Talking Michigan Transportation

This week’s edition of the Talking Michigan Transportation podcast features conversations with two key participants in a panel discussion convened to discuss the need for a Michigan maritime strategy and sustainable funding.
First, Elisha Wulff, a freight policy specialist at the Michigan Department of Transportation who has been leading maritime efforts, talks about the potential benefits from implanting the strategy and the challenges in finding agreement on a sustainable funding source.
Later, John Peracchio, a member of the Michigan State Transportation Commission who moderated the panel discussion, talks about his takeaways and why he also believes a key priority is identifying a funding source.

On this week’s edition of the Talking Michigan Transportation podcast, Amanda Novak returns to talk about progress on a federal grant to implement a pilot program for analyzing wildlife-vehicle collisions (WVCs) in the hope of designing safer crossings.
Novak, a resource specialist in the Michigan Department of Transportation’s Bay Region, previously spoke about the grant on the podcast in September 2024. She talks about things she and her colleagues are learning from counterparts in other states, including efforts by the Missouri Department of Transportation (MoDOT).
MoDOT described the research as “extremely pertinent” as, from 2019 to 2023, Missouri suffered 17,609 WVCs with 8 to 10 percent of them resulting in an injury or fatality. The state also ranked 17th in the nation for WVCs in both 2024 and 2025, according to the agency’s study.
Michigan ranked fourth in the 2025 State Farm Insurance annual analysis.
A previous edition of the podcast covered some creative things being done in western states and provinces as part of the Yellowstone to Yukon (Y2Y) Conservation Initiative.
Novak also recaps important work being done to expand wildflower and tree plantings at MDOT facilities and medians to enhance habitat for pollinators. The importance of the topic was highlighted in a 2015 issue of “The Scenic Route,” a publication of the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center at the University of Texas.

As rains continue and in some areas of Michigan, rivers and tributaries continue to rise, crews from across state government and local agencies are working to protect and monitor the condition of dams, roads and bridges.
Bill Wahl, associate region engineer for the Michigan Department’ of Transportation's North Region, is keeping a close eye on the damage to roads and bridges across all of the norther lower peninsula. He spoke on the podcast the afternoon of Thursday, April 16, about all that’s going on in the moment.
Below is a list of bridges that have been closed and/or damaged by the floods already beginning with each structure number (STR):
 Arenac County
STR 445 State Road over Rifle River 
Muskegon County
STR 14563 Holton-Duck Lake Rd over Cedar Creek
 Manistee County
STR 6460 Johnson Road over Big Bear Creek failed; closed prior to failure
STR 6450 River Road over Big Bear Creek 
Grand Traverse County
STR 3059 – failed; closed prior to failure
Farmington Hills
STR 14367 Tuck Road over Upper Rouge River 
MDOT Grand Region
STR 8593 M-66 over Middle Branch River
STR 7551 M-120 over Cedar Creek 
MDOT Superior Region
STR 6792 US-2 over Big Cedar River 
Menominee County
STR 6867 30 Mile Road over Little Cedar River
STR 6868 31 Mile Road over Little Cedar River
STR 6871 41 Mile Road over Big Cedar River
STR 12855 Route 358 over Little Cedar River 
Midland County
STR 6980 Schreiber over Weeks Drain

On this week’s Talking Michigan Transportation podcast, a follow-up conversation on numbers recently released by the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA) showing a decline in highway fatalities in 2025.
Gregg Brunner, chief operations officer at the Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT), talks about measures that can help reduce crashes, which saw a 7 percent decline from 2024 to 2025 in Michigan. Nationwide, annual fatality numbers returned to pre-pandemic levels in 2025.
As road construction season kicks off in earnest in Michigan, Brunner also discusses work zone safety. National Work Zone Awareness Week (NWZAW) is April 20-24.
Finally, Brunner also explains continuing efforts to implement a work zone safety camera program, despite some hurdles, after Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signed legislation in December 2024 to authorize their use. 
An Illinois official explained on the podcast in 2022 how the cameras have helped reduce crashes there and saved lives. The experience has been the same in more than 20 other states.

Annual numbers are out from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the rate of fatal crashes on our nation’s roads continued to trend in the right direction in 2025. 
That was true in Michigan as well following 2020 and 2021 when the number of fatal crashes spiked during the earliest months of the pandemic as law enforcement agencies observed people driving at much higher speeds and many even abandoning seat belt use. 
Next week, some Michigan officials will join the podcast to talk about the trends.  This week, listen to a reprise of an episode from 2021 when experts from Michigan State University and the Washington, D.C.-based Governors Highway Safety Association (GHSA) talked about the disturbing trends then.