Gov. Gretchen Whitmer issued a dire warning Tuesday about the state of Michigan's roads and K-12 education system, saying both components of the state's economic infrastructure are in a state of "crisis."

Whitmer used her first State of the State address as governor to try to gin up public support for a still-undefined funding solution to fixing Michigan's crumbling roads and underground infrastructure.

"We need to act now before a catastrophe happens or the situation becomes truly unrecoverable," Whitmer told the Republican-controlled Legislature.

Whitmer, a Democrat, will detail her road funding plan on March 5 in her first budget address to the Legislature.

But she used Tuesday's speech to criticize a past GOP Legislature's 2015 plan, which gradually increases annual road spending by $1.2 billion by the 2021 fiscal year. That plan is partly funded by a 7-cent gas tax and 20 percent vehicle registration fee that went into effect in 2017.

"We're paying a road tax that doesn't even fix the damn roads," said Whitmer, repeating her campaign slogan.

During the televised address, the state's new chief executive said poor road conditions have resulted in emergency closures of I-75 in Oakland County to patch "dangerous potholes," chunks of concrete falling from bridges onto vehicles and "bridges with hundreds of temporary supports holding them up."

"While it's hard to imagine things getting worse, that is precisely what will happen if we don't act boldly and swiftly," Whitmer said. "Because over the next decade, the share of Michigan highways and trunk lines in poor condition will more than double — worsening the severity of the danger and costing drivers across our state even more."

On the state of education, Whitmer said Michigan has a crisis in public school classrooms that's less visible than jarring potholes in the roads.

"The second crisis is harder to see, but we all know it exists: It's the crisis in education and skills," the governor said, noting Michigan has experienced the worst decline in childhood literacy of any state since 2014.

The governor, who spent 14 years in the Legislature before leaving at the end of 2014, cast blame on previous state leaders.

"It's not happening because our educators are less dedicated," she said. "It is happening because generations of leadership have failed them."

Whitmer's portrayal of Michigan's roads and education system and the need for more funding was met with mixed reactions from lawmakers.

"It's time to be honest with people and be up front with people — we all know driving around every day, we all know we're dead last in the country when it comes to increases to our education funding," said state Sen. Mallory McMorrow, D-Royal Oak. "We can't sugar coat it for people. ... I appreciate the candor."

State Rep. Mike Mueller, a freshman Republican representative from Linden, noted he wasn't in office when the 2015 road funding plan was passed. But Mueller supports the phased-in approach that draws on a $600 million tax increase in 2017 and $600 million in existing general fund revenue.

"When you're trying to fix something that's been dilapidated for years, you're going to have to do it in spurts," Mueller said. "You can't just fix everything all at once."

Crain's reported Monday the nonpartisan Senate Fiscal Agency has told lawmakers the state's roads need $2.7 billion more per year to be brought up to 80 percent in good condition.

Rich Studley, CEO of the Michigan Chamber of Commerce, said the state's largest business group supports higher user fees — fuel taxes and vehicle registration fees — but warns against trying to put a tax increase on the ballot to let voters decide.

"We caution the governor and legislative leaders against passing the buck and trying another transportation ballot proposal," Studley said. "We have a full-time Legislature. Our members want the governor and Legislature to roll up their sleeves and get to work and do it now through the budget process."

Whitmer's director of the Michigan Department of Transportation defended the governor's characterization of road conditions becoming "unrecoverable" if the Legislature doesn't take action.

"She's right because right now we're spending a lot of money on the maintenance side," MDOT Director Paul Ajegba said.

Since passage of the 2015 road funding plan, there's been a 20 percent increase in the number of trunkline roads in poor condition, Ajegba said.

"That's like 6.6 percent every year by my calculation," Ajegba said. "When you hear people say, 'Well, let's wait until 2021 when (the full $1.2 billion) kicks in,' that's another 10 percent more" roads in poor condition.

The MDOT director added: "At some point, it's going to be unsustainable."

Whitmer's speech to a joint session of the Michigan Legislature was postponed a week after President Donald Trump's State of the Union speech was rescheduled due to the federal government shutdown.

During the speech, Whitmer touched on other governing priorities, addressing the emerging groundwater contamination from toxins known as PFAS.

Whitmer challenged the Legislature to expand the Freedom of Information Act to include her office and the Legislature — the only layers of government in Michigan exempt from the public records law.

She also called on the Legislature to expand the Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act to include protections for gays, lesbians and transgender people against discrimination in hiring and housing — a divisive issue that has failed to gain any traction in past years despite support from business leaders.

In the speech, Whitmer said she's establishing a statewide goal of 60 percent of Michigan adults having a postsecondary education credential by 2030 as part of a larger strategy to address a growing talent shortage in the workforce.

To meet that goal, Whitmer proposed a new state scholarship that could make two years of community college free for students with a B average grade or higher when they graduate high school.

"I think we're going to have to figure out how do we make that happen," said Sen. Erika Geiss, D-Taylor. "But I think it's an excellent start."

Chris Kolb, Whitmer's budget director, said details of the governor's plan to fix roads will be made public when she rolls out her 2020 fiscal year budget plan next month.

"Obviously, fixing the roads is the governor's priority," Kolb said. "She ran on it, she won on it and March 5 you're going to see our plan."