Oakland County’s road commission will benefit from the $1.7 billion road funding package Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signed into law Monday.
The package includes $46 million more in 2026 for the road commission and $60 million in 2027 “and will likely increase after that,” said road commission spokesman Craig Bryson.
The road commission hasn’t determined how much money will be allocated for various projects “but safety improvements like roundabouts and turn lanes will have more funding in addition to resurfacing more roads,” Bryson said.
This year’s state funding for the road commission was $132 million. The $46 million added to next year’s budget will prevent what Bryson called a “fiscal cliff that was coming otherwise” and allow the road commission to continue to improve the road system.
Now road commission officials are waiting to learn the future of federal funding for 2026.
“Given the inability of Congress to come together on anything, we are a bit concerned about the future of federal road funding, but time will tell,” Bryson said.
The county is already considered a leader in traffic safety, based on nearly 1.3 million residents, 5,600 miles of roads, and an estimated 16.5 million visitors.
Oakland’s traffic-fatality rate in 2024 was 0.51 deaths per 100 million miles of vehicle travel, lower than the state’s 1.06 fatalities per million miles and the national rate of 1.20.
A handful of counties in Michigan reported zero traffic fatalities in 2024 but Bryson said those are areas with far fewer people and roads.
Still, pedestrian traffic deaths are up 12% nationwide since 2019, he said. He defined pedestrians as walkers, children, bicyclists, people with disabilities and others who travel by foot or using smaller wheeled devices.
While pedestrian crashes are just 1.5% of the overall accident rate, those crashes account for 25% of all traffic fatalities, he said. Speeding is increasingly blamed for these crashes, he said.
Last year, 12 pedestrians died in Oakland County crashes, the same number as in 2023; 14 pedestrians died in the county in 2022.
So far this year, eight pedestrians have died in county crashes. A woman was struck and killed on Eight Mile Road in Ferndale on May 2 and a White Lake Township man killed while crossing Highland Road on Sept. 24.
The other six pedestrians died in Pontiac, four on or near Baldwin Avenue.
In July, Pontiac officials trimmed trees along Baldwin so street lights were more effective and added a crosswalk and a stop sign near the Hope Shelters and two bus stops to improve safety.
In Pontiac, people are routinely seen walking, skateboarding or bicycling in the bike lane along busy streets. And there are other traffic oddities. On a recent night, nearly a dozen all-terrain vehicles, some without headlights, were speeding south on North Perry Street. At least one performed a wheelie just south of East Montcalm Street. Those types of incidents are common in the city, according to sheriff’s spokesman Steve Huber. The sheriff’s office increased Pontiac road patrols to help reduce pedestrian deaths.
Road commission employee Jim Miller recently suggested handing out reflective belts to Pontiac residents and later asked Commission Chairman Eric McPherson and Commissioner Jim Esshaki why the agency couldn’t help Pontiac.
But reducing pedestrian traffic deaths in Pontiac is largely out of the road commission’s hands.
Bryson told McPherson and Esshaki during their board meeting last week that state law limits the road commission’s ability to respond in Pontiac. First: The commission has no jurisdiction in Pontiac, with the exception of a stretch of Opdyke Road south of Featherstone Road. The rest are controlled by the city or the state. Second: State law prohibits the road commission from spending money outside of its jurisdiction.
He said the road commission supports advertising and awareness campaigns already underway by federal, state and regional agencies such as Michigan’s “Toward Zero Deaths” campaign, part of a national program, and Southeast Michigan Council of Governments’ seven-county Safe Streets initiative, which Pontiac recently joined. SEMCOG’s program includes giving people blue lights, light-up wristbands, reflective armbands, stickers, pamphlets, tip cards, a guide for aging drivers and their families and awareness posters, all aimed at changing drivers’ and pedestrians’ behavior, Bryson said.
The road commission amplifies both programs by sharing their social media posts, Bryson said.
Oakland County Road Commissioner Jim Esshaki, left, Commission Chairman Eric McPherson and the commission’s manager director, Dennis Kolar, at the board’s Oct. 9, 2025, meeting. (Peg McNichol/MediaNews Group)
Road Commission Managing Director Dennis Kolar said 40 years’ worth of crash data is a big factor in selecting road commission projects and making design decisions. That data includes how busy intersections are and the number and severity of crashes at each one. That sort of data led to building a roundabout on Martin Parkway at North Pontiac Trail Road in Commerce Township, just south of the M-5 freeway. Martin was once a two-lane country road at the end of a freeway known for fatal crashes. Those tragedies disappeared at that intersection, though distracted drivers continue to experience fender benders there, Bryson said.
The road commission works with the National Transportation Safety Organization (formerly the Transportation Improvement Association), the Troy-based nonprofit, which promotes data-based traffic safety.