Talking Michigan Transportation

Surface transportation reauthorization is the regular federal legislative process to renew and fund U.S. transportation programs for highways, transit, rail and safety, setting policies and priorities for billions in spending, with the current major authorization (part of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act) set to expire Sept. 30, 2026, prompting ongoing discussions for the next bill. On this week’s edition of the Talking Michigan Transportation podcast, Zach Rable, a federal policy specialist at the Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT), talks about priorities for Michigan.He explains those priorities largely dovetail with those the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) are pushing.Photo by Adam Michael Szuscik on Unsplash.

On this week’s edition of the Talking Michigan Transportation podcast, a conversation with Peter Anastor, director of the Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) Office of Rail, about where things stand for passenger rail service at Michigan Central in Detroit. Anastor also offers an update on plans to link passenger rail service in Michigan with service in Canada and create a link between Chicago and Toronto.In October, MDOT, the City of Detroit and Michigan Central signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to begin preliminary assessments for a new multimodal transportation hub located within the 30-acre Michigan Central Innovation District on a parcel just southwest of the station.Key provisions include:The partners will utilize a $10 million grant awarded to MDOT through the Federal Transit Administration's Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity (RAISE) grant program (now known as the Better Utilizing Investments to Leverage Development, or BUILD, grant program), plus an additional $30 million in state funds.This proposed hub would include infrastructure for passenger rail and intercity bus service.Decisions about final project designs, funding and timelines will be shared as the exploratory phase progresses. 

On this week’s Talking Michigan Transportation podcast, a conversation about key road, bridge and rail projects completed across the state.Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) Director Bradley C. Wieferich joined the conversation to talk about details of projects highlighted in MDOT's year-end video. Many were made possible by Gov. Whitmer’s Rebuilding Michigan program while others received help from lawmakers working in bipartisan fashion to improve travel in their communities. From the western Upper Peninsula to Kalamazoo in the southwest part of the state and Oakland County in the southeast, MDOT officials oversaw work that will improve safety, reduce congestion and make commuting and the delivery of goods more efficient.

Laura Mester, who has served as the chief administrative officer at the Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) since 2011, is retiring from state government in January. She joined the podcast to reflect on her career in state government, including the past 15 years at MDOT. Mester talks about her perceptions of the department before she joined, and what she learned about the need for a multimodal focus to serve all users. She also discusses the challenges facing the department with decades of inadequate funding to do all the things the public expects. In her role, she oversaw the Bureau of Finance and the Office of Passenger Transportation, which (among other things) oversees and supports the state’s transit agencies, including the Office of Rail.

On this week’s edition of the Talking Michigan Transportation podcast, a conversation about a new study that confirms that flashing LED lights, used strategically, can improve safety on curves.The study is part of a larger project looking for effective speed warning technologies, said Timothy Gates, a professor of civil and environmental engineering at Michigan State University, who talked about the findings on the podcast. The research is funded by the Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT).The state tallied 128,517 crashes on curved roadways during winter weather conditions between 2018 and 2022, causing 175 serious injuries and fatalities, plus 1,360 less serious and suspected injuries, the study said. The study concluded that curves on flat roads (called horizontal curves by highway engineers) "present a major challenge to drivers, especially when there is a significant difference between the posted speed limit and the curve advisory speed."