Mayor’s Promise to Improve Roads Hits Pothole–Taylor’s Goal “Unattainable,” According to City Staff

by P.D. Lesko

When he ran for City Council in 2008, Christopher Taylor called Ann Arbor’s 200 miles of residential streets, 100 miles of major streets, and 14 bridges “a disgrace.” According to city pavement ratings from June 2022, 39 percent of local streets are rated at a three or worse on a ten-point scale. For major streets, 22 percent are rated at a three or worse. In 2014, when Taylor first ran for mayor he told the media, “On the basic services side, we have plain and present needs on roads.” In 2018, when Taylor ran for re-election, he told The Ann Arbor News, “Our roads need to be better.” Taylor promised in 2018 that by 2026 80 percent of streets in Ann Arbor would be rated “good or better.” That goal won’t be met, according to city officials.

“I think the gap was too high in light of our ability to address roads, in light of road degradation, the speed of road degradation, in light of freeze-thaw cycle, in light of the grading system itself,” said Ann Arbor Mayor Christopher Taylor.

Over the past decade, thanks to the dedicated street repair millage, Ann Arbor taxpayers have paid over $95 million toward road repairs. However, according to the City’s website, since Taylor was elected to Council in 2008 fewer than 85 miles of residential and major streets have been reconstructed/resurfaced. In 2022, the City of Ann Arbor plans to resurface or reconstruct a combined total of 11.1 miles of road around the city; that’s down from 59 miles of roads around the City that were resurfaced or reconstructed in 2019.

According to a 2021 study, Michigan has the 10th worst roads in the nation. According to data from MDOT, Washtenaw County has the fourth worst roads among the State’s 83 counties. Among Michigan’s 1,773 cities, Ann Arbor has the third worst roads in Michigan.

While Taylor points the finger at Mother Nature, residents have taken to social media with other explanations and hypotheses. These comments come from a 2019 Ann Arbor Reddit thread about the roads:

“Moved here from Texas. This state has the absolute worst roads I’ve ever experienced.”

“I moved in from Genesee County where SOME roads were particularly bad, especially in Flint which, you know.. I kind of expect. Poor county, poor city. NOTHING compared to Washtenaw here.”

“Proposal A keeps people on fixed incomes (like retirees) from being forced out of their houses by ever-increasing property taxes. Ann Arbor does have an issue with the University taking large amounts of property off the the tax rolls. The biggest issue is the city leadership’s priorities, which do not include repaving roads.”

These comments are from a 2022 Reddit thread about the “worst street conditions in Ann Arbor”:

“I was driving from fourth to division the other day. Not a long stretch but it was so bumpy it felt like driving on a rumble strip.”

“Ann Arbor has an incredibly high property tax base (at one point it was higher than Detroit’s — now it’s ‘down’ to number 2 in the state). Out terrible streets are a result of bad priorities not property tax revenue ‘poverty’ created by the U.”

“The roads here have been abysmal since I moved here >10 years ago.”

“Goooooo Virginia! That’s our street and it’s like we’ve been shelled by the Germans for a few years. Horrible.”

In this summer’s mayoral Democratic primary race, Ann Arbor Mayor Chris Taylor’s campaign pledge to improve Ann Arbor roads and neighborhood streets is being characterized as just more “potholes and promises.”

While Taylor works on getting re-elected with a platform of having provided Ann Arbor residents excellent services, improved infrastructure and, yes, “accelerating neighborhood street repair,” city staff are working toward setting a new goal to whip the City’s roads into shape.

“I believe we are going to have a new goal, at the very least of by 2026, major roads good and above at 60 — local roads good and above at 45,” said Taylor recently.