Brief: Road construction delays will cost thousands of Michigan jobs

Michigan's Transportation Commission is delaying hundreds of road and bridge construction projects scheduled for the next five years, which will cost Michigan workers thousands of jobs, because the state was unable to raise the money needed to match federal funding.

The Associated Press (AP) reports the state will dramatically drop spending from roughly $1.4 billion on roads this year with the help of federal stimulus funds to around $600 million for three out of the next four years, if Michigan fails to raise enough money to qualify for more federal funds.

State Rep. Richard Ball (R-Laingsburg) and Rep. Pam Byrnes (D-Chelsea) introduced a package of bills earlier this week that would raise just enough money to meet Michigan's federal matching fund requirements over the next five years — $240 million annually to start, and $480 million when fully implemented in 2013, according to an AP report.