New Route To Transportation Design

Responding to a recent executive directive by Governor Jennifer M. Granholm, the Michigan Department of Transportation will invite public officials and private groups to Lansing this summer to help it define and develop a new way to protect communities and the environment from ill-conceived transportation projects. A full embrace of flexible design by MDOT would mark a complete U-turn from its previous, longstanding method, which at one point during the administration of former Republican Governor John Engler saw the transportation department seeking legislative exemption from all local land use laws. Governor Granholm’s sharply different approach to designing highway and other transportation projects first surfaced early in her administration, when she appointed Gloria Jeff, who worked on CSD while at the federal highway agency, as MDOT director. The governor's executive directive installing the CSD process, which she issued last December, reflected recommendations made by her bipartisan, sprawl-fighting Michigan Land Use Leadership Council.