Federal Funding Approved for Future MI Road Projects

Funding was approved for nearly $52 million worth of future road projects on February 6 by the Oakland County Federal Aid Task Force Funding Committee at its annual project selection meeting.

The committee allocates federal road funding to projects within the county. Each year, the committee identifies the projects that will receive the available federal road funds three years in the future. This year, for the first time, it selected projects for both three and four years in the future, 2010 and 2011, and also added funding for additional projects in 2009.

Certain Road Commission for Oakland County (RCOC), city and village road projects are eligible for federal funds. Federal road funds are the primary funding source for major road improvements in Michigan.

The amount of funding the county receives is determined primarily by the amount of money the federal government designates for road funding each year. This money is then divided by formula between the states and then between regions and counties within each state. The "pot" the committee has to spend also includes some state road funding through the Michigan Transportation Economic Development Fund (TEDF).

The 14-member Federal Aid Task Force Funding Committee includes 10 representatives of Oakland's cities, villages and townships, as well as two members from RCOC, one representative from the Suburban Mobility Authority for Regional Transportation (SMART) and one from the Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT). The committee reviews projects that are submitted by RCOC and cities and villages in the county. The projects compete for the available funds. In order to receive funding, projects must be rated, ranked and approved by the committee.

The projects are ranked using a "worst first" point system that gives the most points to those projects that will do the most to improve motorist safety and reduce traffic congestion. The projects that receive the most points receive funding. Every year, worthy projects costing millions of dollars go unfunded because of a lack of funds.

"Nearly $52 million seems like a lot of money. However, when you consider how much it costs these days to widen roads, and how great the needs are in Oakland County, this is really just a drop in the bucket," explained RCOC Managing Director Brent Bair. "Over the next 10 years, we anticipate more than $2 billion worth of road needs on RCOC roads and city and village streets."

Bair added the committee process is a very fair and objective means of determining which projects will receive the limited federal dollars available. "We are pleased to see so many worthy projects receive at least partial funding through this process," he stated.

Additionally, Bair noted the Oakland County Federal Aide Task Force's process of project selection is so fair and equitable that it was identified in the past by the Federal Highway Administration as a model for use nationwide.