Share:
Font Size:

Township Road Maintenance

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.

Wayne County’s Townships include Brownstown, Canton, Grosse Ile, Huron, Northville, Plymouth, Redford, Sumpter, and Van Buren.


JURISDICTION

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.