LANSING -- As road conditions worsen and funding decreases in Northern Michigan, the Michigan Transportation Team (MTT) has put together a campaign to increase road funding and possibly raise the gas tax.

The campaign, called Drive MI, will lobby the Legislature for a 3-cents-per-gallon hike for each of the next three years: a 9-cent increase total.

"It's just a little bit more at the pump," said MTT co-chair Mike Nystrom of East Lansing.

MTT is a coalition of business, labor and government groups that are concerned with transportation issues, Nystrom said.

Currently there is a $2.7 billion gap in funding for road projects, he said, and Drive MI hopes to close that gap by at least $1 billion. The proposed tax increase would raise about half of that, around $450 million.

"Any increase would be a help," said Cliff Youngs, manager of the Osceola County Road Commission.

Youngs said road funding is based mainly on population and gas purchases.

"They have to come up with a formula to figure how much it costs to maintain a mile of road," he said, adding that nobody has addressed those actual costs.

Counties all over Michigan are having trouble with funding for their roads, said Ed Noyola, deputy director of the County Road Association of Michigan.

There is little money to improve roads, and counties are struggling to maintain what they have, he said. "But that cannot happen with the level of funding now."

Northern Michigan counties are often hit hardest, said Rep. Darwin Booher, R-EVART.

The higher amounts of snowfall and rural roads increase the need for road funds, Booher said.

Noyola said, "Any time it snows, that's money."

Booher said there has been recent discussion about turning over some financial responsibility for roads to townships, even though counties technically own the roads.

"This won't go over very big with the townships," Booher said.

Townships receive no money for the roads, and they have their own tight budgets, he said.

Tourist areas may be in danger of losing business because of poor roads, Booher said. Although his district doesn't get much road funding due to its low population, many visitors travel there when on vacation, but they will be less likely to do so if conditions deteriorate.

Not all of Northern Michigan has been suffering.

For example, Cadillac roads have consistently improved for the past 10 years, said city engineer Bruce DeWitt. "They are in better shape now than they used to be."

Booher said the gas tax increase would be a temporary solution.

And as technology makes fuel use more efficient, less gas will be purchased "and tax revenue will continue to drop," he said.

Increasing the gas tax isn't the only option that Drive MI is looking at.

"It's really to push for increased state funding for transportation," Nystrom said. "We can't do just one item."