate more taxes, including Detroit.
Also, just to pay for the cost of
routine maintenance on its secondary roads in townships, the county
has to transfer up to $3 million per year out of its primary road
fund. Otherwise, many services, such as gravel road grading, guard
rail repair and ditch cleaning would have to be dramatically cut.
Usually none. Unlike most county services, road-related receive no direct funding
from property taxes. Some townships and cities contribute some property tax
revenue to the improvement of county roads, but these contributions are provided
on a voluntary basis. Our only sources of road funding are the state gas tax
and the federal gas tax, the amount and distribution of which are decided in
Lansing and Washington, D.C.
The same level of service would probably cost townships more. Economies of
scale allow Wayne County to provide more service for the same dollars than
an individual township could. That's because the county is able to buy supplies,
equipment, vehicles, salt, etc., in bulk, and so, gets a better price than
could an individual township.
Direct funding also could cost townships
other funding. Wayne County participates in road improvement projects
only on roads under its jurisdiction. If townships took over jurisdiction
of local roads within their boundaries, it is unlikely that county
funds would be used on those roads, just as they are not used on
city or village roads.
Having their own funding would not
likely result in any additional major construction projects in
townships, or make the projects happen any more quickly.
When Wayne County executes a project
in a township, the township benefits from the county's expertise,
which results in the best construction work for the conditions.
If the township did the work itself, it would have to hire a consultant
who may not be familiar with the township's roads needs and design
criteria. County staffers, on the other hand, are Wayne County's
local road professionals, and work closely with township officials.
Another major factor is that liability would come with the funding. Townships
would receive the state road funding only if they also received jurisdiction
for their roads. And the jurisdiction would bring with it the legal liability
for the roads. It's no secret that, in this age of frequent litigation, liability
can be costly, in terms of judgments and legal expenses. Wayne County has the
expertise to minimize potential costs.
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All Wayne County road improvement projects, such as resurfacing and reconstruction,
are selected based on a number of criteria. The first and most important is
the condition of the existing roadway. Each year an engineer rates every mile
of county primary road. Roads that rate in the worst condition are automatically
put at the top of the list for upcoming road repairs. Those repairs will get
done as soon as funding is available. The county uses this list to determine
which roads its will resurface itself, using its own forces. For projects on
multi-lane roads that are eligible for Federal Aid, those are selected by the
county's Federal Aid Committee, which is made up of voting representatives
from Wayne County and each of its 43 communities. Other factors that are considered
in making a major improvement, such as a road widening, include
daily traffic volumes and safety statistics. A two-lane road in
poor condition that handles 20,000 vehicles per day will be rebuilt
and widened to five lanes before a similar road that handles only
12,000 vehicles per day.
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Historically, the County has never been in the business of building anything
other than the major roads that connect its communities, not local streets.
If a street was not paved when the homes were built, it was a decision of the
developer and those who chose to live on a gravel road. Many people still prefer
that option.
Wayne County has contributed
up to $1 million per year toward the paving of township residential
streets. In each case, the county
picked up 20 percent of the construction cost. The reason
for the change is that many unpaved roads have extremely high
maintenance
costs and the county felt it could save money in the long run
while improving driving conditions for township residents. The
other
80 percent of the cost still will come from township funds or
a special tax assessment to homeowners.
What about
the primary roads that are still unpaved? What's the County doing
about those?
The County has been paving
a much larger number of its gravel primary roads in the past
few years, thanks to a $60 million road improvement bond program
and funding partnerships developed with the County's various townships.
The decision whether or not to pave
a gravel road is based upon existing or projected traffic volumes,
accident data and most importantly, available funding. The County's
priority for spending road dollars favors more heavily traveled
roads that create effective transportation corridors to connect
communities. If a township, however, is willing to pay a substantial
portion of a paving project that does not meet the criteria for
County funding, the County will work with the township to help
make it happen.
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While
the county has only about 12 miles of unpaved primary roads, it has more
than 300 miles of gravel secondary roads and streets that it
is responsible
for maintaining. Primary roads always will have a higher priority since
they handle more traffic, but crews are out every day tending
to secondary roads
in townships. Here are some of the services they provide:
Unpaved roads require a great deal of year-round maintenance. Crews constantly
have to grade roads to eliminate ruts caused by vehicles. During the summer
months, the county sprays the roads three times with calcium chloride to keep
dust down. While the County does the work, it is the townships that set the
frequency and schedule of the treatments. County crews perform various levels
of grading, depending on road and weather conditions. If the road is wet, effective
grading cannot be done, so crews will smooth out the roads as best they can
and return when the road dries out and perform full-scale grading.
When the spring thaw comes, many gravel roads turn muddy and become difficult
to travel. This is a result of moisture that has accumulated in the ground
over the course of the winter. If it thaws too quickly, the water can't drain
and vehicles churn it in with the dirt to create a slick mud. When this occurs,
county crews dump large-stone gravel by the truckload and spread it to make
the road passable. Once things dry out a bit, crews return to smooth the road
out with a grader.
Ditch clearing also takes place constantly between spring and fall. Each
year, the county clears about 60,000 feet of ditches, up from only 20,000
feet
just a few years ago. The cleaning of ditches is prioritized by each
of the county's maintenance districts. The County also is responsible
for clearing
culverts and cross tiles where drains run below its roads. Keeping ditches
and culverts clear helps reduce flooding, which can cause poor road condtions.
Individual homeowners can play an important role in keeping ditches
and drains clear by minimizing obstructions. Many townships have ordinances
making it
illegal for homeowners to rake leaves into drainage ditches. Homeowners
may even be ticketed by their township if they rake the leaves into
a county ditch,
or allow trash to block it, causing flooding elsewhere on the street. Please
consult the township DPW to learn more about the proper methods of disposing
of leaves.
During the winter, gravel roads are treated a bit differently than paved roads.
While both are still plowed, gravel roads are not treated with salt. Instead,
a sand treated with magnesium chloride is spread on the road to break down
any hard-packed snow that may be making travel difficult.
For reasons of safety, the highest priority will be given to roads
that have the highest posted speeds and handle the most traffic,
such as freeways, state
trunk roads and county primary roads. For these roads, the county has a "bare
pavement" policy, meaning that crews work on these roads until the
snow is completely cleared from curb-to-curb. The reason for this is that
vehicles
travel at much higher speeds on these major roads, meaning the risk of
serious accidents is far greater than on local streets.
As is the case with most municipalities,
the county will not plow residential streets until there is six
inches of accumulated snow. Few, if any, road agencies salt residential
streets because of the prohibitive cost and because maintaining
a bare pavement is not necessary, as it is on major arteries.
Once enough snow has accumulated to require plowing, crews will
plow
every one of its township residential streets, after they complete
the main roads.
The priorities for clearing non-primary
roads start first with hills, intersections, railroad crossings
and curves. School bus routes are also a priority.
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The first thing to keep in mind about roadside mailboxes is that they are located
in the County's road right-of-way. Homeowners often forget this is not their
property.
If a roadside mailbox is damaged as a result of county snow removal operations,
it will reset or replace the mailbox, if necessary, at no charge.
However, the county only will
install a standard metal mailbox on a wooden post. If you have
chosen to
install a custom mailbox next to the road, you are responsible
for the replacement of anything other than a standard model.
For more information on what types of mailboxes are recommended
or
permissible, please contact your local Wayne County road yard,
or the county permit office at: 734-595-6504
It is also good to remember to keep
household garbage cans farther away from the roadside after a significant
snowfall. This will reduce the chances of them being damaged by
passing county snowplows.
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While it is the Michigan State Police that formally set speed limits, it actually
is motorists like you who establish the speed the State Police eventually adopt.
Here's how:
Before a road is first paved,
there is no posted speed limit; it is actually what's known as
a prima
facie speed limit of 55 mph [or lower as road and weather conditions
warrant]. The reason for this is because it is more difficult
to guarantee the condition of a gravel road will consistently
be suitable
to justify a certain limit.
Once the road is paved, county traffic
engineers conduct studies to see at what speed motorists naturally
drive. It is a basic engineering principle that most motorists
will drive at a speed that is reasonable and safe, and that forcing
them to drive faster or slower reduces safety. Based on this principle,
engineers follow the 85th Percentile rule, meaning that whatever
speed at least 85 percent of motorists drive on this new road should
be the posted limit. If, for example, 85 percent of motorists drive
at 46 mph, the speed limit the County will recommend to the State
Police likely will be 45 mph.
On any road in townships other
than state trunklines, Wayne County's Traffic & Safety
office is responsible for signs and signals. Engineers rely on the Michigan
Manual for Uniform Traffic Control Devices to guide them in the often-difficult
decisions they have to make each day.
Most people are unaware of the
effects of improperly placed, or confusing, signage and poorly
timed traffic
signals. Engineers constantly have to resist pressure to institute "feel
good" changes, such as lower speed limits or unwarranted
left turn signals, if the evidence shows they will not improve
safety.
For example, lowering a speed
limit actually
can result in an increase in rear-end accidents or collisions
from improper passing. The public's compliance with such a change
in
speed limit also depends heavily on whether the local community
can provide the additional police enforcement on a regular basis.
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Grading & Dust
Control
Ditches 
What
about the placement of traffic signs and signals? Who's responsible
for them?