Construction continues on US-10 bridges in Bay County

C.A. Hull crew attach reinforcing steel to the westbound US-10 bridge over I-75 Wednesday, Sept. 2, 2015 in Bay City.

(Yfat Yossifor)

LANSING, MI -- In November, the state passed a $1.2 billion road funding law that will raise money for the Michigan Department of Transportation through fee hikes, fuel tax increases and budgetary shifts.

The full funding won't be available until 2021, when $600 million from the state general fund begins transferring to MDOT. So, what's are transportation folks doing until then? Essentially, a lot of highway repair work.

Across Michigan's 9,668 miles of state highway, MDOT has nearly 400 road and bridge projects in various states of planning between now and 2020. (Click here to search a database of projects to see which ones are in your area).

But road and bridge repair aren't MDOT's only budgetary responsibilities. The state owns railroad tracks, partners with Amtrak on the Wolverine, Blue Water and Pere Marquette passenger rail lines and helps fund local bus service, van pools and aviation programs around Michigan.

Below are 5 highlights from the MDOT five-year transportation plan.

Highway reconstruction dominates MDOT spending. Of the $9.7 billion MDOT has budgeted over the next five years, $6.8 billion will be spent repairing and reconstructing state highways and bridges. The agency hopes to improve about 310 miles of road and 82 bridges per year until 2020. The majority of dollars, about $1 billion each year, is being spent on pavement reconstruction and preservation.

"Reconstructions cost more than a regular rehabilitation or preventative maintenance," said Denise Jackson, MDOT transportation planning administrator. "Michigan has one of the oldest freeways systems. We're at the point where we can't just do a resurfacing... You can't just keep adding pavement on top. At some point you have to do the base if you want a road that will last."

Expect to see a lot of orange barrels around Grand Rapids, Detroit. As one might expect, Michigan's two major population centers are going to experience the majority of roadwork. In the 13 county Grand Region, there are 75 projects on the books so far. Kent County has the most, 25, followed by 22 in Ottawa County. Notables includes the I-96 Cheney Avenue NE overpass deck replacement and the Ford Freeway lane-widening over the Grand River.

Around the three county Detroit Metro Region, there are 122 projects on the books, 99 of them in Wayne County. Notables include major rehabilitations along I-74 and I-94, and preparations for construction of the Gordie Howe International Bridge.

Addressing highway congestion won't mean new lanes. Although drivers on congested roadways sometimes yearn for more highway lanes, or traffic capacity, there's not much of that planned in the near future. In fact, only $16 million is budgeted for capacity improvement over the next five years on just two routes: U.S. 31 in Ottawa County around Lakewood Boulevard and on I-94 east of Oakland Drive in Kalamazoo County.

Instead of spending more to widen roads, MDOT is addressing congestion by redesigning on-and-off ramps on parts of I-75 and at the U.S. 23 and I-96 interchange, and through "installation of dynamic signs, signals, and cameras working together to form a more intelligent transportation system."

Passenger train service is gathering steam. In 2011, Michigan accepted nearly $200 million in federal grants to improve railroad track for passengers traveling the Amtrak Wolverine line between Dearborn and Kalamazoo, and increase train speed to 110 miles-per-hour. Trains from Kalamazoo to Porter, Ind., have been operating at the faster speed since 2012. Faster trains increase ridership and revenue by reducing travel time, keeping costs down, said MDOT Office of Rail director Tim Hoeffner.

MDOT is also partnering with third party projects in early planning stages, which hope to establish passenger service between Detroit and Holland, and Ann Arbor and Traverse City. While it may be years before those projects get off the ground, that's part of the deal with rail, which relies heavily on federal grants and private partnerships.

"It's not like the road system, where you rebuild portions and get immediate benefit," Hoeffner said. "Because of the nature of rail service, you have to wait until the end of the investment until you can see it come to fruition."

Local bus money won't increase, despite new aid. The state helps fund 119 public transit services a mostly local bus lines a but the money comes from a fund tied to state gas tax and vehicle registration fee revenues and requires regular transfers from the general fund. That local assistance fund, about 30 percent of operating cost for each local service, is getting a $14 million boost over the next five years from last year's legislation, but that's still not considered enough to maintain services or support expansions.

Not all the money can go just to local bus programs, either, because the fund helps pay for certain rail, rideshare and other services. That will put a greater burden on local agencies to maintain service levels at a time when cities are experiencing population gains and increasing ridership demand, forcing them to compete for federal dollars.

Garret Ellison covers government, environment & the Great Lakes for MLive Media Group. Email him at gellison@mlive.com or follow on Twitter & Instagram