The memes arrive in droves each spring.

One shows a police officer pondering, “Is he drunk or dodging potholes?” One purports to show a millennia-old Roman road and reads, “still fewer pot holes than any street in Michigan.”

Michigan’s roads have become the butt of the joke. The reason why isn’t a laughing matter.

Michigan roads have deteriorated as a result of chronic underfunding, experts say, leaving injured motorists, expensive repair bills and a bumpy political debate in its wake.

But it’s a complex issue with a price tag of more than $2 billion, experts say.

Explore the history behind the state’s plague of potholes in MLive’s new video series, “How We Got Here“.

Read more at https://www.mlive.com/news/2019/08/how-did-michigan-go-from-auto-capital-of-the-world-to-a-terrible-place-to-drive.html.