High Water Could Cost $100 Million in Road Fixes

According to the Detroit Free Press, record high water levels across the Great Lakes region are already causing serious damage to dozens of roadways statewide. And the price tag for a fix could top $100 million.

There are currently about 40 locations statewide where flooding, erosion and other damage related to high water are causing serious problems.

For longer term fixes to protect roads from high water, slope repairs, lifting the grade of roads through bringing in materials, and even physically moving roads inland from the lakes where necessary, could end up costing about $100 million.

The high water summit, convened by Governor Gretchen Whitmer, allowed agency representatives to hear the latest on high water levels, the forecast heading into spring, and to plot how better to coordinate responses.

January water levels were higher on all lakes than January 2019, and that trend is expected to continue this spring and summer.

Those conditions last winter, combined with unusually heavy spring rains that have become an annual occurrence in recent years, led to record and near record water levels across the Great Lakes.