Talking Michigan Transportation

This week’s edition of the Talking Michigan Transportation podcast is an encore of a previous discussion about the vital need for driver attention in work zones following the death of a county worker last week in Eaton County. Police pointed to this incident as part of a rising, preventable trend of distracted driving and speeding where road crews are working. Michigan State Police Lt. Rene Gonzal...

On this week’s edition of the Talking Michigan Transportation podcast, a look at the regulatory challenges presented by an increasing number of electric bikes (e-bikes) on roads, sidewalks and trails. Several bills have been introduced recently to further regulate the bikes. Tim Gates, a professor in civil and environmental engineering at Michigan State University who has researched the topic, off...

This week’s edition of the Talking Michigan Transportation podcast features conversations with two people instrumental in a project to restore the rapids to the Grand River in Grand Rapids. First, Matt Chapman, executive director of Grand Rapids Whitewater , talks about the history of the river (Michigan’s longest at 252 miles), why dams were installed and the why the rapids were cleared in the fi...

The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) has declared this week, Sept. 21-25, as National Roundabouts Week . The Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) has installed roundabouts at various intersections, when appropriate , for several years. On this week’s edition of the Talking Michigan Transportation podcast, a conversation with MDOT Engineer of Traffic Safety Garrett Dawe about the life-...

Just as crews began repairing sections of M-119 (also known as The Tunnel of Trees) damaged by April flooding, heavy rains in June wreaked havoc on more sections of the popular tourist route in Michigan's northern Lower Peninsula. Following completion of a $300,000 project to stabilize the slope beneath a section of M-119 near West Stutsmanville Road damaged in the spring flooding, the Michig...

As fall approaches, and on the heels of last week’s discussion about creating safe crossings to prevent deadly and costly vehicle-wildlife crashes, we are reprising an episode from 2024 featuring a discussion with Michigan Department of Natural Resources (MDNR) Public Information Officer Ed Golder.  Golder talked about the decline in deer harvests being reported by hunters and an innovative progra...

Research indicates as many as 2 million vehicles collide with large wildlife in the United States each year, resulting in as many as 200 human deaths, more than 26,000 injuries and billions of dollars in property damage. Officials in Michigan hope to join other states in finding creative ways to address the problem. On this week’s Talking Michigan Transportation podcast, Amanda Novak, a resource s...

On this week’s Talking Michigan Transportation podcast, a conversation with Jennifer Roberts, national road usage charge (RUC) discipline lead at CDM Smith, the consultant selected by the Michigan Department of Transportation to study and eventually pilot transitioning Michigan’s primary road funding formula to an RUC instead of the gas tax. The Michigan Legislature in 2025 directed MDOT to begin...

This week’s edition of the Talking Michigan Transportation podcast features another conversation with Joann Muller, who writes the Axios Future of Mobility newsletter.  Muller talks about her recent reporting on Amazon’s Zoox (pronounced "zooks") robotaxis. The National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration (NHTSA) granted a temporary exemption to commercially deploy up to 2,500 robo...

On July 27, with little fanfare, the long-awaited Gordie Howe International Bridge (GHIB) opened, creating a vital commercial link between Detroit and Windsor, Ontario. On this week’s Talking Michigan Transportation podcast, conversations with two people who played important roles in the earliest days of conceiving and planning what became the GHIB. First, Kirk Steudle, director of the Michigan De...

On this week’s Talking Michigan Transportation podcast, Amy Winn, the Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) administrator at the Blue Water Bridge in Port Huron, talks about completion of the first of four components to fulfill long-time hopes to improve the flow of traffic at the bridge. Officials from MDOT, the City of Port Huron and others are celebrating the completion of Component 1 an...

It has been five years since adoption of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law , which, among many things, included federal funding for the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) program. Michigan was fortunate to receive $110 million of those funds.  On this week’s Talking Michigan Transportation podcast, Steve Minton, who heads the Michigan Department of Transportation’s (MDOT) Office of Ma...

A national effort, entitled the “ Reimagining America’s Interstates ” initiative, is collecting comments on new interstate facility suggestions, feedback on major upgrades needed on existing routes, and how the system can better meet the needs of the 21st century traveling public.  The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) announced this new initiative during a June 30 media event that also celebr...

On this week’s edition of the Talking Michigan Transportation podcast, State Transportation Director Bradley C. Wieferich talks about the Fiscal Year 2027 budget agreement reached last week between Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and legislative leaders. The budget negotiations also produced an agreement to advance Senate Bill 71 to the governor’s desk.  The bill ensures that unauthorized individuals who il...

Just as crews began repairing sections of M-119, also known as The Tunnel of Trees, damaged by April flooding, heavy rains wreaked havoc on more sections of the popular tourist route in Michigan's northern Lower Peninsula. This week’s edition of the Talking Michigan Transportation podcast features conversations with State Sen. John Damoose (Harbor Springs), who represents the area, and Bill W...

On this week’s edition of the Talking Michigan Transportation podcast, a conversation with Michael Townley, engineer of research at the Michigan Department of Transportation. (MDOT). Townley explains the safety and economic benefits of partnering with Michigan universities on research and why it’s important to MDOT. One specific project discussed examined the value of financing infrastructure impr...

By now, you may have seen a photo taken high above the Detroit River of two iron workers, one from Canada and one from the United States, shaking hands to mark the completion of the deck on the Gordie Howe International Bridge. On this week’s edition of the Talking Michigan Transportation podcast, a conversation with those iron workers, Jason Huggett of Canada and Casey Whitson of Michigan.    Bot...

The Intelligent Transportation Society of America (ITSA) convenes its annual conference in Detroit next week, so John Peracchio, a member of the Michigan Transportation Commission and a long-time participant in the ITSA, returns to the podcast to talk about what to expect. In its mission statement , the organization “is a leading nonprofit uniting government, industry and academia to champion poli...

On this week’s Talking Michigan Transportation podcast, Susan Howard, director of government relations and policy for the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO), talks about the highlights of the latest federal surface transportation bill making its way through the legislative process.  Leaders of the U.S. House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee this...

This week’s edition of the Talking Michigan Transportation highlights proposed legislation to include driving through work zones as a focus of driver’s training curriculums. House Bill 5767 would amend the Driver Education Provider and Instructor Act to provide, beginning Jan. 1, 2027, that all participants in a driver education course must complete a work zone safety education course, developed i...

On this week’s edition of the Talking Michigan Transportation podcast, an update from Ryan McMahon of Cambridge Mobile Telematics , a Massachusetts firm that tracks data from drivers(participating voluntarily with their insurance carriers) to analyze statistics and driver behavior.  McMahon spoke on the podcast previously, including a few months after Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signed the law...

This week’s edition of the Talking Michigan Transportation podcast features conversations with two key participants in a panel discussion convened to discuss the need for a Michigan maritime strategy and sustainable funding. First, Elisha Wulff, a freight policy specialist at the Michigan Department of Transportation who has been leading maritime efforts , talks about the potential benefits from i...

On this week’s edition of the Talking Michigan Transportation podcast, Amanda Novak returns to talk about progress on a federal grant to implement a pilot program for analyzing wildlife-vehicle collisions (WVCs) in the hope of designing safer crossings. Novak, a resource specialist in the Michigan Department of Transportation’s Bay Region, previously spoke about the grant on the podcast in Septemb...

As rains continue and in some areas of Michigan, rivers and tributaries continue to rise, crews from across state government and local agencies are working to protect and monitor the condition of dams, roads and bridges. Bill Wahl, associate region engineer for the Michigan Department’ of Transportation's North Region, is keeping a close eye on the damage to roads and bridges across all of th...

On this week’s Talking Michigan Transportation podcast, a follow-up conversation on numbers recently released by the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA) showing a decline in highway fatalities in 2025. Gregg Brunner, chief operations officer at the Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT), talks about measures that can help reduce crashes, which saw a 7 percent declin...