Despite Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s claims she’s “fixing the damn roads,” a new report shows they’re getting worse, and costing Michiganders thousands each year in repairs, vehicle depreciation, gas and time.

“Roads and bridges that are deteriorated, congested or lack some desirable safety features cost Michigan motorists a total of $17 billion statewide annually … due to higher vehicle operating costs, traffic crashes and congestion-related delays,” according to a news release from TRIP, a national transportation research nonprofit.

TRIP issued a report on Tuesday titled “Keeping Michigan Mobile: Providing a Modern, Sustainable Transportation System in the Great Lakes State” that found in Detroit, where 70% of roads are in poor or mediocre condition, the problem is costing each motorist an estimated $3,005 a year.

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In Grand Rapids, the added annual expenses from bad roads totals $2,297, while it’s $2,150 in Flint, $1,872 in Kalamazoo, $1,861 in Lansing, $1,844 in Saginaw, $1,787 in Traverse City, $1,776 in Muskegon, and $1,594 in Ann Arbor.

The $17 billion cost to motorists statewide includes $5.9 billion in extra vehicle operating costs for things like vehicle depreciation, repairs, and increased fuel consumption and tire wear. Another $5.7 billion stems from lost time and wasted fuel for motorists stuck in traffic congestion, and $5.4 billion is tied to increased costs for traffic crashes in places where adequate road safety features are lacking.

“Infrastructure is the backbone of Michigan’s economy,” said Ed Noyola, chief deputy and legislative director of the County Road Association of Michigan. “The problem is not going away and we cannot continue to allow Michigan’s critical roads and bridges to fall into poor condition. We must invest in our transportation system to ensure that it is safe and reliable for generations to come.”

Besides the rising costs to Michiganders, the deteriorating roads have also contributed to a 6% increase in the state’s traffic fatality rate since Whitmer took office in 2019, according to the report.

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The TRIP analysis shows 40% of Michigan’s major local and state roads are in poor or mediocre condition, while 11% of local and state-maintained bridges are rated poor.

Those findings echo Michigan’s 2023 Road & Bridges Annual Report released this spring that showed the state improved 16.2% of roads eligible for federal aid between 2021 and 2023, 21.2% of those roads declined.

It was the same deal with non-federal aid roads, of which “47% were found to be in poor condition … (or) 2% more than from 2021 to 2022,” the report read.

The road and bridges report found 33% of Michigan’s paved federal aid roads are in poor condition, 41% are in fair condition, and 26% are in good condition. By 2035, researchers predict 52% will be in poor condition, 28% in fair condition, and 20% in good condition.

The bottom line according to the Transportation Asset Management Council that issued the report: “Roads are deteriorating faster than the agencies can repair them.”

“At the end of the day, this is a quality-of-life issue – do we want a Michigan that has unsafe, crumbling infrastructure, or do we want a safe, reliable infrastructure network that will carry us forward for generations to come,” said Rob Coppersmith, executive vice president of the Michigan Infrastructure and Transportation Association. “Michigan’s leaders must enact a long-term, equitable, and sustainable infrastructure investment plan that ensures we have a safe, reliable transportation network that will save Michigan drivers billions of dollars annually.”

The problems hinges in large part on funding, which comes primarily from the state’s motor fuels tax and the federal government. Whitmer borrowed $3.5 billion for road projects in 2019, while federal pandemic spending brought another $7.9 billion to the state, according to TRIP.

But increasing fuel efficiency standards and electric vehicle incentives pushed by the Biden administration are expected to continue to erode motor fuels tax revenues, contributing to a $3.9 billion annual funding gap for needed road and bridge repairs.

TRIP notes that funding gap “could be even higher if maintenance is deferred and repairs become more costly over time.”

The Detroit News noted in May that Michigan this year is spending the last $700 million of the $3.5 billion Whitmer borrowed for roads in 2019, which means the state is “quickly approaching a revenue cliff” with no clear solution in sight.

“When the $3.5 billion runs out next year, the state will be saddled not only with paying off the loans and interest of that program, but also facing an estimated annual revenue shortfall of up to $3.9 billion for needed road work across Michigan,” according to the news site.

Democrats in Lansing are proposing to track and tax Michigan drivers by the mile to close the gap, while Whitmer is looking to residents to bail themselves out.

In May, the governor announced an annual “Shark Tank style” competition to spend $100,000 in taxpayer money on ideas from Michiganders for problems she hasn’t figured out how to fix. This year’s PitchMI competition, she said, will focus on roads and mobility.

“Is it a new way to fix the roads?” she asked when announcing the competition at the Detroit Regional Chamber’s Mackinac Policy Conference. “To everyone out there who eats, sleeps and breathes fixing the damn roads, now is your chance.”