Talking Michigan Transportation

Just as crews began repairing sections of M-119 (also known as The Tunnel of Trees) damaged by April flooding, heavy rains in June wreaked havoc on more sections of the popular tourist route in Michigan's northern Lower Peninsula.
Following completion of a $300,000 project to stabilize the slope beneath a section of M-119 near West Stutsmanville Road damaged in the spring flooding, the Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) announced in early September that it has reopened M-119 between West Stutsmanville Road and Terpening Road.
This map shows current status and detour routes.
On this week’s edition of the Talking Michigan Transportation, an update from MDOT North Region Engineer Bill Wahl on work that’s been completed on M-119 and what long-term challenges remain for the corridor. He also talks about some of the other roads in MDOT's North Region damaged in the spring flooding.
Finally, Wahl offers details on construction of a diverging diamond interchange (DDI) at the I-75/M-32 intersection in Gaylord. The first such interchange to be built in northern lower Michigan, a DDI is an alternative interchange that improves safety, increases traffic flow and can reduce construction costs.

As fall approaches, and on the heels of last week’s discussion about creating safe crossings to prevent deadly and costly vehicle-wildlife crashes, we are reprising an episode from 2024 featuring a discussion with Michigan Department of Natural Resources (MDNR) Public Information Officer Ed Golder. 
Golder talked about the decline in deer harvests being reported by hunters and an innovative program, now called Hunters Feeding Michigan, a name change from what was mentioned in the original podcast.
Since then, Golder says the MDNR is doing more than ever to help farmers get deer off their land. I hope you enjoy this encore presentation.
The podcast covers themes featured in a Detroit Free Press story detailing other creative efforts by the MDNR to stem the proliferation of deer in the state’s southern regions.
Golder explained the challenges and how wildlife officials are tackling them.
Podcast image courtesy of the Michigan Department of Natural Resources.

Research indicates as many as 2 million vehicles collide with large wildlife in the United States each year, resulting in as many as 200 human deaths, more than 26,000 injuries and billions of dollars in property damage.
Officials in Michigan hope to join other states in finding creative ways to address the problem.
On this week’s Talking Michigan Transportation podcast, Amanda Novak, a resource specialist at the Michigan Department of Transportation, talks about her work in conjunction with the Michigan Department of Natural Resources to study these collisions and ways to create safer crossings.
Environment America reports that a survey of Americans about their views on wildlife crossings found that nearly 90 percent of them support the concept. 
Other relevant links:
https://www.pew.org/en/trust/archive/summer-2026/states-act-to-reduce-wildlife-collisions 
https://highways.dot.gov/federal-lands/wildlife-crossings   
Podcast Photo by Da-shika on Unsplash

On this week’s Talking Michigan Transportation podcast, a conversation with Jennifer Roberts, national road usage charge (RUC) discipline lead at CDM Smith, the consultant selected by the Michigan Department of Transportation to study and eventually pilot transitioning Michigan’s primary road funding formula to an RUC instead of the gas tax.
The Michigan Legislature in 2025 directed MDOT to begin the study and pilot program.
Roberts provided a project overview and the tasks ahead, including project management, planning and procurement, statewide public outreach and education, legislative engagement, operational pilot, revenue modeling and, finally, findings and completion of a report. 
She also talks about what she’s learned from other states in various phases of studying or piloting alternative methods of paying for transportation, as discussed on the podcast previously with the Washington, D.C.-based Mileage Based User Fee Alliance (MBUFA).

This week’s edition of the Talking Michigan Transportation podcast features another conversation with Joann Muller, who writes the Axios Future of Mobility newsletter. 
Muller talks about her recent reporting on Amazon’s Zoox (pronounced "zooks") robotaxis. The National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration (NHTSA) granted a temporary exemption to commercially deploy up to 2,500 robotaxis annually for two years. 
All of this comes as Waymo, Uber and other companies make investments in the rapidly evolving automated vehicle (AV) industry and encounter hiccups along the way. 
Muller also talks about a recent road trip she made through Wisconsin in a Rivian R2. She was pleased to find a robust charging network eliminating any range anxiety. She was also impressed with Rivian’s use of adaptive driving beam (ADB) headlights and talked about why the technology has been developed more slowly in the U.S. 
From the newsletter: 
A decade after shape-shifting headlights changed nighttime driving in Europe, the technology remains remarkably scarce in North America - a case study in how U.S. regulations can slow the arrival of proven safety innovations.
 Photo by Remy Gieling on Unsplash