The Kalamazoo County Road Commission is responsible for maintenance and construction of local roads. The Township is responsible for non-transportation uses of road rights of way, subsurface rights of way usage (i.e. utilities and communication systems), and law enforcement.
While townships in many other states have primary responsibility for local roads, in Michigan the county road commissions and townships share transportation-related responsibilities. Road commissions (and county boards of commissioners where road commission duties have been assumed by the county board) are responsible for maintenance and construction of local roads, while townships are responsible for non-transportation uses of road rights of way, sub-surface rights of way usage such as utilities and communication systems, and law enforcement. In spite of state law assigning maintenance and construction responsibility to road commissions, the state transportation fund doesn’t provide sufficient financial resources for road commissions to perform their responsibilities at a level acceptable to everyone. Consequently, township boards voluntarily contribute over $150 million per year to their county road commissions to support road projects in their respective townships.