A new Report Card for America’s Infrastructure shows conditions in Michigan are less than mediocre, despite billions in government infrastructure spending in recent years.

The quadrennial report incorporates individual reports from civil engineers who use an A-F scale to grade infrastructure in all 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico across as many as 18 sectors on a rolling basis, WZZM reports.

Overall, the American Society of Civil Engineers behind the report gave infrastructure in the United States a “C,” noting “for the first time since 1998, no Report Card categories were rated D-.

“Among the 18 categories assessed, eight saw grade increases,” according to the report.

In Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s Michigan, it was a different story.

Data used for Michigan’s grades came from 2023, and “gave the state an overall GPA of a C-,” researchers wrote.

“Michigan’s civil engineers studied 14 categories of infrastructure. Of those 14, nine are in mediocre condition, and five are in poor condition, and one has yet to be graded,” according to the report. “The good news is that there are solutions to all of these challenges, and we can raise Michigan’s infrastructure grades.”

Go Ad-Free, Get Content, Go Premium Today - $1 Trial

The report notes a grade of A is exceptional, B is good, C is mediocre, D is poor, and F is failing.

While Michigan did not receive any Fs, there are plenty of Ds, for energy, roads, and stormwater.

Engineers graded the Great Lakes State D+ in drinking water, and bridges, and C- in transit, schools, and dams. The state’s best grades of C were for aviation, inland waterways, public parks, rail, and wastewater.

Michigan received zero Bs or As.

Go Ad-Free, Get Content, Go Premium Today - $1 Trial

The report offers some “infrastructure facts” on Michigan in 2025: 11.3% of the state’s 11,271 bridges were structurally deficient in 2024, there’s 162 high-hazard dams, $16.3 billion in drinking water needs, 91 superfund sites, $3.8 billion in wastewater needs, and 40% of roads are in fair or poor condition.

“Each motorist pays $758 per year driving on roads in need of repair and every resident loses $1,617 annual due to crashes,” according to the facts.

The report cites state and federal investments in recent years that have improved the situation some, but argues “decisionmakers must implement sustainable, dedicated, long-term funding solutions, address workforce challenges, and prioritize resilience and reliability” to turn things around.

Lawmakers in the state House did exactly that last month, when all Republicans and seven Democrats voted to send a $3.2 billion road funding bill package to a Senate under Democratic control.

The Republican plan includes no new tax increases, relying instead on higher-than-anticipated tax revenues, redirecting corporate subsidies, and funneling all of the state’s motor fuels taxes into roads.

In the weeks since, Whitmer has continued to insist she will not approve any road funding plan that does not increase taxes, and has vowed to work with the Senate on a “compromise.”

Senate Majority Leader Winnie Brinks, D-Grand Rapids, told Bridge Michigan the no-tax roads plan is a “nonstarter.”

Whitmer has proposed her own $2.7 billion plan that would increase corporate sales taxes from 6% to roughly 8.5% to squeeze Michigan businesses for $1.6 billion, and impose $470 million in new taxes on wholesale marijuana, among other new taxes.

The governor was elected six years ago on a promise to “fix the damn roads,” but was forced to borrow $3.5 billion when lawmakers rejected her plan to hike the state’s motor fuels tax by 45 cents to the highest rate in the nation.

That money is now gone, and “roads are deteriorating faster than the agencies can repair them,” according to an annual road and bridges report.

Michigan taxpayers are spending $340 million this year to pay off the $3.5 billion the governor borrowed for road repairs, which came with $2.5 billion in interest, according to Michigan Department of Transportation data cited by The Detroit News.

Since Whitmer took office, Michigan’s annual budget has increased by 43% to a staggering $86 billion in the governor’s spending plan for next fiscal year, a jump of roughly $30 billion in six years.

A United for ALICE report released last year showed the number of Michiganders struggling paycheck to paycheck has also increased substantially in that same time, increasing by roughly 200,000 residents from 2019 to 2022.

“The money is there. We don’t need higher taxes to fix our roads,” Rep. Ann Bollin, chair of the House Appropriations Committee, said in a recent statement. “We need leadership that respects taxpayers, spends responsibly, and makes roads a priority.”