Gov. Rick Snyder made a strong case for doing something about it in his State of the State address Wednesday, calling for more revenue to fix Michigan’s deteriorating roads. Now the question is whether legislators will act or whether they’ll continue to sit on their hands and watch our roads crumble.

Few people have anything good to say about the condition of Michigan roads. With our hard winters and heavy truck traffic, it takes a lot of work to keep them in shape, and the state gas tax — which provides the bulk of funding for state highways, county roads and city streets — isn’t generating enough money to keep up. A legislative task force concluded in 2011 that the state needs an additional $1.4 billion a year (on top of our current spending of roughly $3 billion) to keep its roads and bridges in shape. But calls to take action, including one from Gov. Snyder last year, have gone nowhere.

We’re not eager to shell out more money, but we have to face reality. Gov. Snyder made that argument Wednesday, proposing an additional $1.2 billion for roads this year and $10 billion over the next decade. It’s money he rightly characterized as an investment, noting that motorists would recoup much of the average annual cost of $120 per vehicle through lower repair bills. Putting off repairs now, he noted, will just make the job more costly down the line. As the 2011 task force found, the extra $1.4 billion it said is needed now will become $2.6 billion a year by 2023 if no action is taken in the interim.

And all that doesn’t even factor in the safety angle: Good roads save lives.

According to media reports, the reaction among legislators to Snyder’s call was tepid at best. Key Republicans and Democrats alike said they would consider the proposal but were reluctant to make Michigan residents pay more in gas taxes or vehicle registration fees.

Perhaps these legislators represent districts where people don’t patch their roofs or fix the dents in their cars. Perhaps they live in a different world, where cars simply glide over gaping potholes and buckled pavement, or in an alternate universe where roads magically fix themselves without expense or human intervention. In the real world, of course, bad roads mean jarring rides, unsafe conditions and hefty repair bills. In the real world, repairs cost money.

We’ve waited for years for those who say we can’t afford to raise the gas tax to come forward with alternate ideas on how to get more money for road funding. Not a word. We’ve waited for them to offer their suggestions on how Michigan can slash its road construction costs. Again, nothing.

The truth is legislators all know fixing roads costs money, but too many Republicans are stuck in a “no tax increases” straitjacket while too many Democrats are just reflexively opposed to anything the governor proposes. Politics has once again trumped common sense.

Gov. Snyder didn’t offer a specific formula on taxes and fees Wednesday, which we found disappointing. Raising the gas tax from 19 cents a gallon (a rate unchanged since 1997) is one obvious solution. So is increasing annual registration fees. Some favor eliminating the gas tax and raising the sales tax to fund roads. We believe any solution should equalize the gasoline tax and the diesel fuel tax, now set at 15 cents — a lower rate despite the fact that trucks put more stress on the roads.

The one response that is unacceptable is inaction. Gov. Snyder didn’t push very hard on road funding last year, but with much of his legislative agenda already in place, we hope he can spend some of his political capital on this issue. It’s time to stop complaining about Michigan roads, and start doing something about it.

http://www.hollandsentinel.com/opinions/x1503802709/OUR-VIEW-Face-reality-We-need-more-money-to-fix-Michigan-roads?zc_p=1