Private companies could become more involved in transportation projects in Michigan.
As The Michigan Public Radio Network’s Jake Neher reports, the state is looking at expanding public-private partnerships in a number of areas.
The Michigan Department of Transportation is asking businesses if they’re interested in taking over things like financing, building, or operating infrastructure. That could include bridge work, freeway lighting, or rest stops.
Joe Pavona is Governor Rick Snyder’s special advisor on public-private partnerships.
“Using this model allows us to bring many projects forward much quicker than we otherwise would have been able to have done,” he says.
But the state’s largest public employee union is blasting the idea. It says those are functions best left to the state.
Meanwhile, lawmakers in Lansing are debating ways to boost infrastructure spending by more than a billion dollars a year.