Michigan Senate Bill SB0080

Michigan 2025-2026 Regular Session

• Introduced: 2/12/25
• Refer: 2/12/25

Caption

Transportation: funds; funding for sound wall projects; provide for. Amends 1951 PA 51 (MCL 247.651 - 247.675) by adding sec. 14b.

Summary

Senate Bill 80 would amend Michigan’s transportation funding law to create a new noise abatement measure program within the Department of Transportation. The program would fund the construction and maintenance of noise-reduction projects along state trunk line highways in places where no such measures currently exist. Eligible projects could include sound walls and pavement texturing methods such as overlaying or grinding that reduce highway noise. The bill authorizes the department to either directly construct or maintain these measures at the request of local road authorities or to provide grants or loans to local road authorities for that purpose. It also requires the department to establish a public application and review process, including scoring criteria, project ranking, and public disclosure of which projects were selected or rejected and why. The bill creates a dedicated noise abatement measure fund in the state treasury and limits expenditures from that fund to operating the program.

Impact

The bill would add a new section to 1951 PA 51, expanding the Michigan Transportation Code to include a specific state program and funding mechanism for highway noise mitigation. It would create a new noise abatement measure fund, assign the Department of Transportation responsibility for administering the program and auditing the fund, and require annual reporting to legislative transportation and appropriations committees. Local road authorities would gain a formal process to apply for state assistance for noise abatement projects, including grants or loans for design, construction, or maintenance.

Sentiment

The available record shows no committee transcripts or recorded votes, so there is no direct evidence of debate, support, or opposition from the legislative process in the materials provided. Based on the bill text alone, the proposal appears policy-focused and administrative, with an emphasis on transparency, objective scoring, and targeted mitigation of highway noise impacts on nearby residents.

Contention

No specific points of contention are documented in the provided materials. Potential areas of debate implied by the bill include how projects are prioritized, especially the instruction that project readiness may not be a major factor; what criteria should weigh most heavily in scoring; and whether the state should fund noise mitigation through grants, loans, or direct construction. Another possible issue is the bill’s limitation to areas along state trunk line highways where no noise abatement measures currently exist, which could affect which communities are eligible.