LANSING, Mich. – The Michigan Infrastructure & Transportation Association (MITA) announced today the launch of a new campaign to highlight the hard-working men and women working to fix roads, bridges, dams and underground infrastructure across Michigan, with the limited resources available to do so.
“We’re excited to be launching a new campaign to show Michigan residents that our hard-working infrastructure construction workers are doing what they can with the resources they have, even though much more is needed,” said MITA Executive Vice President Mike Nystrom. “The history of Michigan’s infrastructure was once very proud – we led the nation in many ways. More recently however, our public officials have put off making major long-term investments to maintain our infrastructure system, and it shows with the failed pipes, pumps, and crumbling roads and bridges.”
The campaign will extend the award-winning Fix MI State campaign by highlighting construction companies across Michigan working on above and below ground infrastructure projects, doing what they can to keep Michigan’s infrastructure safe with the short-term fixes elected officials continue to fund. Showcasing a mini documentary about the state of Michigan’s infrastructure and its industry leaders, the campaign will also feature a combination of roadside billboards and digital ads to raise awareness that our transportation and infrastructure construction workers are doing what they can with the resources they have. The videos highlight the work of DiPonio Contracting in Flint, Fisher Contracting, Co. in Clare, and Iafrate Construction in Roseville, and will feature additional companies through earned and digital media.
“Most folks think of infrastructure as that which they can see, such as roads,” Nystrom continued. “Yet some of the most impactful infrastructure is that which is unseen, such as underground water and sewage lines, a lot of which are old and deteriorating across Michigan. If we let our bridges, roads and sewers fall apart, it’s much more costly to make the needed repairs to keep them working for us down the road.”
The launch of the campaign comes as the legislature is considering the state budget for fiscal year 2022-2023, as well as supplemental funding that would repair bridges and underground infrastructure. At the federal level, an infrastructure funding plan is also under consideration.
“While temporary infrastructure funding boosts are being considered, we need to be planning for long term investment that not only fixes the infrastructure problems we have now but continues to maintain good roads and pipes for the future,” said Nystrom.
Michigan’s construction industry contributed more than $16.3 billion to our economy in 2020. Annually, Michigan needs to be investing $2.5 billion more than current levels to properly fund road repairs and maintenance. While the solutions proposed at the state and federal level help to address the situation, they fall short of meeting the long-term funding that Michigan needs in order to make our roads, bridges, dams and underground infrastructure safer for Michigan residents. Specifically, this funding will help improve the more than 98,400 miles of Michigan paved roads (82%) that are rated in poor or fair condition.
“The public wants to see good roads and depends on underground infrastructure to be reliable,” Nystrom said. “Recent issues such as the dam failures in the Midland area last year and the flooding of basements and freeways in southeast Michigan throughout this summer continue to highlight the importance of investing in our infrastructure. People are fed up with putting off the fixes to these problems, and Michigan workers have the talent to get this work done with proper, sustained long-term funding.”
To view the new videos and for more information, visit FixMIState.org.
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The Michigan Infrastructure & Transportation Association is a statewide trade association that represents a broad spectrum of heavy construction companies and suppliers that help build a better Michigan from the ground up. For more information, visit thinkmita.org.
