| Previous Page | Next Page | Print Page| |
TRANSPORTATION
The Institute celebrated many successes in its work supporting citizen efforts to develop and promote alternatives to proposed highway extensions and bypasses, which stimulate sprawling development. It also gained important ground, along with the Michigan Environmental Council, with a statewide coalition of 30 organizations working to reform state transportation planning and spending. In 2000 the Institute:
• Helped in March to defeat the Michigan Department of Transportation’s plan to spend $1.5 billion on replacing scenic, two-lane U.S. 23 with a 100-mile, four-lane freeway through undeveloped countryside along the Lake Huron coast between Alpena and Standish.
• Convinced MDOT in January to scrap a $500 million plan to extend the U.S. 131 freeway into northwest Michigan north of Manton by publicizing that the project would only shift development from downstate communities, not spur substantial new business in the north.
• Completed “Smart Roads: Petoskey,” a technically qualified and compelling alternative to a $70 million state department of transportation proposal to build a major highway bypass around the northern Michigan resort town of Petoskey. Two local governments have since announced their official support for the effective and lower-cost “Smart Roads: Petoskey” plan over the state’s bypass proposal.
• Prompted the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to question a Grand Traverse County and MDOT proposal for a $25 million bridge across the Boardman River valley as part of a larger highway bypass around Traverse City. The Fish and Wildlife Service cited the Institute’s critical assessment of the bridge plan, as well as the Institute’s citizen-backed “Smart Roads: Grand Traverse Region” alternative, in its letter of caution to the Federal Highway Administration.
• Convinced state lawmakers to propose an annual $25 million increase in funding for public transit. Action on the bill ended with the 2000 legislative session but promises to heat up again in 2001.
Land and Water Protection Accomplishments
>>
MLUI Home | Growth Management | Land & Water | Transportation | Partner With Us