20 February 2026
How Michigan’s New Road Package Accidentally Cut Current Year Road Funding
#FactsMatter, the Citizens Research Council of Michigan podcast
About
Eric Paul Dennis, research associate for infrastructure at the Citizens Research Council, joins Guy Gordon for the first podcast of 2026. Earlier this week, Dennis’ research brief, How the 2025 Transportation Funding Package Accidentally Cut Road Funding in FY2026, contrasted the promise of new funding in the current fiscal year with the reality.
Guy and Eric pick up where their conversation left off in late 2025 — at the start of fiscal year (FY) 2026 — when the Michigan Legislature passed and Governor Whitmer signed Michigan’s 2025 transportation funding package, billed as delivering more than $1 billion in new road funding for FY 2026.
But the reality is that Michigan road agencies have seen a more than 15 percent decrease in state funding distributions in the months following the adoption of the package.
This discrepancy between a promised funding increase and a realized funding decrease is largely due to differences in formal state accounting and the timing of funding distributions to road agencies. Additional delays and uncertainties are imposed by statutory details and bureaucratic complexities related to new funding sources provided by the 2025 transportation funding package.
Road agencies will see funding increases beginning in April 2026 (the second half of the fiscal year). However, the increases in the final six months of FY2026 are likely to be smaller than the decreases seen in the first six months. Although the official state budget may reflect an over $1 billion increase in road funding in FY2026, road agencies may receive less funding than in FY2025.
The promised FY2026 funding increase will likely be distributed to agencies in FY2027, with some disbursed in the final months of FY2026. However, the exact timing and amount of this funding remain unclear.
Guy and Eric pick up where their conversation left off in late 2025 — at the start of fiscal year (FY) 2026 — when the Michigan Legislature passed and Governor Whitmer signed Michigan’s 2025 transportation funding package, billed as delivering more than $1 billion in new road funding for FY 2026.
But the reality is that Michigan road agencies have seen a more than 15 percent decrease in state funding distributions in the months following the adoption of the package.
This discrepancy between a promised funding increase and a realized funding decrease is largely due to differences in formal state accounting and the timing of funding distributions to road agencies. Additional delays and uncertainties are imposed by statutory details and bureaucratic complexities related to new funding sources provided by the 2025 transportation funding package.
Road agencies will see funding increases beginning in April 2026 (the second half of the fiscal year). However, the increases in the final six months of FY2026 are likely to be smaller than the decreases seen in the first six months. Although the official state budget may reflect an over $1 billion increase in road funding in FY2026, road agencies may receive less funding than in FY2025.
The promised FY2026 funding increase will likely be distributed to agencies in FY2027, with some disbursed in the final months of FY2026. However, the exact timing and amount of this funding remain unclear.