LENAWEE CO. — The State of Michigan has approved funding to study a new way of paying for roads — through a road user charge, or RUC.
The system would base road funding on how many miles people drive instead of how much gas they buy, aiming to make future funding more stable as more drivers switch to electric or fuel-efficient vehicles.
State Senator Veronica Klinefelt of East Point chairs the Senate Transportation Appropriations Subcommittee. She said the goal is to connect road costs directly to usage rather than unrelated taxes, saying, “I would like to eventually get to a system that is based on roads. The fees that come in are based on the usage of the roads and not based on some tax that doesn’t have anything to do with roads.”
The fiscal 2026 budget includes $7.65 million for the Michigan Department of Transportation to run the pilot program and test how a mileage-based system could work statewide.