Mackinac Bridge Authority
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Authority overview | |
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Formed | 1950 |
Type | Type One independent agency[2] |
Jurisdiction | Mackinac Bridge |
Headquarters | N415 Interstate 75, St. Ignace, Michigan 49781 45°50′53″N 84°43′24″W / 45.8481°N 84.7232°W |
Authority executives |
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Parent Authority | Michigan Department of Transportation (nominal)[1] |
Key document | |
Website | www |
The Mackinac Bridge Authority is an independent state agency of the U.S. state of Michigan that operates the Mackinac Bridge across the Straits of Mackinac. The Mackinac Bridge Authority has been directed by the state of Michigan to maintain the Mackinac Bridge as a self-supporting facility. The Mackinac Bridge is a toll bridge, with the tolls set at a level determined by the authority and its governing board.
History
The Mackinac Bridge Authority was created in 1950 to study the feasibility of constructing a suspension bridge to connect Michigan's
Over the course of 2004 and 2005, the Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) Director Gloria Jeff made moves to challenge the independence of the authority against previous practices claiming that the authority is not an independent agency. In 2004, Jeff moved $25 million from the authority to the Michigan Treasury construing that the Michigan State Treasurer is the authority's treasurer. On August 12, 2005, Jeff asserted engineering inspections and insurance would be handled by MDOT instead of the MBA based on a 40-year-old Attorney General's opinion; Jeff would not release the opinion.[2] In September 2005, Governor Jennifer Granholm was in talks between MDOT and the MBA to develop an agreement between the two agencies to solve the recent issues brought to the fore as the MDOT Director attempt to cut cost, due to statewide budget pressures, at the authority by reducing the board's power.[6] The talks ended with an agreement for the bridge authority to resume operations as it has in the past with MDOT implementing its decisions and the MDOT Chief Deputy Director Kirk Steudle assigned the director's position on the authority board.[7]
Board
Six members of the governing board of the Mackinac Bridge Authority are appointed by the
References
- ^ Michigan Department of Transportation (February 2014). "Michigan Department of Transportation Organizational Chart" (PDF). Michigan Department of Transportation. Retrieved July 10, 2014.
- ^ a b c Gould, Karen (August 25, 2005). "Transportation Director Challenges Bridge Authority". St. Ignace News. Archived from the original on May 10, 2017. Retrieved May 31, 2016.
- ISBN 0-8143-1812-6.
- ^ Rubin (1985), p. 29.
- ^ Rubin (1985), pp. 115, 125, 159.
- ^ Gould, Karen (September 15, 2005). "Governor Negotiates Bridge Authority Agreement". St. Ignace News. Retrieved May 31, 2016.
- ^ Gould, Karen (September 22, 2005). "Governor Returns Command of Bridge to Mackinac Bridge Authority Tuesday". St. Ignace News. Archived from the original on May 10, 2017. Retrieved May 31, 2016.
- OCLC 9975013.
- ^ Staff (n.d.). "Meet the Board Members". Mackinac Bridge Authority. Archived from the original on December 8, 2014. Retrieved December 5, 2014.
- ^ "Mackinac Bridge Authority hires new executive secretary from own ranks". Petoskey News-Review. July 10, 2019. Retrieved March 12, 2020.