Last Friday, Governor Rick Snyder issued an executive directive calling for increased collaborations on infrastructure projects.  Under the directive, the Director of the Department of Transportation is charged with improving the coordination of infrastructure installation, repair, or replacement in conjunction with road infrastructure.  It also calls on the Director to work with local government and utility companies on statewide projects.  “The Governor first called for this manner of collaboration in his State of the State address this past January.  By calling for the increase of collaboration on the state and local levels, the Governor hopes to achieve better outcomes with the additional revenue stream going into infrastructure improvements,” said Tim Ward of MLC.

The directive calls on the Director to:

• Work with the Director of the Department of Environmental Quality to identify locations where there are major critical infrastructure projects or projects where threats to water or wastewater services from inadequate facilities could occur, and coordinate efforts to address them.
• Work with the Chair of the Public Service Commission and the Executive Director of the Michigan Agency for Energy to identify any entities that are known to be planning major critical infrastructure projects or projects in rights of way, to coordinate efforts where possible.
• Work with the Michigan Utilities Coordinating Committee and the Transportation Asset Management Council to encourage local agencies and their design consultants to consider incorporating infrastructure installation, replacement or improvement projects into their road construction projects.
• Work with the 21^st Century Infrastructure Commission to identify opportunities for partnership, funding alternatives and coordination of infrastructure investment in conjunction with road reconstruction.
• Provide information on a public website about methods for local agencies, design consultants and contractors to use in coordinating road reconstruction projects with infrastructure installation, relocation or replacement.
• Identify best practices for coordination of road work and infrastructure installation, relocation and replacement employed by state departments of transportation across the U.S., in Canadian provinces, or recommended by technical experts.
• Research and test new and better methods to discover and locate underground infrastructure in partnership with the 21^st Century Infrastructure Commission.
• Coordinate with other regulatory agencies to maximize the efficient maintenance, modernization and protection of underground infrastructure.

Michigan Legislative Consultants is a bipartisan lobbying firm based in Lansing, Michigan. Our team of lobbyists and procurement specialists provide a wide range of services for some of the most respected companies in America. For more on MLC, visit www.mlcmi.com or connect with us on LinkedIn and Twitter.