Michigan governor promotes road proposal by working with roads crew

Proposal 1 would raise state sales tax by 1 percent to create road funding

DETROIT – Michigan voters will hit the polls in a few weeks to decide on a proposal to fix the state's crumbling roads, and Gov. Rick Snyder is literally hitting the pavement in an effort to help it pass.

On Thursday, Snyder, wearing a Tigers hard hat, joined an MDOT crew to patch potholes on Michigan Avenue in Detroit's Corktown.

"It gave me a good appreciation on how hard MDOT is working. They are out here eight hours filling these potholes," Snyder said.

MDOT spokeswoman Diane Cross welcomed the governor's helping hand.

"By being out here, it draws attention to the fact that there's a lot of holes on the roadway," Cross said.

The governor is continuing to make his sales pitch for the road funding initiative, known as Proposal 1. The proposal would funnel more money for state roads by raising the state sales tax by one percent.

"The answer is not filling more and more potholes. The answer is getting the resources we have been missing, which are additional dollars that we can go to building better roads," Snyder said.

Proposal  1 opponents want the roads fixed - there's no debate they're in bad shape - but they don't support a tax increase and all that comes with the proposal.

"There's no question that there might be a valid debate on additional school funding or local community funding. You should have those debates on their own merits in the light of day, not tied onto a roads package that was passed on the last day of the lame duck session," said Randall Thompson, executive director of the Coalition Against Higher Taxes and Special Interest Deals.