LANSING – The County Road Association of Michigan (CRAM) has honored State Representative Lee Gonzales (D-Flint Township) with its Distinguished Service-Highway Industry Award in recognition of his efforts to protect and promote Michigan's county road system. Gonzales was presented with the award today at the 2009 Annual Highway Conference in Lansing.
"It is an honor to be recognized by the County Road Association of Michigan for my work to maintain and improve our state's roads and bridges," Gonzales said. "If we are serious about attracting good-paying jobs to Michigan, we must invest in our transportation infrastructure. While we may not give a second thought to the roads that get us to our jobs or the grocery store, our transportation system is crucial to Michigan's economic future."
As Chair of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation, Gonzales was integral in extending the Jobs Today Program, which provided grants and loans to cities, counties and local transit agencies to allow them to take advantage of available federal transportation funding. He worked diligently to restore Transportation Economic Development Funds (TEDF), ensuring vital funding intended for local roads was not used to fill gaps in the state budget.
Gonzales also worked to defeat attempts at increasing unnecessary exemptions to Michigan's seasonal weight restrictions. Seasonal weight restrictions are intended to reduce damage caused by legal load limit commercial vehicles during the freeze-thaw cycle of spring.
The County Road Association of Michigan represents the state's 83 county road agencies which manage more than 75 percent of all roads in Michigan.
"It's important that local communities and the state work together to preserve Michigan's transportation infrastructure and work to find new ways to improve our roads," Gonzales said. "By investing in transportation and infrastructure today, we can be fiscally responsible and save money in the long term on maintenance."