LANSING - Back in July, the United States Congress provided additional funds to state road departments to help ensure that planned construction projects are not delayed or canceled.

Poor road conditions are a familiar sight and a source of frustration for Michigan drivers.

"But the important thing is for folks to understand that road agencies are being as efficent as they possibly can. we're using every dime we collect to get it down onto the roads," said Ingham County Road Department Managing Director Bill Conklin.

But the money is not flowing in fast enough for road agencies to keep up.

"Revenue for transportation has been, really, at best, stagnant for really the last 10 years," said Chris Hundt, Transportation Planner for the Michigan Department of Transportation.

"It's not that we want to do a poor job or we only want to do little patches which we know are temporary and are not going to last," Conklin said.

"This is now the fifth time since 2008 that congress has had to appropriate additional dollars for transportation," Hundt said.

Those dollars, known as the federal highway trust fund, primarily come from the federal motor fuel tax. States also receive money from state motor fuel taxes, but, according to the United States Energy Information Administration and the Michigan House Committee on Transportation, neither of those taxes have been adjusted since 1997.

"So as the price of gas has increased those tax rates have not," Conklin said.

One of the Ingham County Road Department's projects for 2015 is to repair the mile-and-a-half stretch of Lake Lansing Road between Marsh and Saginaw roads. But Conklin says that, because of his department's tight budget, they can only afford to repair one or two miles of Meridian Township roads per year. He suggests turning the existing gas tax to a sales tax so it is tied to inflation.

"Anything that enhances the revenue and keeps it tied to the value and use of gas," Conklin said.

And, to Conklin, it comes down to how badly Michigan drivers want to see change.

"If you're comfortable with the roads you typically use, or the roads that you see and use around your travels, and you don't want your taxes raised, then you're not going to support it," Conklin said. "But if you're not happy with the condition of the roads, and the through-roads and primary roads that you drive, and you want something done about it, then you should be supportive of a fuel tax increase."