Wow, don't bother explaing why you disagree.

they are not a "private company" they are funded with gas tax revenue, no general tax funds, therefore they are managed separately.

The County Commissioners do have a say in who is appointed to the 3 person commission. However, the Republicans have a tendency to approve Brooks' friends over those that are qualified to oversee OC roads. The newest commissioner, an owner of a window company, was picked over someone who actually is an urban planner and has experience with roads. So maybe if Brooks hadn't gotten his way, the Road Commission can do a better job of snow removal.

Something is fishy. Either the Wayne County Commissioner count is wrong or......

The state law is ignoring Wayne county.

I am not really concerned with the professionalism of the staff, everyone has a bad day now and then, this is not my main concern.

I understand the source of funding and this leads to the issue. In these times everyone has been asked to do more with less. Generally a well rounded business plan that is flexible and carried out correctly can adapt to change and achieve this, those that do not suffer at their own expense. I have lived in Oakland County 52 years and I can safely say the condition of the road system has deteriorated at an alarming rate over the last 10-15 years. This leads me to the belief that Oakland County residents are suffering at the Road Commission’s (our own) expense. I’ve seen many new projects over the years as well as many repairs to emergency situations that were not carried out properly. A few examples would be the construction of roundabouts and the Middlebelt Road sinkhole fiasco. I understand the safety factor related to roundabouts but how many fatal accidents have occurred at these intersections in New Hudson and Farmington Hills? As for the sink hole, it took 3 months or so to divert water and fill a whole.

My feeling is that things could be run better. As best I recall Oakland County Government has not given up to many services or let them fall apart as the Road Commission has. I can’t image they could do any worse.

I do apologize for laying blame on the Road Commission for the Middlebelt incident, my mistake.

As for the Census Bureau data, I cannot comment. I’m sure that a little research would prove you correct. However, the issue still remains with the Road Commission providing only a mediocre level of tangible services while other agencies and individuals are expected to do, and do in most cases, more with less.

To restate my earlier comment regarding roundabouts; “I understand the safety factor related to roundabouts but how many fatal accidents have occurred at these intersections in New Hudson and Farmington Hills?”. My reasoning comes from the fact that, according to SEMCOG crash data from 2005 thru 2009, there are many other locations that have a much higher incident count.

Please keep in mind my original concerns was regarding the degradation of the current road system, not the spending that has taken place on new projects such as roundabout and straitening of curves in roadways. This boils down to, in my mind, mismanagement or at a minimum misuse of funds.

I was hoping to carry on a professional discussion about this topic but it appears you have taken it to another level.

Charles Deaton

While I appreciate the comments from the Road Commission, I also have to tell you that you do not have a good reputation in the County. For that matter, neither does the water resources department who now seem to think the only solution is milliions of dollars from Washington. It doesn't matter where it comes from, it is taxpayer money and the taxpayers are quickly running out of money. Instead of building more and bigger roads to places roads probably shouldn't be built, and then adding the cost of stormwater management that was only needed because someone built a road and changed the natural drainage that was working for the last million or so years, why not look at county wide planning that doesn't pit one department against another or one community against another government entity. The idea of building more roads to encourage more development and more traffic is no longer viable in Michigan'd declining economy and will not be for quite a few years. So let's start working together instead of blaming other departments, other governments or those who won't give you millions of dollars to fix past mistakes.

Cory:

The Road Commission has never built to areas where there is no development in order to "encourage development." In fact, there is no funding available for such roads. Rather, we only widen roads when there is a demonstrated need -- in other words when the traffic is already there. We have been trying to catch up with the development for 30+ years. Nor do we have any control over where development occurs. According to the state constitution, that authority lies with municipalities. We must simply deal with the traffic created by development.

I am sure the response by Craig Bryson is correct and it seems that we may be drifting slightly off the original subject. So let me address this from my local point of view in the tiny little Village of Clarkston which involves local, County and State roads and jurisdictions. Clarkston Road is a county road and regularly floods over at Main Street (M-15) even though re-paved several years ago. The intersection of I-75 and M-15 was significantly expanced several years ago with a 2 lane 1/2 mile long exit from north bound I-75 to M-15 which would seem to indicate someone planning for far greater traffic than currently exists. Independence Township wants to expand the intersection of I-75 and Sashabaw, which is just south of the M-15 exit, because that is where they are developiong their "Town Center" even though I doubt the traffic currently exists and Pine Knob (DTE Music Theater) has had traffic stopping summer backups on I-75 for as long as I can remember. Back to M-15. It starts at Dixie Highway as a 5 lane road, reduces to 2 lanes in less than a mile, slows down in the Village of Clarkston, and then expands back to 5 or more lanes at 1-75 and then back to two going north at 50 MPH+. While all of this is certainly not the complete fault or responsibility of the Road Commission, I also can't believe it is the result of any sort of good comprehensive planning.

So getting back to the original posting. Who is responsible and how can it be done better as I am sure I can find similar situations in many communities? Once we have that cleared up, I would like to have a discussion on Complete Streets and how that will be implemented in the County now that it is State law or will every single community have to be their own expert, with their own rules, that they then will petition the County Road Commission and MDOT to implement? Seems like a lot of overhead and that it could be done in a more comprehensive manner.

They really need to put a word limit on the responses so people like me do not write manifestos.

Cory:

As you're probably aware, M-15 and I-75 are state highways under the jurisdiction of MDOT.

Concerning Complete Streets: MDOT has established a task force to look into how this will be implemented. RCOC is represented on this task force. The process is just beginning though, and nothing has yet been concluded.

Craig Bryson

Road Commission for Oakland County

Yes I am well aware of M-15 and I-75. The point is that these roads do not exist in a vacumn, and would not be needed if they did, as roads serve a purpose. If I-75 and the intersection with M-15 or any other road is enlarged to handle greater traffic, my assumption is that somebody thinks, or is planning for, that traffic which will eventually end up on County and local roads. For those reasons, I would assume that RCOC would be part of those disucssions. I was at the Oakland County sponsored Context Sensitive Design for Streets and Highways last week and several members of MDOT and RCOC were there, along with a lot of planners, engineers and community members. RCOC stated that they talk to every community every two years about road planning. This is a good thing but it implies that there is a plan, coordination between plans, or at least a desire for community input to create a plan. It seems to me that has to include everyone or the plan could have some big gaps. Such is the nature with Complete Streets as many communities are moving ahead with resolutions, ordinances and plans while MDOT is not scheduled to have an implementation plan ready for another two years. The seminar last week was a great way to start but it barely scratched the surface of what needs to be done, at least in my opinion.