LANSING, Mich. (WOOD) — Gov. Gretchen Whitmer on Tuesday delivered her first State of the State address, focusing on infrastructure, education and bipartisanship to reach effective solutions."The enemy is not the person across the aisle. The enemy is apathy. The enemy is extreme partisanship. The enemy is self-interest," Whitmer said toward the end of her speech before a joint session of the Legislature in Lansing.As she did during her campaign, she turned to the Mackinac Bridge as a symbol of what Michiganders can do when we work together. More than 60 years after it was built, she wondered, do we still have the same will?"I think we do," she said. "So let's get to work."As expected, Whitmer started her speech focusing on Michigan's "failing infrastructure," which she said would get worse over the next decade. She said roads marked with potholes and crumbling bridges sitting on temporary supports are costing Michigan drivers money.
"We are fixing our cars and paying a road tax that doesn't even fix the damn roads," she said.
She said the condition of the roads costs residents money, threatens the state's edge in the mobility industry and limits potential economic investment.
"No one will invest in a state that doesn't invest in itself," she said. "This is a challenge 30 years in the making, the result of underinvestment under multiple administrations."
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