Rep. Heise Bringing Roads Funds To The District

State Rep. Kurt Heise, a member of the House Transportation Committee, today announced over $2.4 million in funds are coming into western Wayne County to help fix local roads.

The projects that Rep. Heise has helped to secure funding for are:

· $300,000 for I-275, from M-153 to 5 Mile, to help with concrete repairs;

· $900,000 for Silver Springs Drive, from 7 Mile to 8 Mile, to reconstruct and repave;

· $700,000 for Lilley Road, from Ann Arbor to Plymouth, to do new overlay; and

· $575,000 for Plymouth Road, from Mill Street to Haggerty, to do new overlay.

“These project awards are a direct result of the hard work that I have done on the transportation committee and in transportation town halls this fall, to ensure that our roads get the funding attention they desperately need” said Heise, R-Plymouth Township. “While, this list of projects is a good first step to making our local roads better and safer for the hard-working people of Michigan, more work is needed and we must find a long-term solution –I will continue to work for the people and help create a long-term solution.”

Although the state Legislature and governor have allocated almost $870 million to improve roads and bridges since fiscal year 2012, the state spent zero general fund dollars on roads during fiscal years 2003-11 creating wide-spread deterioration of Michigan roads.

“These projects will serve thousands of area residents making the quality of life in our communities better, our roads more efficient, and the transportation of our children on the way to school safer,” Heise said. “We deserve to have better roads in this state, and it is incumbent upon elected officials in Lansing to find a way to accomplish that without putting it on the people by way of higher taxes.”

Along with bringing home this road money, Rep Heise has been an integral part of strengthening human trafficking laws, which unfortunately, have been largely ignored for years. Human trafficking is a tragedy that sadly has not received enough attention, and I have watched this man work tirelessly to address this issue, and the legislation he has worked on, will save countless young women from lives of sexual slavery.

The work on fixing our roads is an important task to be sure, but Heise's work as Chairman of the Criminal Justice Committee is every bit, if not more important, and has been largely ignored, and that is a shame. Everybody sees the roads, and sure, they are a huge focus, but nobody sees these 12, 13, and 14 year old children locked up in dingy houses and motel rooms, being used as prostitutes by ruthless scumbags.

It is that work, that I truly commend Representative Kurt Heise for...