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Transcript

MDOT director touts 2025 accomplishments · Talking Michigan Transportation

• 0:07
  SPEAKER_02: Hello, welcome to the Talking Michigan Transportation Podcast.
• 0:11
  SPEAKER_02: I'm Jeff Cranson.
• 0:15
  SPEAKER_02: This week we are highlighting MDAT's year-in-review video.
• 0:20
  SPEAKER_02: This is an annual project that takes a look at some of the big accomplishments across the state.
• 0:26
  SPEAKER_02: You'll hear about at least one project in each of MDAT's seven regions, things ranging from Otanagan County in the UP all the way to the Kalamazoo area.
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_02: MDOT Director Brad Wieferick joined me to talk about these projects and what it means to him to see these things come to fruition.
• 0:46
  SPEAKER_02: And he talks about his years in the department and working at the local level and how important relationships and collaboration are to get these things done, and also the importance of realizing that a lot of what communities think of as their main street are actually state trunk lines, meaning they're an M route or a US route that also is the business corridor for that community.
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_02: So I hope you enjoy the conversation.
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_02: So again, I'm with MDOT director, Brad Wieferick.
• 1:18
  SPEAKER_02: Director, thanks for taking time to talk about uh 2025 and all that the department accomplished.
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_02: I think it's good to remind people that despite ongoing challenges with funding and other things, uh the department still delivers a lot of vital projects that are important to communities, big and small, across the state.
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
• 1:39
  SPEAKER_01: And then thanks for having me back on the podcast again.
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_01: Um this time of year, I think it's it's especially important that we kind of look back and reflect and celebrate on our successes and uh really take a look at what well as we uh make good use of our taxpayer investments.
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_02: So the news peg for this podcast is uh the release of the year-end video, something we do each year to kind of highlight some of the biggest projects.
• 2:04
  SPEAKER_02: We can't cover them all, obviously, um, but we try to get a good geographic spread, and that's what we did again.
• 2:10
  SPEAKER_02: But as part of your sound bite, your comments for the video, you put an emphasis on something that I think is really important and is lost on a lot of people, and that's that uh while the jurisdictions of roads don't matter to the general public, they just want a good, safe road and they want reliable uh transportation.
• 2:28
  SPEAKER_02: They want to know that their 20-minute commute will still be 20 minutes.
• 2:31
  SPEAKER_02: But a lot of the roads that they think of as Main Street in their town, and it may be called Main Street, it might be called um Chicago Street, as it was in Coldwater where I grew up.
• 2:41
  SPEAKER_02: It might be called uh, you know, Grand River Avenue.
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_02: But those are state trunk lines, those are actually M routes or U.S.
• 2:50
  SPEAKER_02: routes most of the time.
• 2:51
  SPEAKER_02: Um, so you talked about that.
• 2:53
  SPEAKER_02: Why is that important to highlight?
• 2:55
  SPEAKER_01: It it is.
• 2:56
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, and for folks that know me, uh I I talk a lot about the transportation system as a whole.
• 3:04
  SPEAKER_01: And uh, you know, I live on a county road, I I uh turn onto a state trunk line, and then I'm on city streets uh on my drive from home to home to the office.
• 3:14
  SPEAKER_01: And like you said, the average driver really doesn't care.
• 3:18
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but from a jurisdictional standpoint and in how the roads get fixed and when, it does matter.
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_01: And like you mentioned, we have a lot of roads um off of the freeway system.
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_01: Obviously, there's been a big emphasis on the freeway system uh with the with the financing that we've gotten from the Rebuilding Michigan Bond program.
• 3:38
  SPEAKER_01: But we also realize how vital uh the state trunk line system off of the freeways is to really getting people where they want to be around the state.
• 3:49
  SPEAKER_01: And like you said, uh many, many, many uh towns, villages, cities have a trunk line that that operates as their main street.
• 3:58
  SPEAKER_01: So we know how important it is that we engage with those folks to make sure that they operate uh in a fashion that meets their context.
• 4:06
  SPEAKER_02: Talk about those relationships with those communities.
• 4:08
  SPEAKER_02: You you worked at two different transportation service centers, which is um actually three.
• 4:12
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 4:13
  SPEAKER_02: Grass grassroots as it gets.
• 4:15
  SPEAKER_02: You're on the ground, you're dealing with um local officials, whether they're county officials or city or village.
• 4:21
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and how do how do those relationships develop so that when you're resurfacing or rebuilding what is the main street in that community, and you've got businesses that are very concerned.
• 4:31
  SPEAKER_02: Um, just talk about how that works.
• 4:34
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
• 4:35
  SPEAKER_01: That was probably one of the things that I enjoyed the most uh when I was working outside of the central office, which is about half of my career.
• 4:44
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and it really speaks to the importance of our transportation and service centers.
• 4:49
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, we'll say TSC a lot, um, but uh folks understand those are the smaller offices, really where the rubber meets the road.
• 4:57
  SPEAKER_01: And and these are the folks that are, you know, uh leading the design and the construction, maintenance operations, permitting all of those things happen at the at the local level.
• 5:08
  SPEAKER_01: But being local, you do have the ability to to create, develop, and strengthen those relationships that you have with with local entities.
• 5:18
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I I have always said that relationships are key.
• 5:23
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, I don't I don't want to have to deal with somebody only when there's a problem, only when there's a crisis.
• 5:29
  SPEAKER_01: If I've taken the time and the effort to to build good relationships with people and build trust with people, working through issues is much, much easier.
• 5:40
  SPEAKER_01: And and especially when you have that relationship and you can have very open and frank discussions about potential projects and needs.
• 5:49
  SPEAKER_01: Um, again, I think that just facilitates uh the ability to to engage and ultimately provide a complete project that meets the the needs of a community.
• 5:59
  SPEAKER_02: And just be a good listener.
• 6:01
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
• 6:03
  SPEAKER_01: That is that is one of the biggest parts of it.
• 6:05
  SPEAKER_01: I will tell you, um I I think to some people, uh the way the departments uh, you know, some of the actions we take, they don't seem very intuitive sometimes.
• 6:17
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but when when you have the relationships and you can explain why we do something or why we had to take an action, I I always got great satisfaction in having people uh say, oh, well, that makes sense.
• 6:31
  SPEAKER_01: And and if we're not out there explaining the why, it really leaves it kind of up in the air.
• 6:37
  SPEAKER_01: So so then again, back to the relationship piece and the communication piece, it's very key in making sure that people understand uh what and why we do things.
• 6:48
  SPEAKER_02: So let's run through the projects that are highlighted in the video.
• 6:52
  SPEAKER_02: Uh first, I wanted to talk about the M72, M22 roundabout outside of Travers City.
• 6:58
  SPEAKER_02: You were actually there for the uh the you were there both for the groundbreaking and then to celebrate the completion of the project.
• 7:07
  SPEAKER_02: Um really big day, lots of people um in the community, not just from uh the city of Travers City and Elmwood Township, where the roundabout technically is, but also um from various uh cycling groups and trails groups.
• 7:20
  SPEAKER_02: That's that's what a big connection this was.
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_02: So what is what was your takeaway from that day?
• 7:25
  SPEAKER_01: My takeaway from that day and from this project was it's really a poster child for how we implement complete streets.
• 7:32
  SPEAKER_01: Um when I think of you know the roundabout, uh you're you're looking at huge operational and and safety improvements uh for the motorist.
• 7:42
  SPEAKER_01: You know, we improve drainage along along the route, um, enhanced uh public transit stops, um, looking at how pedestrians move through, including the uh the hybrid vegan signals, as well as improvements to the sidewalks and the shared use paths that can be used for non-motorized transportation.
• 8:03
  SPEAKER_01: So I really see this as being something that's transformational um for that area.
• 8:09
  SPEAKER_01: And really, again, going back to um kind of our mission statement, which is uh serving in connecting people, communities, and the economy through transportation.
• 8:20
  SPEAKER_01: This one's just a fantastic example of how we do that.
• 8:23
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, it was a really good day.
• 8:25
  SPEAKER_02: There were so many um interesting comments and so so much engagement from the community.
• 8:30
  SPEAKER_02: I was uh I was really knocked out by both the the kickoff back in the spring and then the celebration.
• 8:37
  SPEAKER_02: Um and a rainbow came out.
• 8:39
  SPEAKER_02: So that was kind of cool.
• 8:41
  SPEAKER_02: Yes, it did.
• 8:42
  SPEAKER_02: So next uh highlighted in the video is the I-496 US 127 project.
• 8:48
  SPEAKER_02: Uh big pain for a lot of people in the Lansing area.
• 8:52
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but I think uh big, big success.
• 8:57
  SPEAKER_02: I know that the uh university region officials who worked on that project are very, very proud of the partnerships and what this did to improve safety and reduce congestion.
• 9:08
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and because you live in the Lansing area, you're very familiar with that interchange.
• 9:12
  SPEAKER_02: So what does that one mean to you?
• 9:15
  SPEAKER_01: I'm I'm very familiar with this roadway, as are many of my friends and family that live in the area.
• 9:20
  SPEAKER_01: They told you.
• 9:21
  SPEAKER_01: They told me over and over.
• 9:22
  SPEAKER_01: I tell folks, I think I got more phone calls on that project than I have on on any L any others.
• 9:29
  SPEAKER_01: I just I have friends that you know drove through it for for work purposes almost every day.
• 9:34
  SPEAKER_01: So uh um I was able to kind of help them and explain the the what and the why again uh of what we're doing.
• 9:42
  SPEAKER_01: But you know, this this is an example of a large project that was needed to address not only the the aging infrastructure, which we still have plenty of, um, but also the operational pieces as that roadway is opening up right now.
• 9:59
  SPEAKER_01: Uh and I'm driving down through there, um, drove through there at night uh just this week, as a matter of fact, and saw the lighting and and how um how different and how much more comfortable and smooth that ride is through there.
• 10:14
  SPEAKER_01: Um again, I think it's just a a really good example of the big work that we were able to get done uh with rebuilding Michigan, the bond money.
• 10:24
  SPEAKER_01: Um so yeah, this was uh a very big project.
• 10:28
  SPEAKER_01: And I think it also um is an example, and you'll you're gonna kind of see a theme on these projects that uh had a lot of good partners and a lot of good folks that we worked with at the city of Lansing, City of East Lansing as well.
• 10:42
  SPEAKER_02: I think that you uh, because you mentioned the lights, I was thinking about that this morning um coming into Lansing when it was still dark and raining, and how we take for granted um how important lighting and and the paint lines are.
• 10:57
  SPEAKER_02: And we will hear from lawmakers and the citizens because obviously when uh the various companies paint the lines, they do it during the day and they'll say, those lines look perfect to me, and they don't know.
• 11:09
  SPEAKER_02: And and you know, Michigan has an aging population, and that's a real factor when you're driving and you can't see the the lines clearly.
• 11:16
  SPEAKER_01: So absolutely.
• 11:17
  SPEAKER_01: I think they learned that fairly early in my career um that pavement markings aren't just going out and slapping paint on the road.
• 11:25
  SPEAKER_01: There's there's uh a lot of technical aspects of that that we need to consider in order to ensure that they do have the most visibility, they have the most reflect reflectivity as well.
• 11:39
  SPEAKER_01: Um few years ago, uh I don't know how many folks even noticed, but we went from a four-inch wide stripe to a six-inch wide stripe.
• 11:48
  SPEAKER_01: Um, it's interesting now when I drive in states that haven't made that change.
• 11:52
  SPEAKER_01: You do notice, oh, absolutely, absolutely.
• 11:55
  SPEAKER_01: And then when you get back to Michigan, um you see, wow, okay, this is a big improvement.
• 12:01
  SPEAKER_02: That sounds like a small amount, two inches, but that's a real safety feature, isn't it?
• 12:05
  SPEAKER_01: No, it's huge.
• 12:05
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it is absolutely huge.
• 12:08
  SPEAKER_01: And one of the things that's very tough and and that we we try to work with uh some of the the pavement marking providers is the night reflectivity.
• 12:17
  SPEAKER_01: Um there are actually glass beads and a lot of that paint that goes down that provide a reflection off there to to make them you know pop.
• 12:25
  SPEAKER_01: And to, you know, we've all seen a brand new roadway with brand new pavement, and it looks great even at night.
• 12:31
  SPEAKER_01: Um, we need to make sure that one, we have a program that's funded well enough so that we can continue to keep those up updated, but also working with companies on the quality and the longevity of the markings as well.
• 12:43
  SPEAKER_01: So there's there's quite a bit to pavement markings that that a lot of folks uh maybe take for granted and don't understand until you drive through on a wet rainy night, and uh it becomes more difficult.
• 12:54
  SPEAKER_02: It's same with signs that lose their their retro reflectivity.
• 12:58
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely, absolutely.
• 12:59
  SPEAKER_01: And folks will again they'll ask us, why are you taking down that sign?
• 13:02
  SPEAKER_01: It looks great.
• 13:03
  SPEAKER_01: Well, guess what?
• 13:04
  SPEAKER_01: It's been up for 15, 20 years.
• 13:06
  SPEAKER_01: It's been had the sunbeat on it, and uh it has lost its reflectivity at night.
• 13:12
  SPEAKER_01: So those are the main reasons why we have a kind of a regular cycle of uh replacing those signs.
• 13:18
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, we could do a whole podcast on that.
• 13:20
  SPEAKER_02: I'm sure you could.
• 13:21
  SPEAKER_01: So let's with people that know more signs, more about signs than I do.
• 13:25
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 13:26
  SPEAKER_02: Well, yeah, that's the whole thing.
• 13:27
  SPEAKER_02: You need to know a little bit about a lot of different things.
• 13:32
  SPEAKER_02: We'll have more on the other side of this important message.
• 13:38
  SPEAKER_00: Michigan law requires drivers to maintain at least 200 feet behind a snow plow when crews are plowing or treating roads and have their lights on.
• 13:46
  SPEAKER_00: This does not apply when passing the snowplow.
• 13:49
  SPEAKER_00: In addition, stay at least 20 feet away when the plow is stopped or at an intersection.
• 13:54
  SPEAKER_00: Failure to do so can result in a fine of$100.
• 13:57
  SPEAKER_00: The law is meant to ensure snowplow operators have the proper space and time to clear the roads.
• 14:03
  SPEAKER_00: This makes Michigan's roads and neighborhoods safer to drive on and walk around throughout the winter.
• 14:08
  SPEAKER_00: Always remember, snowplows need room to groom.
• 14:13
  SPEAKER_02: The next project I wanted to highlight um is a really good one in the Grand Rapids area.
• 14:17
  SPEAKER_02: It's actually in the city of Walker, and it was the replacement of the Fruit Ridge Avenue Bridge over I-96, uh heavily traveled corridor.
• 14:26
  SPEAKER_02: And Fruit Ridge serves a lot of industry in that area.
• 14:30
  SPEAKER_02: There's uh Walker has a lot of industrial parks nearby, not to mention the high school, uh, the Meyer headquarters.
• 14:37
  SPEAKER_02: Um, so talk a little bit about that one.
• 14:40
  SPEAKER_01: This is another uh example, I think, of a project that had great partnerships, you know, working with the locals, uh, local agencies there, working with the legislators there.
• 14:53
  SPEAKER_01: Um I think that was that was a big deal to me.
• 14:56
  SPEAKER_01: Obviously, the economic development component of that, and and really complete streets.
• 15:02
  SPEAKER_01: Um, that the bridge needed to be replaced.
• 15:04
  SPEAKER_01: It was built in the 60s, I believe, early 60s.
• 15:07
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 15:08
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, in theory, we could have gone out and just replaced what was there.
• 15:13
  SPEAKER_01: But knowing the context and knowing what the needs of uh of the community and and of the the uh the folks that live and work in the area, we were able to work together, uh kind of almost as a coalition to find the funding and to be able to really define what was needed to ultimately make it a complete project.
• 15:35
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 15:36
  SPEAKER_02: Uh both representative state representative Carol Glanville, who represents that area, and state senator Mark Heisinger, who represents that area, worked for a long time to secure funding for that.
• 15:46
  SPEAKER_02: And that helped get it really over the finish line.
• 15:48
  SPEAKER_02: So that one's pretty cool too.
• 15:51
  SPEAKER_02: Um now in the in the UP, the project highlighted in the video is M26, which was uh five and a half miles of road resurfaced from US 45 to M38 in Antonagon County.
• 16:04
  SPEAKER_02: Um, 6.5 million doesn't sound like a lot when you look at some of the projects downstate, but in that community, that's that's a big deal.
• 16:11
  SPEAKER_02: So talk a little bit about that one.
• 16:13
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
• 16:13
  SPEAKER_01: And this this is uh pretty good example of the Main Street discussion that we started out with.
• 16:19
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, Mass Cities, not a big place, um, but uh the folks that live and work and uh you know play there, they they have needs as well.
• 16:30
  SPEAKER_01: So it was great that we could be able to provide this work, but also adding in some of the improvements like turn lanes and traffic calming, um, so that folks there ultimately got what they need.
• 16:45
  SPEAKER_01: And and I think again, a good example of partnerships and working with the community, understanding what their needs were, and understanding how we could kind of build that into the project.
• 16:56
  SPEAKER_01: So I think this was a really good example of MDOT working with a local agency to improve their main street.
• 17:03
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, if you live there, there's no more important road than yours.
• 17:06
  SPEAKER_02: That's right.
• 17:07
  SPEAKER_02: Absolutely.
• 17:08
  SPEAKER_02: So uh the next one that uh also is very exciting, something that uh had been talked about for a long time, but um we weren't able to complete.
• 17:16
  SPEAKER_02: And again, thanks to some advocacy from some lawmakers, uh Senator Sean McCann and Representative Julie Rogers, um, the legislature came through with the money, and U.S.
• 17:26
  SPEAKER_02: former U.S.
• 17:26
  SPEAKER_02: Congressman Fred Upton actually helped at the federal level.
• 17:29
  SPEAKER_02: You're a little familiar with this because you worked in the Southwest region.
• 17:32
  SPEAKER_02: So talk about what it means to have that US 31 business route connection all the way from the freeway into the city of Kalamazoo.
• 17:40
  SPEAKER_01: I I worked in the Southwest region about 20 years ago, and it was an issue then.
• 17:46
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
• 17:47
  SPEAKER_01: Um, yeah, this is another one of those uh, you know, legacy gifts that the engineers of today were given by our predecessors.
• 17:55
  SPEAKER_01: And uh it was kind of a one-way interchange.
• 17:57
  SPEAKER_01: You know, you could get on northbound and off southbound, but that was it.
• 18:01
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I think by providing the additional connections, you're you're opening up um not only improving operations and the ability for people to move, but also for economic development in the area.
• 18:14
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, now you're right off a major highway, you're not far from I-94.
• 18:19
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but if you wanted to get to I-94 before, you had to go back down through town.
• 18:25
  SPEAKER_01: This will provide that, you know, direct connection to the to the freeway system.
• 18:30
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, and again, you mentioned um um Senator McCann and Representative Rogers, uh, again, another good example of partnering and and working together to to ultimately find the funding and and implement implement the right project.
• 18:45
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 18:46
  SPEAKER_02: Another one that's exciting and it's not finished.
• 18:48
  SPEAKER_02: Um, first year is finished and worked very well.
• 18:51
  SPEAKER_02: Um and this is this is a big one.
• 18:53
  SPEAKER_02: This is$250 million.
• 18:54
  SPEAKER_02: Um, that's the I-696 between M10 and I-75, very heavily traveled.
• 19:00
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, you know, I'm not even sure if match that up against I-75 in Oakland County, that may have uh some of the highest traffic volumes in the state.
• 19:08
  SPEAKER_01: It it absolutely does, you know.
• 19:10
  SPEAKER_01: Um I checked right before I came in here.
• 19:13
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, so about 125,000 cars a day.
• 19:16
  SPEAKER_01: So it's uh it feels like it when you drive through there.
• 19:19
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
• 19:20
  SPEAKER_01: This this is um, you know, this is a backbone.
• 19:24
  SPEAKER_01: This is this is what moves traffic in the metro area.
• 19:28
  SPEAKER_01: And we knew going into it that uh trying to maintain traffic and how we were going to build it uh was was going to be a challenge.
• 19:37
  SPEAKER_01: I so much appreciate the the patience of the motorists right now.
• 19:42
  SPEAKER_01: Um I think, you know, uh by closing down eastbound, we are able to do the project much more quickly than we otherwise would have been able to.
• 19:52
  SPEAKER_01: And had we tried to accommodate both east and westbound, you wouldn't have had much capacity in either.
• 20:00
  SPEAKER_01: Direction and it likely would have taken longer to build.
• 20:04
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but this is another good example of the Rebuilding Michigan uh bond program in that it's addressing these really big projects that carry high volumes, extremely high commercial volumes, um, and obviously just a lot of traffic.
• 20:24
  SPEAKER_01: But this project also had a fantastic community engagement piece as well.
• 20:30
  SPEAKER_01: And and working with the the community that lives and and works and worships along that corridor uh has been extremely important.
• 20:40
  SPEAKER_01: And and I really again commend our folks in the office uh in Oakland TSC down there, not to call out just them, because there's several TSCs that have a lot of great partnerships.
• 20:51
  SPEAKER_02: No, but I think given the size of this one to mention Lori Swanson, who's the TSC manager and Brian Travis, who's uh heading up the project work, and and I agree the responsiveness from from them and from that office has been incredible.
• 21:04
  SPEAKER_02: And I'm glad you mentioned worship because featured in the video is the rabbi from the nearby temple um talking about that collaboration and that responsiveness.
• 21:14
  SPEAKER_02: And that was really nice to hear absolutely.
• 21:16
  SPEAKER_01: And and typically, you know, when you're doing big freeway jobs, um you don't think as much about how it might impact the community, but this one is is is different.
• 21:29
  SPEAKER_01: And I really, like I said, the the community engagement on this was fantastic.
• 21:33
  SPEAKER_01: I fully expected that I was gonna give be getting phone calls and letters.
• 21:37
  SPEAKER_02: Well, you didn't do a drive along with um with one particular every hitter who's concerned about it.
• 21:43
  SPEAKER_02: But after talking and explaining, yeah, uh everybody's like, okay, I get it now.
• 21:48
  SPEAKER_02: I get why you're doing it.
• 21:48
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, it makes sense.
• 21:49
  SPEAKER_02: You wish you could do that with every citizen.
• 21:52
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 21:52
  SPEAKER_01: And it was constant contact too.
• 21:54
  SPEAKER_01: It wasn't it wasn't a one and done thing.
• 21:56
  SPEAKER_01: This is kind of let's let's ongoing, let's keep that uh that dialogue running.
• 22:01
  SPEAKER_01: But uh yeah, just a just a really good example of how we can engage with the community uh to make sure that a very large and impactful, impactful project um can be mitigated.
• 22:14
  SPEAKER_02: And north of there, uh crews wrapped up another segment of I-475.
• 22:20
  SPEAKER_02: Um, much of I-475 has been, has been or will be rebuilt.
• 22:26
  SPEAKER_02: And uh that's a$141 million project.
• 22:28
  SPEAKER_02: Lieutenant Governor was there to to celebrate that opening.
• 22:32
  SPEAKER_02: Um, what do you what do you know about that one?
• 22:35
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, this this kind of like uh, you know, 496, 127, 696, these are the these are the big projects that the the rebuilding Michigan bond program has allowed us to tackle.
• 22:49
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, there are often projects of these size and these magnitudes that have immense infrastructure needs that we we otherwise wouldn't have been would not have been able to get to.
• 23:04
  SPEAKER_01: So again, um, you know, the local office there, working with the city of Flint, working with other uh local impacted stakeholders.
• 23:13
  SPEAKER_01: This is just, like I said, another great example of how we were able to deliver value for for our taxpayers in that community.
• 23:22
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 23:22
  SPEAKER_02: So the only other one I think uh that Bears mentioned, just because it was interesting and it also required a lot of work behind the scenes to finally get the funding, um, is this new rail bridge over the Manistee River.
• 23:35
  SPEAKER_02: Um, it's nothing you see from any major highway.
• 23:39
  SPEAKER_02: Um, feels like it's kind of in the middle of nowhere.
• 23:41
  SPEAKER_02: It's out in very rural uh northwest Wexford County, but it's really important to the rail industry.
• 23:47
  SPEAKER_01: It's vital.
• 23:48
  SPEAKER_01: And uh, you know, to think about this as an engineer, that the bridge that's out there is uh 100 years old.
• 23:55
  SPEAKER_01: So with trains going over it, yes, yes, with very, very heavy trains and probably heavier trains than there were 100 years ago.
• 24:02
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so uh it it it is uh another great example of how we're working not only on the you know the roads, the streets, the highways, but also, you know, we are a multimodal department, and how we were able to work uh, you know, with our office of rail, with the actual rail providers, is is really another great example uh of the compla collaboration.
• 24:28
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah, it's a good one.
• 24:29
  SPEAKER_02: Well, thank you for uh highlighting that.
• 24:32
  SPEAKER_02: I think uh the video is it's good every year.
• 24:35
  SPEAKER_02: Our crew does a great job putting it together, and uh I'm particularly impressed with this year's, and I'm glad you took time to talk on what is the 250th episode of the Talking Michigan Transportation Podcast.
• 24:49
  SPEAKER_01: Well, congratulations on the 250th podcast.
• 24:52
  SPEAKER_01: I'm honored uh to be part of it.
• 24:55
  SPEAKER_01: And uh, you know, in parting, as as we kind of wind down this year, I do want to thank uh everybody that's been involved in delivering our program.
• 25:05
  SPEAKER_01: And that's everyone across the state.
• 25:07
  SPEAKER_01: We talked about the service centers that are really rubber meets the road, but it's our folks at the regional level, it's folks at the central office level in all capacities that it really takes all of us working together to uh to provide the most value for our taxpayers.
• 25:23
  SPEAKER_02: And an incredible ability to not take it personally.
• 25:25
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 25:26
  SPEAKER_01: Well, you you're right.
• 25:28
  SPEAKER_01: And and uh, but I think that speaks to the fact that our our employees are so engaged, they're very professional, they're very technical, they understand what they need to do and and how they need to do it, but they do take it personal.
• 25:43
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it's your work.
• 25:44
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it's your work, and and you want um, yeah, you you want the the best possible outcome.
• 25:51
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, but you have to work, you have to have a discipline to find that that person that's calling and yelling at you that doesn't really know you, you're a nameless, faceless entity to them.
• 26:01
  SPEAKER_02: And that's that's what I mean about the not taking it personally.
• 26:04
  SPEAKER_02: Yes, they don't know you.
• 26:05
  SPEAKER_02: Yes.
• 26:06
  SPEAKER_02: Um if they did, yes, they might not say the same things that they do.
• 26:10
  SPEAKER_01: And that's where it goes back to having conversations and building relationships as well.
• 26:15
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, absolutely.
• 26:16
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 26:16
  SPEAKER_02: Well, thank you.
• 26:17
  SPEAKER_01: Yep, absolutely, thank you.
• 26:19
  SPEAKER_02: I'd like to thank you once more for tuning in to Talking Machine Transportation.
• 26:23
  SPEAKER_02: You can find show notes and more on Apple Podcasts or BuzzSprout.
• 26:27
  SPEAKER_02: I also want to acknowledge the talented people who help make this a reality each week, starting with Randy Debbler, who skillfully edits the audio, Jesse Ball, who proofs the content, Courtney Bates, who posts the podcast to various platforms, and Jackie Salinas, who transcribes the audio to make it accessible to all.