Letter to Secretary of Transportation, Pete Buttigieg - Rep. Stevens Invites Secretary of Transportation, Pete Buttigieg to Tour Beck Road Corridor in Wixom

Letter

Dear Secretary Buttigieg,

Congratulations on your confirmation as Secretary of Transportation. I look forward to working with your department to invest in America's infrastructure while creating jobs and sparking innovative solutions to critical transportation issues such as safety and congestion. As I visit every corner of my incredible district in southeastern Michigan, one common theme has become abundantly clear -- our roads are in desperate need of improvement. Though our local and state officials have led the way with investing in our infrastructure, there has not been nearly enough federal support from the U.S Department of Transportation. As such, I humbly invite you or a representative on your behalf to visit Michigan's 11th District to see the condition of our roads firsthand and/or to discuss collaborative solutions to our ongoing infrastructure needs with a virtual meeting.

Specifically, I invite you to visit the Beck Road Improvement Corridor in Wixom, Michigan. This project is one of the biggest road infrastructure needs in the region and serves as an example of the critical infrastructure projects in which local governments are investing. Local and regional entities have provided support towards this project, and the city of Wixom has applied for federal assistance to help fill in the gaps of the stretched-thin resources of our local municipalities.

Beck Road is a decades-old undersized 3-lane stretch of road. For years, the local community in Wixom has sought to expand this to 5 lanes to improve traffic flow and safety for drivers and pedestrians alike. There are approximately 7,000 jobs within one mile on either side of Beck Road, with hundreds of companies that rely on this road for freight and customer traffic. The average daily traffic count on this road has more than doubled over the past 20 years, resulting in a crash frequency that is ten times worse than the regional average. Improving this road to meet today's needs would greatly help address solutions to accommodate traffic growth, safety, and economic development.

It would be my pleasure to host you in Michigan's 11th District to see this project firsthand. I extended a similar invitation to the Department of Transportation in the previous Administration but received no response. However, your commitment to action and deep knowledge of the transportation issues impacting our country today is already deeply encouraging even a few days into your term of service, and I look forward to working with you and your team.

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