Description
The bridge over the canal on Putnam Drive is falling apart slowly. I know most drivers come to a complete stop before rolling their precious autos over it. Makes us mad, we live and pay THOUSANDS of dollars in taxes every year. Not just the bridge, but the roadway entering off Walnut Lake Road is completely torn up...Nothing has been done about this street in years, patches are no longer working, isn't it time that since we pay...Someone help us out???
12 Comments
Road Commission (Guest)
This bridge will be inspected this year as part of the Road Commission's regular bridge inspection process. However, because it is less than 20 feet in length it is not eligible for federal funds. That means it will have to compete for very scarce state bridge funding if it is determined that any repairs are needed. Because it's a subdivision street bridge, it is not likely to compete well against other bridges on primary roads that are in need of repair.
As for Putnam Street itself, because it is a subdivison street, the only way this would be resurfaced is if the property owners along the street agreed to pay for the resurfacing through a special assessment district (the Road Commission, as a matter of policy, does not pay for the paving or repaving of subdivision streets). If you would like more information about the special assessment district paving process, please contact the Road Commission's Subdivision Improvement and Development Division at 248- 645-2000, ext. 2270.
Your property taxes do not go to the Road Commission. The Road Commission is funded primarily through state-collected gas taxes and vehicle registration fees. We do not receive any property tax revenue.
Road Commission for Oakland County
Cristy (Guest)
Road Commission (Guest)
Cristy:
If you would like to initiate a special assessment district paving project, or even learn more about the process, please call the Road Commission's Subdivision Improvement and Development Division at 248-645-2000, ext. 2270. We'd be glad to walk you through the process.
Road Commission for Oakland County
john (Guest)
Road Commission (Guest)
Cristy:
The Road Commission is aware of the problems with this bridge, and we are monitoring it closely. Unfortunately, there is no funding available at this point to do anything with this bridge.
Road Commission for Oakland County
john (Guest)
Wait a few years and jost pave over what was a bridge and save lots of Township money. In te meantime canal property values plumet.
Cristy (Guest)
Road Commission (Guest)
Cristy:
As noted previously, as a matter of policy, the Road Commission does not resurface subdivision streets unless the residents are willing to pay for the resurfacing through a special assessment district. The reason for this policy is that RCOC has no money to resurface subdivision streets.
The wealth of the county has nothing to do with road funding. We are NOT funding through property taxes or income taxes, which ARE impacted by wealth. Rather, we are funded by the state gas tax and vehicle registration fees. These revenues have been declining for five years after being flat for the nearly 10 years prior to that.
If you would like to initiate a special assessment district paving project, or even learn more about the process, please call the Road Commission's Subdivision Improvement and Development Division at 248-645-2000, ext. 2270. We'd be glad to walk you through the process.
Road Commission for Oakland County
Marie (Guest)
The bridge is a health and safety issue and the authorities have been notified and ignore the bridge weaknesess. If a child or passerby is injured the lawsuit would probably cost more than the cost of fixing the problem.
The road commisission needs a better way of prioritizing and spending our money.
Residents do not need to be walked through the process--the bridge needs to be fixed. Get rid of the person or persons who will walk me through the process and use their salaries to pay to repair danderous situations.
Road Commission (Guest)
Marie:
Let's look at your suggestion of getting rid of the Road Commission employee who oversees the Special Assessment District paving program. First, we have 1,300 miles of subdivision roads, many of which need to be repaved, and no money to do so. If we eliminated this one position (in addition to the 116 positions we have already eliminated over the last four years), that would generate enough revenue to pave maybe a fraction of one mile of road (if that). That leaves more than 1,299 and some fraction of a mile of roads to be repaved -- and still no money. And then, we don't have a staff person to oversee the only program available to pave those roads.
Road Commssion
Dave365 (Registered User)
We live in a township folks, a form of government best suited to providing the services needed by rural farming communities rather than those expected by commercial corridors and subivision dwellers. The County owns and maintains every road that's not an M-, I-, or US- route in our township, as well as all the other townships in the county and several grid roads with cities. Bloomfield Township residents decided in the 1960's to take control of their sub roads via a 1 mil tax to improve the services such as salting, plowing, etc. and until about 5 years ago was the only township in the state to have a road department. Even that funding doesn't replace roads - right on Bloomfield's website the road department direct residents to, you guessed it, form a SAD to have the homeowner's pay for it themselves. (http://www.bloomfieldtwp.org/Services/PublicWorks/Roads/RoadFunding.htm)
I'm not suggesting West Bloomfield form a road department, I'm suggesting we form into a City. Sure taxes would go up but so would the level of service we expect and deserve, and the ability to strongly influence what gets fixed, like this collapsing culvert or other subdivision streets, without an SAD.
JDY (Registered User)