MERIDIAN TOWNSHIP - 2021 marks the second year of the ten-year Local Road Program for Meridian Township. The program was instated to improve the local roads in Meridian Township, not the main ones such as Grand River or Okemos.

The Township’s goal is that at the end of the ten-year program, the roads, on average, will be at a PASER rating of 8. PASER stands for Pavement Surface Evaluation and Rating System. Each road is placed on a scale of 1 to 10, where a 10 indicates a road of pristine condition. The projected PASER rating for 2021 is 5.37.

These roads will be repaired at its surface, but also drainage or any other issues that may have happened will be fixed.

“We just want our residents to know that we’re not paving the street with the goal to dig it up two years later,” said Deputy Township Manager Derek Perry.

In 2020, the Township was able to rehabilitate and resurface 10.7 miles of roads and 16.7 miles of preserving the roads by filling in cracks.

For 2021, 8.87 miles of roads are planned for resurfacing. There will also be about 1.5 miles of cape sealing and 7.61 miles of crack filling to preserve roads. Overall, this is 17.98 miles of roadwork for this upcoming year.

The Michigan Department of Transportation and Ingham County is responsible for all of the Township’s roads. They are paid for by Public Act 51, the allocations of funds by the county and general fund transfers from the Township's budget.

Public Act 51 collects money for roads in Michigan. Money is collected through payments toward gas, vehicle registration and other similar means. However, in this case, the Local Road Program did not receive any funds directly through the act.

Ingham County allocated $173,000 to the Township to improve local neighborhood roads. A lot of this money goes toward plowing snow in the winter and the installation and the upkeep of traffic signals and signs.

For 2021, the Township Board has allocated $280,000 that will go toward the roads.

Construction is estimated to start in May with a completion day near the end of September.