Emily Rose Bennett | MLive.com

Michigan's roads and bridges are crumbling. The Flint water crisis exposed disturbing issues about the health of our water pipes. Many rural residents don't have reliable access to high-speed internet.

These are just a few of the infrastructure issues in Michigan. With an election coming up, we decided to take a peek at what each candidate is proposing to do about our state's various infrastructure issues.

RELATED: Read MLive's Michigan Beyond series, which explores the issues of Michigan's economy, education and infrastructure with a keen eye on where Michigan is headed in the future.

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Neil Blake | MLive.com

Money for roads

Brian Calley, Republican: Calley touts financial stability achieved under the Snyder administration as bringing Michigan closer to paying off debts to free up $200 million for roads and "accelerate the availability of the $1.2 billion road funding package that was recently passed," according to his website.

Patrick Colbeck, Republican: Vows to pay for better roads without raising taxes by making better use of available funds. His website contains a number of charts and graphs comparing different scenarios. Conservative Colbeck has said that government uses road construction as a way to create cushy jobs. "It's always been about a jobs program," he told MLive. "It's never been about a public service."

Dr. Abdul El-Sayed, Democrat: El-Sayed would create an infrastructure bank to rebuild roads and bridges. "We plan to provide roughly $1.5 billion to fund the Transit Infrastructure Bank in its first year, with roughly $1.4 billion in additional funding every year until Michigan receives an 'A' grade from ASCE." El-Sayed's plan states that $60 million would be raise the first year by taxing recreational marijuana and the road funding packages already passed by the Snyder administration. The plan calls for raising various gas and diesel taxes, tolls and increased registration fees for farm and log trucks, according to his website.

Jim Hines, Republican: Hines proposes using 0.35 percent of the state's income tax for two consecutive years, which will generate $875 million per year for roads, according to his website.

Bill Schuette, Republican: Schuette doesn't have an infrastructure plan on his website.

Shri Thanedar, Democrat: Thanedar would ask voters in 2019 for a bond of up to a billion dollars to pay for roads, bridges, transit and other infrastructure repairs, according to his website. He also proposes to use 50 percent of tax monies collected from recreational marijuana, if legalized, on roads -- something he's dubbed "Pot for Potholes."

Gretchen Whitmer, Democrat: Her website says she would allocate $3 billion to invest in roads, presumably through taxes, but that isn't clear.

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Lauren Gibbons

Caring for roads

Once the money is allocated for roads, the real labor begins. From higher efficiency roads to the creation of better mass transit system to take pressure off the roads, here's a few things the candidates have suggested.

Brian Calley, Republican: Calley's platform calls for improving efficiency by "implementing innovative technologies and engineering and (saving) taxpayer money by requiring entities to coordinate maintenance, repair and replacement so that the same roads aren't being torn up every year for different reasons."

Patrick Colbeck, Republican: Colbeck's platform calls for higher quality "version 2" roads that would last longer and therefore need to be replaced less often. He told MLive that if roads were constructed to last 50-60 years, no new taxes would be necessary to fund them.

Dr. Abdul El-Sayed, Democrat: El-Sayed's platform includes a Transit Infrastructure Bank that would fund road creation and maintenance. His platform also calls for funding large-scale public transit projects in conjunction with the Michigan Economic Development Corporation.

Jim Hines, Republican: Hines' write on his blog, which is connected to his campaign website, that he wants to "make potholes rare, extend road longevity, and reduce maintenance costs."

Bill Schuette, Republican: Schuette doesn't have an infrastructure plan on his website.

Shri Thanedar, Democrat: Thanedar's platform offers up specifics like widening Interstate 94 to three lanes, He also proposes to fund high speed rail lines from Detroit to Chicago and Detroit to Traverse City, with central stops along the routes to take pressure off the roads, according to his website.

Gretchen Whitmer, Democrat: Whitmer says that "every dollar designated for roads should go to fixing the road," according to her website. The platform also calls to "invest in smoother, higher quality roads."

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Mark Lennihan/AP file

Lack of broadband internet

About 381,000 households in the state don't have access to fixed broadband internet. Of those, an estimated 368,000 are in rural areas. Here's how the candidates are addressing the problem in their platforms.

Brian Calley, Republican: Calley's platform, as stated on his website, doesn't address the issue.

Patrick Colbeck, Republican: Colbeck's platform, as stated on his website, doesn't address the issue.

Dr. Abdul El-Sayed, Democrat: El-Sayed has proposed creating what he calls MI-FI, defined on her website as the "first state operated internet service provider in the country, to expand internet access to communities across the state and close Michigan's digital divide." He also promises to protect net neutrality.

Jim Hines, Republican: Hines's platform, as stated on his website, doesn't address the issue.

Bill Schuette, Republican: Schuette's platform, as stated on his website, doesn't address the issue.

Shri Thanedar, Democrat: Thanedar's website states he would "improve access to high speed internet for rural and impoverished areas throughout the state," but doesn't elaborate on the details.

Gretchen Whitmer, Democrat: Whitmer's platform calls for connecting every Michigan resident to high-speed internet service by 2022. She would implement net neutrality through an executive order and immediately commission a report to determine who doesn't have reliable internet access in the state. Her platform also calls for creating a State Broadband Office. Her plan states she would also consider municipal service options.

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Flint Journal file photo

Water and sewer issues

Flint has been a political lightning rod this election season. How are the candidates making sure that an infrastructure issue of that magnitude doesn't happen again? Here's how they are planning on addressing water and sewer infrastructure.

Brian Calley, Republican: While Calley addresses the Flint water crisis in his book "The Future of Michigan," he doesn't have a detailed water and sewer infrastructure plan for the state on his website.

Patrick Colbeck, Republican: Colbeck doesn't address these issues on his website.

Dr. Abdul El-Sayed, Democrat: On his website, El-Sayed said it will cost between $731 million and $1.01 billion per year to bring water infrastructure up to modern standards between now and 2030. He estimates that $690 million would ensure clean drinking water for residents and create over 13,800 jobs a year. He plans to reinstate state revenue sharing and utilize a state Clean Water Infrastructure Bank that would fund public repairs and "incentivize private sector infrastructure construction through a low-interest loans and other targeted financing products."

Jim Hines, Republican: Hines doesn't address these issues on his website.

Bill Schuette, Republican: Schuette doesn't have an infrastructure plan on his website.

Shri Thanedar, Democrat: On his website, Thanedar says he would "create a legacy initiative to remove all lead service lines from municipal water systems statewide within a decade."

Gretchen Whitmer, Democrat: Whitmer's website says she would use the Rebuild Michigan Bank to finance sewer and drain maintenance and dam removals "and provide $812 million in additional water infrastructures funding through 2038." She would also "expedite the replacement of lead service lines in cities across our state."

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