Troy Roads Rolling in 2014

Image via City of Troy

If you haven't seen it yet, take a look at the video at the bottom of this post from the 5/19/14 Troy City Council on the Troy Roads Rock program. It's very informative and demonstrates how different levels of government (City, County, and State) can work together to improve our local roads.

Now if we could just get Republicans and Democrats in the Michigan Legislature to find common ground on funding long-term improvements to our State's infrastructure. It seems logical that a fuel tax increase is needed if it's coupled with other reforms to the way we build and maintain our infrastructure. Even a traditionally "conservative" organization like the Michigan Chamber of Commerce supports increasing state and local investment in roads and public transportation by at least $1.6 billion per year.

When it comes to funding reforms and budgetary re-prioritization, the Mackinac Center for Public Policy has made a number of worthwhile suggestions that a long-term solution should also include.

Troy Zoning Board of Appeals - June 2014 Meeting Recap

City staff has posted the video recording of the 6/17/14 Troy Zoning Board of Appeals meeting to YouTube. At the bottom of this post is the video. (The meeting actually starts at around the 2 minute mark of the video.)

Click here to download the entire Agenda Packet from the June 17th meeting.

I-75 Widening Project - June 9th Update

Image via MDOT

As I've mentioned previously (click here and here), the Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) is conducting a series of Hands on Aesthetics Workshops in preparation for the future widening of I-75 through Troy and other Oakland County Communities.

If you didn't see it, the Troy-Somerset Gazette provided an update on the I-75 widening project in their 6/9/14 issue...

Talk of whether or not to widen I-75 has been going on for decades. Oakland County Executive L. Brooks Patterson was lobbying for the widening to ease congestion in the county as far back as 2004. SEMCOG had given its approval for the widening at this time last year. Let's be honest, Oakland County has grown significantly all along the I-75 corridor over the past 40 years. Even the Troy City Hall site was a farm when the original path for the freeway was laid out in the 1950s.

Click here to read the complete article.